West Virginia adds DDR to physical education curriculum

[wvddr]

I am one of the people involved in the West Virginia project and would like to explain a few things:

1) The reason we are using xbox over PS2 is that the xbox can accomodate four players at a time rather than two. (The teachers voted on the pros and cons of both.)

2) This effort is a complement for PE, not a replacement for it. It will also be used in before school and after school programs.

3) In a classroom environment, the kids do what is called "shadowing" where they all do the moves but then rotate on and off the pads.

4) While it is for all children, our experience already has been that many children who otherwise hate PE, love DDR.

5) We will also be forming DDR clubs with paid DDR coaches.

I appreciate your comments and recommendations. No one expects this will "solve" the obesity problem. Rather it is one tool of many that we will be using.

[ch]

man, i wish i had a ddr club in hs.

i had to do breakdance instead
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CStarFlare wrote:

I approve of the direction this thread is going

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090310025322668

[Jypsy]

[ch]

isnt that what most kids see p.e. as anyways? i know when i was in p.e. football was just a big excuse to go check whoever you wanted. goofing off is what p.e. is for.

and anyone who does good at anything that isnt football will be considered "gay" for the rest of their life. swimming, chess, science olympiad, what have you.
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CStarFlare wrote:

I approve of the direction this thread is going

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090310025322668

[PrayerWarrior35]

[quote="Action Hot Dog"]3. No. plain and simple, Sorry to sound like a troll here, but a classroom full of kids "shadowing" the ones playing amounts to little more than a classroom full of kids goofing off and not actually excercising.

While its commendable that you are doing this, to try and help find an alternative, I am pretty positive that this will quickly turn into a waste of time for all involved.[/quote]

I strongly disagree with you. Shadowing goes on in the arcades all the time, have you ever seen the Konami Gym ads that feature DDR with some expensive pads, and all those extra shadowing pads that are like floor mats with arrows and no wires. If you watch some of the videos from www.getupmove.com they show the classroom of kids shadowing, I think this is a great idea kids, will shadow when not playing to improve so when they do play, they'll all improve rapidly. I know I got better after watching kids at the arcade and certainly there will be some good players to teach advanced moves.

Neither do I see this wasting time. I've brought my home set-up to two health expo's locally and for the older audiences. At both many people played for the first time and realized how simple a game it was, and purchased it for themselves. They now play constantly and several people have come up to me by suprise to thank me, so I have no doubt that many of these kids will also enjoy DDR enough to have it at home. I vote DDR for global domination!!
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[Mikey8740]

For all of you wishing to have a DDR club; talk to your teachers about it. Seriously.. I got one started @ my school 2 years ago and it's been awesome. Recently a local paper interviewed us to check out the fitness aspect of DDR.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/health/s_418439.html

There's the article on their site.

[E-300]

This isnt old news,Im sure others bring their DDR to school somewhere..

I bring it to the Gym and people get a kick out of it.
Thats where it should be also.

The other cure to Obesity is eating the right stuff or you'll just burn exactly what you consume.

--And theres a lot of black obese(young)Gurls that are afraid of sweating....

I dont understand that......

[AuntieM]

Some of the posters here don’t seem to realize the extent of the problem in West Virginia (not to mention other areas of the US). The Associated Press says that nearly 46 percent of 31,000 fifth-graders screened in a coronary artery risk project in WVa from 1999-2005 were considered overweight or obese. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060125/ap_on_he_me/fitness_obesity_game)

The article also quotes another source who says that one out of three children born in WVa today will grow up to have diabetes.

To me, the important thing to consider is that most overweight kids get so little activity that exposure to anything different that can carry over to something they can continue outside of PE classes, especially something built around a technology that they are already quite familiar with from the amount of time they must already spend on video games has got to be helpful.

And there are plenty of kids (and adults) who hate sports and exercise in general. I am much older than most of you (40) and I found that throughout my whole life I was never able to get involved in any physical activity that I could enjoy and stick to. Gym class was heck. I started playing DDR 2 years ago and it has changed my lifestyle completely. I now enjoy getting lots of exercise and am at a healthy weight.

