Should exergaming be included in physical education programs?

Technology has been cited as one of the main culprits in contributing to physical inactivity and obesity in children. However, interactive "exergames" like Dance Dance Revolution and Nintendo Wii have become more and more popular with people of all ages.  Some young people who will not engage in traditional exercise enjoy playing exergames.  Benefits as well as negatives pose an issue on whether or not to make exergames an integral part of physical education in curriculum. Although skills are not being enhanced like in regular sports, I believe it is a wonderful idea to incorporate these games in the curriculum. Instead of children sitting and watching TV all day or playing on the computer where they are inactive for long periods at a time children get up and actually engage in physical activity. In the Journal of Sport and Health Science it was found that exergames clearly demonstrate potential to increase players energy expenditure which presents an advantage in engaging children in physical activity while playing video games. It also found that exergames will help attract students to physical activity and enhance activity experiences at moderate and vigorous intensity levels. In the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Results showed that exergaming produced substantially more minutes of physical activity and more minutes of opportunity to engage in physical activity than did the standard PE program. In addition, exergaming was socially acceptable to both the students and the PE teacher. 

Do calculators mean the end of memorizing math facts?

I definitely think that the availability of calculators in classrooms means less time children spend memorizing math facts and multiplication facts. In the article, Educators Battle Over Calculator Use critics agree that allowing students to use a calculator who would normally be turned off to math because of frustration or boredom, increases their mathematical understanding. I can actually relate to this statement because memorization has always been a tough area for me, especially multiplication facts. I am a University of Florida graduate and I have still forgotten most of them. I started learning the multiplication facts in 3rd grade and I still haven't memorized all of them! Of course I knew how to multiply, I just didn't memorize them. I thought it was a waste of time, and by 6th grade I was given a calculator to use on tests. I really started to dislike math from 3rd grade until the point I was given one. I normally made B's and C's in elementary school math but then once I was given a calculator and I was learning a little bit harder math I soon started making A's in math and with making those kinds of grades I soon started to enjoy math. I believe I was just bored of memorizing all the time and giving me a calculator actually increased my mathematical understanding because I was able to focus on how to actually figure out the harder problems instead of focusing on memorization skills. In another study by Ohio State University, calculators were found to be a valuable educational tool that allows students to reach a higher level of mathematical power and understanding. Once again, I feel like giving children a calculator at a younger age enables them to understand higher level thinking questions since they don't have to worry about wasting time on recalling multiplication facts.

Should word processing replace cursive writing?

I definitely agree that teachers should spend the time that they currently spend teaching cursive writing and replace it with teaching keyboarding and word processing functions. According to the article, "Time To Write Off Cursive?" teachers say they simply don't have as much time to spend on cursive handwriting skills because none of the standardized tests given to elementary students measure how well they can write in cursive. If this is true, then why are teachers wasting valuable instruction time on teaching cursive writing? Cursive writing isn't a requirement for students in the new Common Core State Standards for English so instead teaching keyboarding and proper key strokes would benefit these students a lot more than teaching something that they won't be tested on. I understand that students won't be tested on keyboarding either, but I feel that as more and more teachers require assignments to be typed this would definitely benefit students way more. In addition, technology has forced students to learn how to type instead and most middle school aged students don't even read or write in cursive anymore according to the article.

Is PowerPoint really evil?

According to Edward Tufte, PowerPoint presentations too often resemble a school play-very loud, very slow, and very simple. I must strongly disagree with Edward Tufte because as long as teachers are incorporating fun activities into the PowerPoint presentations such as videos then students are still learning in a interactive environment which helps students learn anyway. Teachers can still  use graphics to help communicate messages instead of text in PowerPoint as well as images. However, I do think that PowerPoint prevents other and perhaps newer technology software such as Prezi from being used because PowerPoint is just so commonly used. So, I believe that it doesn't really matter what kind of software is used, as long as the students are learning it shouldn't matter how the material is presented.

Can the use of instructional game software be used to achieve specific education goals?

Most children, girls and boys, especially the male population have an unlimited availability to video software games. They are now recently being incorporated into schools systems since video games have already become a daily activity for most students growing up in the 21st century. Some schools at the same time oppose the use of instructional games of any kind. I definitely agree with allowing students to use software for instructional games. Children already instinctively correlate video and computer games with having fun. The students can learn new educational concepts and play the games at the same time. So why wouldn't school systems find ways to keep the children engaged in learning while playing educational games via education software?