Coming soon to a PE class near you: Dance Dance Revolution
Categories: Health & safety, Development, Education, That's entertainment
When I was growing up, we had mandatory PE requirements. Through eighth grade, regardless of our after school activities (a lot of us played basketball or baseball) we had PE three times a week. There was no getting out of it unless you had a limb with a cast on it. We played soccer and basketball and kickball; we ran sprints and climbed ropes and played dodgeball. Remember dodgeball?
And no, we didn't always love it, but we did it, and when we complained we ran laps or did push ups.
Today, though, it's harder and harder to motivate kids to participate in gym classes (in schools that still even offer PE, of course). To combat this, some schools are trying innovative new approaches. Like letting kids play Dance Dance Revolution during PE.
An article in today's New York Times describes students at one West Virginia middle school racing in to start their PE class, and offers this explanation: "It is a scene being repeated across the country as schools deploy the blood-pumping video game Dance Dance Revolution as the latest weapon in the nation's battle against the epidemic of childhood obesity. While traditional video games are often criticized for contributing to the expanding waistlines of the nation's children, at least several hundred schools in at least 10 states are now using Dance Dance Revolution, or D.D.R., as a regular part of their physical education curriculum. . . . Based on current plans, more than 1,500 schools are expected to be using the game by the end of the decade. Born nine years ago in the arcades of Japan, D.D.R. has become a small craze among a generation of young Americans who appear less enamored of traditional team sports than their parents were and more amenable to the personal pursuits enabled by modern technology."
I find that sad, that part about kids not wanting to play team sports. I don't think that competitive team sports should be compulsory by any means (not every kid is a gifted athlete, and we've all seen what happens when parents take team sports too seriously) but playing as a team teaches kids valuable lessons about working together. Being part of a team means thinking about yourself not as a superstar but as a member of a group; it forces kids to strategize how to be stronger and faster together.
I also find myself wondering what ever happened to just turning on some music and letting kids dance.
And no, we didn't always love it, but we did it, and when we complained we ran laps or did push ups.
Today, though, it's harder and harder to motivate kids to participate in gym classes (in schools that still even offer PE, of course). To combat this, some schools are trying innovative new approaches. Like letting kids play Dance Dance Revolution during PE.
An article in today's New York Times describes students at one West Virginia middle school racing in to start their PE class, and offers this explanation: "It is a scene being repeated across the country as schools deploy the blood-pumping video game Dance Dance Revolution as the latest weapon in the nation's battle against the epidemic of childhood obesity. While traditional video games are often criticized for contributing to the expanding waistlines of the nation's children, at least several hundred schools in at least 10 states are now using Dance Dance Revolution, or D.D.R., as a regular part of their physical education curriculum. . . . Based on current plans, more than 1,500 schools are expected to be using the game by the end of the decade. Born nine years ago in the arcades of Japan, D.D.R. has become a small craze among a generation of young Americans who appear less enamored of traditional team sports than their parents were and more amenable to the personal pursuits enabled by modern technology."
I find that sad, that part about kids not wanting to play team sports. I don't think that competitive team sports should be compulsory by any means (not every kid is a gifted athlete, and we've all seen what happens when parents take team sports too seriously) but playing as a team teaches kids valuable lessons about working together. Being part of a team means thinking about yourself not as a superstar but as a member of a group; it forces kids to strategize how to be stronger and faster together.
I also find myself wondering what ever happened to just turning on some music and letting kids dance.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Karen 4-30-2007 @ 7:12PM
Have your tried this Dance Revolution thing? It IS a workout.
I saw it recently and gave it a couple tries. I did ok...but some teens came over and did it for a really long time. They wore workout clothes and worked up a huge sweat. I thought it was a great workout and if I didn't have to stand in the middle of a bolwing alley arcade to do this game -- I'd do it in a heartbeat!
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Trisha 4-30-2007 @ 9:07PM
We played DDR last new years eve for HOURS, it was a blast. We had about 4 couples and took turns learning and competing. I worked up such a sweat and besides that it was SO FUN.
