Hypothesis: Utilizing exergaming in American schools will help combat the problem of childhood obesity.

Source 1: Impact of exergaming on young children’s school day energy expenditure and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels

Background: This article from the Journal of Sport and Health Science talks about a study that was conducted to investigate the long-term effects of adding exergaming to school curriculum for underserved children. The article made the point that underserved children have less opportunities to participate in physical activity due to a lack of programs. The study concluded that exergaming has the same effect on children’s physical activity as regular physical education.

How I Intend to Use It: I feel like this article could be useful for me because it talks about why low physical activity is a problem for children and proves that exergaming is just as good as normal physical education. I feel that it helps prove the idea that using exergaming in schools will get kids to be physically active in a way that they may find to be more fun.

Citation

Gao, Z., Pope, Z., Eun Lee, J., Stodden, D., Roncesvalles, N., Pasco, D., Huang, C. C., & Feng, D. (2016, November 24). Impact of exergaming on young children’s School Day Energy expenditure and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels. Journal of Sport and Health Science. Retrieved March 7, 2023, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254616301181

Notes:

• Why obesity is a problem: Children from underserved communities are more likely to become obese and have cardiovascular disease and diabetes as they age.
• Could be a useful to quote from this passage:  “research indicated only 42% of U.S. children aged 6–11 years and 8% of adolescents participated in the recommended 60 min of MVPA per day.⁸ Schools reach nearly 95% of children in the USA and are important venues to promote weekday PA participation.”
• Exergaming is being used in schools because they cater towards a child’s interest in technology while also having them participate in physical activities.
• If you are looking for an example of an exergame: “Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) combines dancing, which involves agility, balance, and cardiorespiratory endurance, with energetic music and visuals, which capture children’s interest and promote a health-enhancing level of PA for fitness.”
• The study found that students who participated in exergaming at school had significantly greater light physical activity.
• The positive effects of exergaming may be due to the fact that the gameplay is engaging and fun.

Source 2: Examining Young Children’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviors in an Exergaming Program Using Accelerometry

Background: This article from Emerging Technology Applications to Promote Physical Activity and Health studied whether or not there was a difference between boys and girls when it came to physical activity levels and exergaming. The study concluded that there was no difference, and that exergaming may be able to assist in promoting physical activity to both boys and girls.

How I Intend to Use It: I feel I can really use this article a lot in my paper. I think it is important to show that exergaming is not only popular among boys or girls, but it is popular among both. This will further prove that using exergaming in schools will help alleviate obesity within school aged children.

Citation

Quan, M., Pope, Z., & Gao, Z. (2018, September 25). Examining young children’s physical activity and sedentary behaviors in an exergaming program using accelerometry. MDPI. Retrieved March 7, 2023, from https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/7/10/302

Notes:

• Benefits of physical activity in the lives of children: “Increased physical activity (PA) and reduced sedentary behavior among children and adolescents have been positively associated with improvements in physiological and cognitive outcomes, such as body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, bone health, cognition, and academic achievement”
• Exergaming requires kids to physically interact with the game by moving their arms, legs and in some cases their entire body.
• This study found that regardless of the children’s gender more then 50% where physically active while participating in exergaming.
• Exergaming can be used anywhere at any time. It is not hindered by weather.
• Exergaming is a good supplement to physical education or even recess.

Source 3: Exergaming and physical education: A qualitative examination
from the teachers’ perspectives

Background: This article focused on exergaming in schools through the perspective of the physical education teachers who would be utilizing it in their classrooms. A study was conducted where two physical education teachers did a six-week exergaming unit with their students. They reported that using exergaming kept their students motivated and they were very enthusiastic about the unit. The variety that exergaming has also helped appeal to different interests and kept the students engaged.

How I Intend to Use It: I feel like this source is very valuable because you get to hear about exergaming through the perspective of a teacher who used it in their classroom. Using the evidence that exergaming helped motivate, interest and engage students will help me prove my hypothesis. This is one of the most positive articles I read on exergaming but also talked about some of the obstacles there can be when trying to get exergaming into schools.

