An online resource that focuses on providing teachers and parents with lesson ideas integrates physical activity throughout the school day, while promoting learning, health and wellbeing. Active Academics®, an interventional program housed in the Center for ActiveWV in the West Virginia University College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, serves as a resource that teachers can use to access engaging lesson ideas across a variety of subject areas that build movement into the learning process.
“National recommendations agree that children should get at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity. Since children spend much of their day in school and learning environments, it is important for educators to integrate physical activity opportunities throughout the school day to help meet these guidelines,” Eloise Elliott, Ware Distinguished Professor with CPASS, said.
Active Academics® is hosting a National Teacher Challenge from January 25 to March 21 to encourage communities of teachers to use and create movement-based activities for their students.
Active Academics® Intervention and Research Specialist Erika Van Dyke says the group wants to develop a fun and engaging initiative for teachers to raise awareness about the resource. “We want to support educators in the mission to create physically active classrooms and home-based learning environments. Our team has recently established a new section of lesson ideas curated for use at home and in physically distant learning settings to fit the unique ways teachers are reaching their students,” Van Dyke said.
“This past year has been such a unique and challenging time for teachers. Our goal has been to highlight a resource that could help our learning community continue to be innovative in the ways we are establishing active learning environments for our students and facilitating learning, health, and wellness benefits,” Van Dyke added.
Project partners at S&S Worldwide and US Games have funded prizes ranging from $25 to $200 which the group will award to the top point earners based on engagement with the challenge.
Olivia Mackey, intervention and research assistant with Active Academics®, says that teachers can access movement-based activities for a variety of content-areas, publish and share their own ideas.
“Due to the established community of educators at Active Academics®, there are more than 600 lessons that have been contributed to help integrate physical activity into the classroom. In promoting this challenge, we hope to continue sharing this valuable educational resource, expand upon our learning community, and continue to advocate for the importance of physical activity within our schools and remote learning settings,” Mackey said.
Learn more by visiting the Active Academics® Teacher Challenge page. To participate in the Challenge, CLICK HERE to complete the short registration form. Participants will receive details via email following registration.