Technology in the Health Classroom.

My last few postings have all been about technology in Physical Education. However, I plan on teaching Health classes to, and therefor I did some research on ways Technology is used in Health Ed.  In a early post, I talked about how http://www.fitday.com/ kept track of your healthy or unhealthy behaviors and made it a visual learning experience.  There are many other technological assets that can be used in the Health Ed. classroom.  For example, basic things like an ELMO projector, computer usage, calorie counters, BMI charts, etc. get used all the time without being fully recognized that it is technology use.  We are all so use to it at this time and age that we don't think much about it.  There are a TON of websites that can be found to help Health Educators cover a topic.  The website given below is dedicated to those websites.  Some of these websites have students play educational games that have to deal with Health Ed., while some are great sites to visit for a classroom project or maybe even a WebQuest.

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/health.htm
Image used with permisson from AP Images.

Nitendo Wii in Physical Education

Back in the day I can't imagine there was much technology being used in the Physical Education Field. Schools didn't have their own sets of heart rate monitors or Nitendo's Wii wasn't invented. Since then, Physical Education hs come a long ways. Some schools record students' records and make charts to see how the specific student has improved over the year(s). There are some schools that actually use te Nitendo Wii in their P.E. programs. That's right, schools allow their students to actual play video games during class hours. Obviously schools can't afford a bunch of Wii consoles so as a teacher you'd have to figure out how to distribue playing time equally. You could especially use the Wii on raining days or during the winter months. Most P.E. programs try to take their students to a bowling alley once every so often, but with a Wii that wouldn't be necessary. The Wii offers bowling where up to 4 players can play at a time. Ove time a Wii would eventually end up paying for itself just from cutting back on field trips to the bowling alley. The Wii also has a Wii Fit program that is actually all about exercise while you play.


http://www.youtube.com/

http://news.softpedia.com/news/North-American-Schools-Use-the-Wii-For-Physical-Education-Classes-102284.shtml

Technology use in Physical Education

When people think about using technology in the classroom, I'd bet they don't imagine a Physical Education class. I paint a picture in my head of a classroom with an overhead projector, computers, and other things like that. However, a P.E. class can also use all sorts of technology. A stop watch for example is a basic form of technology that can be used in nearly every P.E. class. Heart rate monitors are used very often and the information can be recorded. Computer usage is also vey important and can be used for many great projects in a P.E. or Health Class. There are websites out there that allows students to record health related information such as: how much physical activity they got that day and what they have eaten that given day. Once the students inputs the information there is a device that estimates the totals calories, grams of fat, sugars, etc. It will also factor in the amount of exercise the student recieves. It acts almost as a calculator and gives results to the student that show how healthy they are living. It is a very cool website.

http://www.fitday.com/

Image used with permission from iClipart

Unique Ways to Use Technology in the Classroom

Today I was wondering what are some of the most unique ways that a teacher can use technology in the classroom. I found this website with great ways to use all different types of technology. These concepts are on assignment topics where the student has to use a certain form of technology to complete his or her task. For example, create a resume for a famous person in history. With this assignment the student would have to use the Internet to research their person, use a word processor, and learn the idea of a resume at the same time. One of my favorites was about a way to incorporate a video camera. You have your students film their group reporting on a event. The students act as a news cast and tell about the event which can be historic or current. I also liked the interesting, easy assignment that teaches students how to use spreadsheets and databases. All you do is take a survey and chart the results. As a gym teacher I could use this same scenario to record students times, reps, or progress in a physical fitness test. Overall this website gives teachers unique ways to use technology in their classroom!

http://www.classroomtech.org/integration/50ways.htm

Imaged used with permission from iClipart