I find going to the gym so dull, it's not half as much fun as hitting the slopes, playing basketball, or dancing. It's a great game, I'm all for its use in school PE classes.
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rebecca Biernesser 4-30-2007 @ 10:12PM
I'm blessed with a school that does offer P.E, but it's only one day a week. The coaches are great and all the kids love going to gym classes. This year they got it improved to offer a second P.E. class, but not all the kids could go, so Our gym teacher manage to get half the school to have an extra day the first part of the school year and the other half the second half of the school year. With the second P.E., the kids are weighed and it's stictly an excise class. The Coaches make everything age related and you know what? The Kids LOVE that class more then "normal" P.E.
I have tried the DDR and I admit it's a work out, but I'm glad that it's not at our school.
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Steve Shickles 4-30-2007 @ 11:16PM
This is a great idea... Kids now days need all the exercise they can get.
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W. H. Heydt 5-01-2007 @ 12:56AM
I went to high school long enough ago that PE was (a) mandatory, and (b) 5 days a week. I learned to loathe it.
I learned several other things as well. Among them are:
PE coaches don't give a rat's ass about anyone other than the outstanding jocks.
PE coaches don't ever *teach* the rules of the games they insist the students play. I surmise they think the rules, including minutiae, are absorbed by osmosis.
I learned that if you're not an outstanding athlete, nobody wants you on their team, which leads to mutual feeling about that.
I also learned to abhore organized sports and to look upon any form of organized exercise with grave suspicion.
I have since learned that, while the coaches got *paid* for the time spent at interscholastic events, the band teachers didn't. It should have been the other way around.
--W. H. Heydt
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margalit 5-01-2007 @ 1:28AM
I'd guess you never tried DDR. First of all, it isn't dancing, it's a pretty strenuous workout. It's fun, it has music you can choose, it's a GAME where you are playing against the Xbox/Playstation, and it's wicked fun. We have it at home and my kids have a blast playing it, working up quite a sweat, too. We saw a kid play two at a time and the sweat was literally pouring off his face. It's similar to jumping a marathon.
I don't know why anyone would have a problem with kids enjoying themselves while getting a good workout. I guess it takes all kinds.
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Heather 5-01-2007 @ 8:03AM
We are a strong No TV and no video game house. However we have made an exception for DDR. Perhaps instead of looking at DDR replacing team sports you should look at it replacing video game and TV time.We are a sportsminded family yet, we often have fun competing against eachother playing DDR. Plus, after the kids go to bed DDR is pretty fun for mom and Dad too. It sure beats those lame workout videos, that some people do.
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Jenny 5-01-2007 @ 3:11PM
In this age of childhood obesity, the goal of P.E. should be to teach children a sustainable method of exercise. It helps if they learn to compete with themselves rather than others.
I grew up in the age of classic required P.E. and I didn't learn to exercise until my 30s. I was convinced it was something other people were capable of, but not me. I have almost no depth perception (from strabismus) and am not terribly coordinated, so compulsory team sports like volleyball and soccer taught me to stand still and hope that the ball didn't come near me. They weren't a workout, and they definitely didn't teach me anything about working together -- just about feeling small and excluded.
I think DDR is great and fun. I hope that kids will just compare their scores to their own last score rather than each other, but I think measuring your own improvement against yourself is important.
And putting on records and dancing is fine, but it can be done without much of a workout (how many kids are really going to pick up their feet?) and without that element of competition.
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Susan Wagner 5-01-2007 @ 3:18PM
I have to admit that you all are winning me over . . .
Nice work!
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Maureen Byrne 5-03-2007 @ 2:22PM
One of the goals of our elementary PE program is to expose kids to a wide range of activities from classic team sports like soccer and volleyball, to more individualized sports like rock climbing and snow skiing (yes, this is a public school), in hopes of helping all kids discover activities they really enjoy, and even pursue outside of physical education during the school day. DDR fits beautifully into this philosophy, and we've been teaching it as part of the rhythm and movement unit in the physical education program for three years now (line dancing, square dancing and other activities are still a part of this same unit!). DDR is a great addition to PE activities, and really captures the enthusiasm of the kids.
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