"We do not stop exercising because we grow old - we grow old because we stop exercising."- Dr. Kenneth Cooper

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

ExerGames Experience!!!

Woooow what a day! This was a great experience. I had the opportunity to help Professor Yang out with an interview about his work in Exergames. I didn't have much knowledge about ExerGames, but I was very curious about what it exactly was. I helped set up all the equipment with Melissa Fromm (APEM president) and Professor Yang. There was a Nintendo Wii with the game Wii Resort. There are many things you can do with the Wii. There are many of games that have workouts and other gamers to make someone be active while having fun. The whole idea of ExerGames is to make being active fun while incorporating technology. There was another gadget called the I-toy that had a camera that projected your image on the screen and your body was the controller. You had to move your whole body around to play the different games. The next thing that was really cool was this gadget that let you play any game you wanted. The only catch is you either are on a stepper machine or on a stationary bike and you have to be constantly be moving. If you stop moving then the game pauses and resumes once you begin moving again. My favorite gadget that had to do with ExerGames, but wasn't a toy was the heart rate monitors. It wasn't the heart rate monitors themselves, but the technology that went along with it. The software on the computer allowed the person to see up to twenty heart rate monitor readings at a time. It is great for a teacher and coaching setting. I would love to use this technology for both. The interviewers from Syracuse interviewed me and asked a couple questions about ExerGames. I told them that today was my first experience with ExerGames, but I already knew that I wanted to incorporate this into my teaching. This is a new fun way to get my future students excited about going to PE class. Having a class of stations for I-dance/DDR, I-toy, the Wii, and the exercise bike and stepper would be a wonderful opportunity for the students to enjoy being active. This experience has made me even more excited about becoming a P.E. teacher.