Citation

Sheehan, D. P., Katz, L., & Kooiman, B. J. (2015). Exergaming and physical education: A qualitative examination from the teachers’ perspectives . Journal of Case Studies in Education, 4, 1–14. Retrieved March 7, 2023, from https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/85843092/152301-libre.pdf?1652272281=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DExergaming_and_physical_education_A_qual.pdf&Expires=1678207409&Signature=Rc1e4mAzG0VQw4At06z-gtiwJNnWa25apN4ssXiAV76HDUrR1gMyhwTQE4TaIvRP6jDN8AbfMnB-EyVnGEF1yXEiOuX0GCLfK7EVxQL7MhrYnfPzNhB-jY7VfC0cjiLtPhhZqItYGnf3LChgx~-F-7n9DJv~MFpYLxNv2vJ3qOH2UGgeXX2TXbEC9qIYkIBMC0k2M18y2OBdRTj1YA1e32YUmf2eRDOG7skPWm6dXkG2ick7h~fiBKwPio3E23p1vSXqUMhaGKMvhVNUSaRWIPJD50NMBT5vvNkj1nPGCmTMZLIGtq116WIGp~rbTHHZOE70W~S-AuVvjw9fLUPNPA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA.

Notes:

• Both PE teachers as well as the students responded favorably towards exergaming
• “It was really highly motivating for them; they were really into exergaming. I thought that, depending on what station they were at, the engagement for all of them was almost equal, it didn’t matter what station they were at, they were all excited.”
• Enthusiasm continued through the entire program. Enthusiasm was especially high when the students saw improvement in their performance.
• There was no gender preference when it came to the games. Both boys and girls enjoyed them equally.

Source 4: Implications of exergaming for the physical education curriculum in the 21st century

Background: This article talked about some of the benefits of exergaming in schools. One of the main benefits was that exergaming can help give kids positive feelings towards physical activity and encourage them to participate in physical activity outside of exergaming. Participating in exergaming activities alone or with a group can be interesting and keep students engaged. In addition, exergaming also had positive effects on student’s balance.

How I Intend to Use It: I will be using this article to help prove why exergaming can help alleviate obesity in children. This article showed many benefits to exergaming and will work really well in my essay. In addition, it brought up the point that exergaming can give kids a positive feeling towards physical activity. I have not heard this point before, and I think it is a very strong point.

Citation

Ennis, C. D. (2013, July 1). Implications of exergaming for the physical education curriculum in the 21st Century. Journal of Sport and Health Science. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254613000513

Notes

• “Exergames typically are situationally interesting and motivational both to skilled and unskilled students.”
• Exergaming can help increase perceptual motor skills, strength, balance, motivation, interest, enjoyment and engagement.
• Exergaming can be used from elementary through high school
• There is a growing amount of evidence that shows that exergaming can increase student’s physical activity when compared to the typical multiactivity sport/game based physical education we are used to seeing.
• “Research also has suggested that exergaming is correlated to reductions in waist circumference⁶ and other health-related parameters, such as body mass index and percent body fat…”
• A six-week exergaming unit was found to increase a student’s postural stability more than an instructor led balance program.
• “It is not surprising that students became comfortable in the exergaming environment and came to play the exergames more effectively. They exhibited both decreased situational interest and increased PA intensity as their experience levels increased.” (I found this to be a very interesting point made)
• Some exergames can encourage relational learning since students have to work together to solve a problem.

Source 5: Enhancing Physical Education with Exergames and Wearable Technology

Background: This article explored exergaming and wearable technology being utilized in physical education. It talks about how having the wearable technology will better help track movements and determine if they were efficient. In addition, exergaming can be used to help teach curriculum by using games that help teach these topics.

How I Intend to Use It: I intend to use this article to help explore different ideas for exergaming. Wearable technology will refute the argument that you do not need to really be physically active while exergaming. In addition, the idea of adding curriculum to the games that the kids would be playing would help increase their physical activity and their knowledge at the same time.

Citation

R. Lindberg, J. Seo and T. H. Laine, “Enhancing Physical Education with Exergames and Wearable Technology,” in IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 328-341, 1 Oct.-Dec. 2016, doi: 10.1109/TLT.2016.2556671.

Notes

• Physical activity has positive effect on health and academic performance
• “Previous research indicates that exergames may improve the fitness and motivation of players, as well as their cognitive and academic performance. Furthermore, several studies have reported the benefits of exergames in PE. Thus, if exergames can be coupled with curriculum content relayed to physical and health education, they may help to solve some of the current challenges faced by PE.”
• Certain exergames can also challenge student cognitively. For example Othello 2 is a program which requires students to think tactically, perform physical exercises and solve challenges.

Extra Source if Needed: The Effects of Exergaming on Physical Activity in a Third-Grade Physical Education Class