I agree that there will be a lot of bugs to work out, but you know what? Even if a thousand of the 65,000 middle schoolers start playing regularly and avoid obesity and diabetes, the project will have been a success not just for the public health, but also a potential boon for the insurance companies, who may have to pay out less in benefits to the 1000 now-healthier kids. Sorry to be cynical but that's where some of the funding is coming from.
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[AceJay]

[aluminum.]

I am glad that they are realizing DDR plays an important part in health

[jims5964]

I think this is a great idea because once the kids are introduced to DDR in the schools the will play after school too.

[MAJO]

[solidgoomba]

I have to disagree with anyone who says the only way to get a workout in DDR is playing 8-9 footers. I started playing DDR in early November at the weight of 206 lbs., I changed my diet by drinking lots of water and little or no cokes and cut my calories to around 1000-2000 a day. I know sit at my computer at 154 lbs. For the first week I only played light, then bumped up to standard after that. I played only on standard untill about Christmas break, where I started to mix in a few Heavy songs. I still can't do most 8+ footers and still lost a (few) assloads of weight.

[wschmrdr]

I'm going to agree with solidgoomba on this one. I got a good enough workout last year even just playing 5-footers. I'd just sort my StepMania thingy by medium meter, go into the 5's folder, start at the top and go all the way down. Not really any kind of breaks either, just straight through for at least half an hour.

Now I'm up to the 8's, 9's, and working on a few 10's. If I wanted a good workout I'd probably go to straight 6's or 7's at this point.

What REALLY burns the calories, though, is doubles. With enough moving back and forth between the pads, you could easily burn 5x as many calories as you would on single play. It's not totally necessary to get the job done, just does it a little quicker.

[elementis0]

man... i feel like moving to west virginia now
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[CrazyBabyDoc]

There's definite potential in DDR for schools. I'm not sure the WV approach is a winner but you have to start some where.

My research group has completed two studies with kids 7-8 and 9-11 years old. Even in young, very active kids we can get them to watch less TV . . . up to 4hrs less a week. Then again most communities cannot afford to give EVERY kid a PS2, MAX2, memory card, and two quality pads.

In our older kids, they got DDR Extreme in an afterschool program and at home. The fitness results after 12 weeks looked pretty good but most of the benefit comes from home use . . . so still a problem to find ways to pay for a program that works.

The only way school works is to provide daily access. Schools either have to add time to the day (AM or PM) or carve out some time for kids to do it.

Shadowing does indeed work in groups of up to 12 kids, but it definitely has limitations.

The expense is probably prohibitive using commercial solutions (Xbox/PS2/Konami/Roxor). I have several students in the CompSci department working on freeware versions for PC/Mac.

The first is basically a cleaner version of pydance, which has some ugly code. The new version will work on any computer, running everything except Linux. Thus far it takes up to 16 different pad inputs but has run limited sims up to 32 . . . a mess of wires. But it dumps a file that contains step ratings (including deviations) for each player . . . something for the super nerds to pour over. All the players contribute to a single score so its essentially a team sport. Songlist is about 80. Beta should be released this Spring.

The second is the Holy Grail of "can't sue me" solutions. A DSP engine that takes any soundfile and generates step patterns. Tocatta and Fugue or Enter Sandman. No music copyright issues b/c the software will not come with any licensed material. It also means the local prude patrol cannot complain about lyrics . . . each school or district would set the standard. The steps will not be the greatest but it will be a decent starting point and they will be end-user editable.

As a free product, it can be used in every classroom with a computer and every kid can take it home. The only cost will be USB pads. My Chinese connection currently provides the high-end Ignition style pad with dense foam inserts and PS2, Xbox, and USB connection for $17 each.

[AceJay]

[wschmrdr]

also, remember, since StepMania is open source, this means it is COMPLETELY legal. The songs on the other hand, I dunno......

[CrazyBabyDoc]

[imawesomeduh]

damn homie kids are getting fat these days.
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