We were prompted to talk about a video game and whether or not we can incorporate it into our classrooms. I'm not a big video game fanatic like many people, but I do LOVE my Wii. So, when we were told to think of a video game, the games I have for the Wii immediately came to mind. Specifically, Wii Fit. If you aren't familiar with it, the Wii Fit comes with a board that you can stand on, and the Wii has a sensor, so it detects body movement when you're holding the controller. The Wii board can also detect balance, jumping, weight, etc. Basically, it's a low intensity fitness video game.
At first, I wasn't sure how to incorporate this game into my math classroom. Then it hit me - calories. One of the cool features about Wii Fit is its ability to tell you how many calories the activity you're doing burn. I think it would be great to have a lesson that talks about how many calories are in each pound of fat and muscle, set goal weights, and then determine the number of calories you would need to burn in order to hit this goal weight. I could also incorporate calories in food and how to balance the food and exercising to hit the right number of calories.
The only problem I see with this, is the potential for students to be criticized or feel embarrassed about their weights. For this reason, I would have them choose hypothetical people and make up current and goal weights for them.
Not only would incorporating the Wii Fit game into my math classroom be a beneficial math lesson for determining numbers of calories to reach goals and daily food calorie intakes, but it would also be a great way to promote healthy eating and a healthy, active lifestyle. Maybe my teacher this fall will even let me try this out in my student teaching classroom!
This is really interesting! There are a number of schools around the country that have incorporated Wii fit into their gym electives, but I've never thought about it in an actual classroom setting before! I wonder if it might distract from your lesson at all? I really like the thought you put into it concerning potential areas of sensitivity for students. The inclusion of this into a traditional subject matter classroom might have added benefits as well! There are a number of studies that suggest that students learn best after being physically active. Maybe by starting out a class with a few minutes of Wii fit, you would help your students to focus on the lesson of the day. Also, Xbox Kinect might be an option as well. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi, Morgan,
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read your headline for this post and remembered you are in math, I thought you would have chosen some educational math video game from back in the day to review, so it was a bit of a surprise to see that you did Wii Fit. This might be a benefit that would be better for lower grades, but I was thinking of the homework assignment Mr. Tomassi gave the sixth graders to try to come up with five things in life that don't require math, and I think that this game might contribute to that. I think most students would be able to see the math in counting calories, but you can also do things with the game that students might not think about, like figuring out how much weight you lose per day and using this rate to figure out how many days it will take to get to your target weight. I like how you are thinking about the sensitivity of some students, which is really good. Being able to use hypothetical people and their weights would be good because you might also have to consider that there might be students that are underweight (especially considering that high school is usually a time when boys grow about a foot but don't necessarily put on the weight to match that growth), and an assignment where they are supposed to lose weight might not even be possible.