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?

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

[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.?

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.