i. The first school takes place in South Saskatoon, Canada and the second school takes place in Chicago, Illinois.
ii. I think this news piece was very interesting because it showed how participating in physical activity can increase studys cognitive behavior. Test scores were much higher after students worked out for 20 mins prior to a math class. After watching that, I now realize how much more important PE is; not only for physical health but for mental health as one. All schools PE programs should have a setup like this to ensure students both mental and physical health. By doing this their test grades will increase and they will be physically fit at the same time.
iii. We dont really hear about things like this often because most schools dont practice "good" PE. Most of these PE teachers just roll a ball on the court and say play. The math teacher who works in City Park Collegiate was concerned about their grades so she decided to take action and do something about it. She looked into more infomation then the PE teachers in that school. The PE teachers should have looked into the info and did something, but they didnt. When I become a PE teacher I will make sure that the student and faculty will benfit from my program in many ways. The students will benefit because they will be participating in physical activities and when they get to class, they will be more focused and that will also benefit the teacher to see incresing grades.
iv. The outcome of this program is very beneficial for both students and staff. The main outcomes of this program is students are benefiting from physical work that transfers into their classrooms. I was surprised and impressed with these out comes because they slowly transformed students to be acedmically successful. According to the video, the secondary school Naperville in Chicago is the leading secondary schools in the United States and one of the lowest obesity rate in the country. For 18 years the school developed a fitness program where every student has to participate in a 45 minute workout everyday. Most of the classes have intergated gross motor movements into a classroom environment.
These outcomes are similar to the NYS standars in PE because this program targets standards 1-3. Standard 1 is personal health and fitness and students should be proficient in this area. By working out in the morning before class, students better their physical health and fitness. According to the news article, students work out in a vigorious aerobic workout every morning and they become healthier Standard 2 is a safe and healthy environment and the teachers involved in this project make the environment as healthy and safe as possible. Students after working out sit down and do work without any problems and get good grades. By having students being focused, it keeps the environment less hostile. According to Dr. John Ratey, students who participate in physical activity they are less figity and more focused on school work. Standard 3 is resource managment and students gain knowledge to spread to fellow peers. By having this knowledge, you can inform and change other students lifestyles for the better.
v. BDNF is a chemical that gets released when participating in aerobic activity. According to the video, if students raise their heart rates 65-75% for 20 minutes can perserve nerve cells and makes them stronger. This can sharpen brain function and keeps students more focused. In order to release BDNF, you have to get the brain active when it is "sleeping" and this can fertilize other parts of the body to get other "goodies". The key books and articles that explain the benefits of this program is Spark that was written by Dr. John Ratey is what these programs are the basis of and an article Exercise Enhances Learning (http://neuro.cjb.net/cgi/content/full/25/38/8680)written by Tiffany Shubert, Chunmei Zhao, and Fred H. Gage.
Brain Gains