Reflection 6

In the article, PE: Bring Your Sneakers, Rackets, and iPad? Kevin Felker talks about how technology is even coming into Physical Education classrooms. Technology can be often seen as physical activity’s worst nightmare because many fear that all this technology is taking away from children being active, but it actually has the opportunity to teach students about health as well as get them to be more physically fit.

The article uses Felker’s wife as an example. She is a PE teacher who is starting to incorporate iPads into her own classes. Since the iPad is portable, students are able to take it anywhere and are able to access their apps, even if it is outside. This allows for convenience that they are able to take it outside and work on it while doing their physical activity. The article also gives examples of what kind of apps there are that can be seen as useful for PE classes. Some of these apps work great for the health portion of the class, like calorie counters, fast food nutritional information, and health news articles. The other apps work for the physical activity aspect of PE class, such as a BMI counter, yoga poses, fitness trackers, and other ideas for activities. This will get the students engaged and excited about fitness without having to spend all of their time in a classroom or out on the field listening to a lecture. I really hope that more schools get on board with this idea because I see it being a very useful tool in PE classes.

This article works with ISTE NETS performance indicators with students because it allows for creativity and innovation. By using these apps, they will be able to complete projects in their PE class by using the apps and information that those apps give them to create their own personalized PE class.     

Felker, K. (2011, May). Pe: Bring your sneakers, rackets, and ipads?. Learning and Leading with Technology,38(7), 32-33.