Whole Child Education

Post submitted by Paula Keyes Kun, director of communications at the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD). AAHPERD is made up of five national associations, of which whole child partner the National Association for Sport and Physical Education is the largest. ASCD is a strategic partner of AAHPERD's Let's Move in School initiative. Like AAHPERD on Facebook and follow the organization on Twitter @NTAAHPERD.

Every child and adolescent needs a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Schools have a wonderful opportunity to help students meet that recommendation.

Those are the messages behind the Let's Move in School initiative, created and run by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD). Let's Move in School is a public awareness and action initiative urging parents, principals, superintendents, and school boards to get involved in providing a comprehensive school physical activity program—with quality physical education as the foundation—so that young people will develop the skills and knowledge necessary for being physically active over a lifetime.

Read more »

OK, so I am a gamer. Not that I have the time anymore, but I do venture now and again into a game, whether a first-person shooter or role-playing video game. I am also a big promoter of Game-Based Learning (GBL) and Gamification. To clarify, GBL is when games are used to balance the learning of subject matter through gameplay with specific learning outcomes in mind. Gamification is applying the concepts of game design to learning to engage in problem solving. Again, both are geared toward building student engagement and learning important content. GBL is one method that creates not only a great opportunity to engage students in content, but also an opportunity to keep them active.

Read more »

Post submitted by Nora L. Howley, manager of Programs at the National Education Association Health Information Network (NEA HIN). She believes that a great public school is one where students and staff are healthy and safe, and she's gratified that her job allows her to help make healthier, safer schools a reality. Howley is a former preschool teacher who has taught students as young as two and as old as 85, and served as director of the School Health Project at the Council of Chief State School Officers and as interim executive director at Action for Healthy Kids. Contact Howley by e-mail at nhowley@nea.org.

Kids should move more at school. It sounds easy, but I hear from NEA members that they are not sure how to do it. It was not part of the training. To make sure that kids get the activity they need, we need to help educators with resources and training.

Read more »

By the time students graduate from high school, they have spent thousands of hours in a classroom, most likely sitting. That's a lot of sitting. Integrating movement and physical activity in the classroom and across the school day gives children's bodies and minds the exercise they need to fuel the brain with oxygen, creates enthusiasm and energy, and maximizes learning during academic lessons.

Read more »

This month's theme is about integrating movement across the school day. It's a theme that aims to look at not only why physical activity should be incorporated into and across the school day, but also how it can be.

Regarding the why, the research is pretty solid. There are cognitive benefits associated with physical activity, including improved memory, concentration, attention, and academic performance. All of these (and other) benefits were succinctly summarized by Charles Basch back in May 2010 with his publication Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap.

Read more »

Interestingly, yesterday's ASCD SmartBrief came out with the results of an Ed Pulse survey on which school health issue is of primary concern for schools and districts. The results showed physical activity and movement during the school day as a key concern among ASCD SmartBrief readers, second to bullying and other safety concerns. Just over 20 percent of respondents listed physical activity as their primary school health issue.

Read more »

Despite the rumors, school improvement is hard. It's not about a single passionate leader. It's not about "fixing" teachers and teaching or parents and parenting. It's not about poverty. It's not about money. And it's not about standards. It's about all of them. And more.

In this column, I'll take on the real deal of school improvement—for all schools, not just certain kinds. And for all kids. Because it's not about quick fixes or checking off the instant strategy of the moment. It's about saying, "Yes, and...", not "Yes, but..." no matter what our circumstances are. It's about asking ourselves the best questions.

When I first started writing this column, I suggested to you that there is a set of questions that can be applied across each of the whole child tenets to guide actions in schools. For the healthy tenet, for instance, they look like this:

Read more »

Post submitted by Monica A.F. Lounsbery, PhD, professor and director of the Physical Activity Policy Research Program, Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

When we were growing up, when someone said physical activity they usually meant exercise, or exercise and physical activity were one and the same. That was also a time when we walked or rode our bikes everywhere, at school we had daily physical education and recess three times per day, and playing outside with neighborhood friends was the best social opportunity a kid could have. We didn't have computers or cell phones, our families had only one car, and while we had television, we only had a handful of channels. Television programs were geared mostly to adult viewers and signed off in the late evening. We had cartoons, but they were only on Saturday morning until 10:00 a.m.

Read more »

While many schools are reducing physical activity because of time constraints created by the No Child Left Behind Act, a large group of studies has linked physical activity with cognition.

The researchers have come at the topic from a wide range of disciplines. Some are cognitive scientists or exercise physiologists. Other advocates are educational psychologists, neurobiologists, or physical educators. The applied research, which compares academic achievement between schools where kids have physical activity and those where they don't, also supports the hypothesis.

Read more »

Post submitted by Shane Pill, a former science and physical education teacher in schools in Perth and Adelaide, Australia, where he also held leadership positions that include director of school administration and deputy principal. At Flinders University, Shane lectures in curriculum and physical education studies. His research interests include curriculum design and enactment; pedagogical models for sport; and sport-related games teaching, sport coaching, and curriculum leadership. He is also a part of the Sport, Health and Physical Education (SHAPE) Research Group and is the president of the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation–South Australian Branch. Connect with Shane on his website and on Twitter @pilly66.

Schools, and physical education teachers in particular, have more to offer than any other institution in helping children lead active and healthy lives. That's because the right permissive environment can lead to high levels of physical activity (Australian Sports Commission, 2004).

There is little doubt that decreasing activity levels are significantly affected by our changing (read, more sedentary) lifestyle. It also appears many parents are spending less time with their children due to work commitments and that, when they are with their children, time, finances, and access to facilities also prevent them from engaging in physical activity with their children (Martin et al., 2002).

Schools are the only context where we can ensure every child is exposed to a permissive environment that works with children's natural desire to play and move and that provides for the possibility of a coordinated, sequentially developed health education.

Read more »