These schoolkids are allowed to watch TV in gym class and call it exercise.
That’s because the students at five city middle schools are piloting a video-game fitness program that could make TV screens as integral to gym as soccer nets and dodgeballs.
The program, which includes aerobics, yoga and balance-based games using Nintendo Wii Fit consoles, is the latest attempt by school officials to see if technology can better engage kids in healthy habits.
“I think anything that’s going to help kids sweat and get moving can be a good strategy,” said Lori Rose Benson, head of the Department of Education’s Office of Fitness and Health Education.
Benson said she was personally not a “huge supporter” of the concept because it is expensive and limited in how many students can play at once.
“But I also know that our students learn in lots of different ways and that we can engage students in physical activity through gaming and through interactive techniques,” she said.
At one of the pilot schools, PS/IS 218 in The Bronx, a group of 25 kids has been testing out the program after school for four hours a week.
In a room are five large TV screens and five consoles, which were donated by Nintendo and each come with a hand-held remote and touch-sensitive floor pad that senses weight, balance and movement.
When students stand on the pad, their image and movements are projected onscreen, so that the game is able to visually instruct them on how to properly adjust their yoga postures or their balance.
During one game, in which students essentially run in place, the screen shows whether they’re behind or in front of their competitors and by how much.
“It’s exciting, because you actually lose weight without even knowing it,” said Emmanuel Goua, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at IS 218. “It’s a fun way to exercise.”
Kids said the program also taught them a lot about their bodies and kept track of their progress as far as weight and skill level.
“It helps your arms and your biceps and everything,” said Thalia Gutierrez, another 13-year-old eighth-grader.
“I have muscles,” she said, flexing her biceps. “I even got abs, too.”
One of the obstacles to replicating the program is the cost of multiple consoles, not to mention the television screens.
Education Department officials said that if they expand the program, it would likely be funded by private sources.