More Than 1500 Schools To Deploy DDR By 2010

The New York Times is reporting on the popularity of Dance Dance Revolution in augmenting school gym programs. Adopted by educators as a way to fight obesity among young people and encourage participation, the article states that by the end of the decade some 1500 institutions will be using the game in classes. "As Leighton Nakamoto, a physical education teacher at Kalama Intermediate School in Makawao, Hawaii, put it: 'The new physical education is moving away from competitive team sports and is more about encouraging lifetime fitness, and D.D.R. is a part of that. They can do it on their own, and they don't have to compete with anyone else.' Mr. Nakamoto said that he had used the game in class for four years and that his school had also installed the game in its "Active Lifestyle" room, where students are allowed and encouraged to play in their free time."

Comments

In and out of style

[fitten]

One thing about games is that they go in and out of style... will the kids want to keep playing DDR since it's kind of out of style now and will surely be in another two years or so?

Re:In and out of style

[Jimmy King]

When I was in school, given the choice between "do actual work of some sort" and "play an old ass, out of date, video game", which was an option in some of my classes, I always went with the latter. Of course I'm a geek and gamer, so that certainly played a role. Also, my choice for doing that was never gym class, which I enjoyed anyway.

Well duh....

[dyslexicbunny]

In a study last year, researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found that children playing Dance Dance Revolution expended significantly more energy than children watching television and playing traditional video games. I wish I had a job that could deliver obvious results and be considered insightful....

Not necessarily a bad idea

[Scutter]

There are a few reasons that this may be a good idea. For one, school competitive sports (not counting extra-curricular sports) are soul-destroying for kids who are not athletic. (Ever been picked last? Been mercilessly reviled because you missed a catch/goal/etc.?) What's wrong with also including some physical activities that aren't team-oriented? Note that I said "also"; team sports are vital for building group skills and should not be dropped. Secondly, with the continued pussification of our kids, many schools have banned such staples as dodgeball, floor hockey, flag football, tag, and many others.

One big downside, IMHO, is the cost of a standard DDR machine, including upkeep. Heck, the ones at the arcade are falling apart after just a year or so. I can think of better uses for the money that would still accomplish the stated goal.

Re:Not necessarily a bad idea

[Anonymous Coward]

"Not being good at sports" is a self-inflicted wound and a self-perpetuating fallacy.

You know how you get better at sports? Practice. Play more and you get better.

Allowing a kid to sit out a sport because he doesn't think he is any good just contributes to self-victimization, plus the kid loses out on both the health benefits of physical activity and the social benefits of learning to function as a member of a team. Plus it helps teach that your actions carry consequences.

Dropped a ball and your team lost the game? Now they are all mad at you? That should be good motivation to not drop the ball next time, and should provide extra incentive to practice more.

Re:Not necessarily a bad idea

[megamerican]

The cost isn't as big of a factor as you think. They aren't using the standard DDR machine you'd find at an arcade. From the article they were basically using pads that you can buy from a retail store for $20 with added protection. Personally I've had two pads go bad on me since 2002. One was because of incorrect storage (someone didn't fold it correctly) and the other was from normal wear and tear. Keep in mind that it is very easy to protect a standard $20 pad. It takes nothing more than a slab of thin plywood with plastic taped to the board. That simple modification will increase the longevity by a large factor and also makes it very hard to store it incorrectly. Personally I've had DDR since it came out for the PS2 and have used it a lot, especially during the winter months. These DDR programs are great for school age children. It encourages exercise in a group environment where their confidence can go nowhere but up, no matter how unathletic the person is. The middle school in my hometown was the first school in MN to start a DDR program and participation has been near capacity during its whole run.

Re:Not necessarily a bad idea

[Scutter]

"Not being good at sports" is a self-inflicted wound and a self-perpetuating fallacy.

You know how you get better at sports? Practice. Play more and you get better.


I was always mediocre at sports in school. Good enough to get by, not bad enough to be traumatized. I mention this so you know that I'm not just offering bitter gripes based on negative personal experience in school-time sports.

That said, my school did not teach kids how to play sports. They didn't even teach them to get better at sports (excluding extra-curricular). What they did was divide the kids into two groups and say "Ok, now go play baseball (or football, or dodgeball, or etc.)" We didn't play any one sport enough to get better and we received no coaching with regards to game skills. The goal was to get the kids to excersise. There were many kids in my classes that simply didn't know how to play baseball, and yet they're thrust into this unfortunate situation where they're expected to know all the rules, and they are publicly lambasted and humiliated by fellow students (and sometimes coaches) for failing to immediately excel. It's easy to say "kids will be kids" and that's true, to an extent. It's all part of the growing-up process. I am not trying to demonize team sports in schools.

I'm just trying to say that there is nothing wrong with diversifying your school PE offerings. You don't have to eliminate team sports (or even significantly curtail them), but what's wrong with also providing physical activity opportunities that are not team-oriented?

American schools

[koreaman]

The problem with American schools isn't that they don't have enough money, it's (in part) that the money they have is used incorrectly. This is a great example of such waste. What, exactly, is wrong with running laps or playing sports in P.E.?

Re:American schools

[Pharmboy]

The point of schools is not to be enjoyable

Ever hear of a song called "The Wall"? There is NO reason school can't be enjoyable. Learning *IS* supposed to be enjoyable, which is what makes it happen.

You make it suck, kids don't pay attention, they don't learn, and all you have is a damn state sponsored day care center. No thanks, I think finding creative ways to have kids enjoy learning and exercising is a better alternative.

Re:American schools

[Pharmboy]

as we are talking about P.E., which although an integral part of schools isn't really about "learning", per se.

P.E. stands for Physical Education. Of course the idea is learning. Many schools teach Sex Ed in PE as well. I learned how to play several sports and how important exercise is. In my old age (over 40) I still play many of the games I first learned in P.E.

I'm a bit old for dodgeball and fieldhockey, but I know how. Basketball, flag football, kickball, wrestling, etc. were all learned in P.E. I also took a bicycling/golf/bowling class one year for P.E. in high school, and learned quite a bit. More importantly, I learned to work with others as a team. All in P.E.

(We didn't learn about Teamwork in "English Literature", "Geometry" or "Typing Class". Perhaps your school was different.)

So yea, where I went to school, they made P.E. fun and the leasons are still with me.

Competition

[Applekid]

"The new physical education is moving away from competitive team sports . . . They can do it on their own, and they don't have to compete with anyone else."

If it's part of PE, it won't be on their own. Moreover, DDR players are extremely competitive regarding levels and songs their peers can complete while some can't. (I'm inside that crowd so I'm very much pot-kettle-black.)

I don't think using a video game for fitness is going to be a magic bullet to get kids bad at sports enthusiastic. Speaking as an ex-fat kid*, team sports and PE performance IS about drive and confidence and when you don't have confidence you can't have drive and you can't be excited about physical activity. DDR is just going to set another watermark for children who are already on the vector to obesity to never be able to obtain; children who already can't: perform one pull up, perform one sit up, run a quarter mile, touch their toes, or pass other basic fitness tests.

*Full disclosure: DDR *IS* how I lost weight. And the main factor in being brave enough to even start was the nearby arcade which was completely empty of all spying eyes during my lunch break. If I was around peers I'd probably would have snickered a lot and given up way sooner.

DDR is old news but...

[shaitand]

'The new physical education is moving away from competitive team sports and is more about encouraging lifetime fitness'

This is great news. Somehow I doubt it though. I seem to recall that everything athletic was made into a competition or became one. If they are doing excercise the students will be competing on how many push ups they can do. If you use DDR then they will compete on DDR scores.