Virtual P.E. hits the gym

Nine-year-old Jaden Stein played a fierce tennis match in physical education class this week, pounding serves and smashing forehands — until it was time to pass the game controller to someone else.

His virtual tennis match took place on a Nintendo Wii video game projection system. Stein swung and shook the controller like a pro while his cartoon-like character leaped and ran on the wall of his elementary school gymnasium in Omaha's Millard Public Schools.

“I played this a lot at my grandparents,” Jaden said.

In an odd role reversal sure to rile fitness purists, video games once considered villains in the war on fat are showing up in physical education classes, embraced by teachers as a way to get idle kids up and active. Proponents say they're not abandoning good old-fashioned sport and exercise, just offering an alternative that works for unmotivated kids.

But even as interest grows in so-called “physically active video games,” researchers across the country are launching multiple studies to determine if they do kids any good.

Greg Brown, associate professor of exercise science at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, has studied the Wii and said the effectiveness of such games in bringing about lifelong fitness is “a big maybe.”

“Theoretically, OK, if you put the video game here, and the kids are playing it, and they're moving more, that could be a good thing,” Brown said. “But is it really going to translate into lifetime health and fitness? We don't know.”

Julane Hill, coordinated school health director for the Nebraska Department of Education in Lincoln, said the new generation of active, entertaining games can improve children's attitudes toward exercise, giving them confidence and self-esteem that can lead to a lifetime of physical activity. Hill said the games can be particularly helpful with overweight children who lack self-confidence and for students with physical disabilities.

Nebraska and Iowa school districts are warming up to the idea.

The Millard Public Schools, Nebraska's third-largest school district, is buying a $200 Wii console and extra controller for every one of its 35 schools next year to be used in physical education classes. The Bellevue Public Schools plans to introduce Wiis in high school dance classes next year.

Last year, a consortium of 62 Nebraska school districts won a $112,922 federal grant that bought Wii consoles, Wii Fits, Sony PlayStation 2's and Dance Dance Revolution dance pads for 85 Nebraska schools and trained teachers how to use them.

In Iowa, the Lewis Central Community Schools is exploring getting Wii Fit for P.E. classes. The Council Bluffs school district does not use them but may consider it as a way for nontraditional students to get P.E. credit.

Elaine Watkins-Miller, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Education, didn't have a count but has heard of other Iowa districts using Wii for exercise.

At Merrill Middle School in Des Moines, science teacher Blake Hammond led the charge to renovate an old girls locker room into a “fitness arcade” equipped with five Wii systems, three Dance Dance Revolution games, two virtual skateboards and eight video game bikes.

The $70,000 project, aided by a grant from the Wellmark Foundation, aims to lure in students who don't participate in, or aren't motivated by, traditional physical education programs, he said.

“We pretty much have a consistent group of 20 to 30 kids who come every Tuesday and Thursday,” Hammon said.

The center stays open after school, when sports teams take over the gymnasium, he said.

About two-thirds of kids who use it on a regular basis improve their fitness, he said.

The Wii console and its unique controllers revolutionized computer gaming when launched in 2006.

No longer were players restricted to pushing buttons or moving a joystick to move a character on the screen. Wii players manipulate a wireless controller the size of a TV remote in ways that mimic actual sports motions. A sensor bar placed near the screen remotely detects the controller's movement and moves the characters in sync.

In Wii tennis, for example, the player raises the controller quickly to toss up the ball, then swings the controller like a racket to serve. Some Wii and PlayStation games use floor pads or boards that sense foot motion, so students can dance along with on-screen prompts, and the computer knows if they're keeping pace.

At Stein's school, Walt Disney Elementary School, kids played Wii tennis while waiting to join classmates in a badminton practice session with real rackets, nets and birdies. P.E. teacher Amanda Smith has used a Wii and Wii Fit board to complement her regular instruction for about a year.

“It's technology, and all the kids today are into technology,” Smith said. “I find anything I can do that uses the computer — an iPod, music, the Wii, anything — the kids are just more into because that's what they do at home, they use technology.”

Smith is planning a special unit on Olympic sports to coincide with next months' Winter Games in Vancouver. She plans on using a Wii game called Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics to teach students about events like ski jumping, slalom and snowboarding.

Monica Hutfles, curriculum facilitator for physical education in the Millard district, said P.E. teachers still want to offer hands-on sports training, but they want technology, too.

“We need to have the basics,” she said. “But the big thing is how do we get the kids up, moving and active, and this would be just another component to help with that.”

In the Omaha Public Schools, physically active video games are not a part of the official curriculum, but schools have discretion to use them.

On “Fitness Fridays” at Marrs Magnet Center in south Omaha, students rotate in 45 minutes through 10 to 12 different exercise stations, including a stop for video games. Students play Wii tennis, bowling, boxing or baseball. They swivel their hips to control a virtual hula hoop, and they step in time to Dance Dance Revolution.

Teachers at Marrs also use the Wiis to introduce students to golf, baseball or bowling before taking field trips to experience the real thing.

While teachers say kids can work up a sweat, Brown and his students at the Human Performance Laboratory at UNK concluded that physically active video games aren't much of a workout — and the intensity depends on the player.

In one study, they found that kids playing Wii tennis and boxing and Dance Dance Revolution expended twice the energy of kids sitting and playing traditional push-button video games. Another study found that while playing a physically active video game increased heart rate, oxygen consumption and energy expenditure, the magnitude of increase was not sufficient to classify physically active video game play as even moderate intensity exercise.

“It's better than doing nothing,” he said, “but, by and large, as far as exercise, most of the time it turns out to be about the same amount of exercise as going for a walk.”

He said, however, that for kids who loathe exercise, the games could reduce some of dread of going to P.E. class, and possibly get them to think more positively about exercise.

Brown sees some potential drawbacks. Only a couple of students can play a computer game at once. The games often involve explosive, jerky movements, which in some cases have caused injuries. And players learn to cheat, for example, by flicking their wrist to hit a tennis ball rather than sweeping their arm.

Athough Amanda Smith sees potential for her P.E. class at Disney Elementary, she doesn't foresee computer games replacing the real thing.

“I wouldn't ever replace my baseball unit with the baseball on the Wii,” she said. “The hand-eye coordination is different. The actual throwing and catching, you don't have that in the Wii.”

Not yet, anyway.

Contact the writer:

444-1077, joe.dejka@owh.com

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