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Description of Unit

In this task, students explore daily activities and their impacts on physical fitness. Students use mathematics skills such as measurement, counting, addition, contextual multiplication, data analysis and graphing to identify areas for change in their personal lives. Students gain awareness about the role of exercise in maintaining health and learn about initiatives such as the President’s Active Lifestyle Challenge (PALA+) and what each individual can do to support healthy choices. Student learning culminates in the design of an intervention aimed at increasing physical activity. These interventions could be one of the following products:

  • a new physical fitness plan and accompanying marketing kit,
  • an original game or sport,
  • an invention that creates a new piece of physical fitness equipment or significantly builds on an existing device, or
  • a new mode of personal transportation that increases the user’s physical activity on a daily basis.

This guide links the Everybody on the Move! unit to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Mathematics and Health Education for second graders. Everybody on the Move! is a mathematics unit that allows students to study physical fitness patterns in their daily routines. Everybody on the Move! also has interdisciplinary connections to English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science disciplines. For example, students will conduct research and compose a variety of texts, as outlined in the English Language Arts and Reading TEKS, develop concepts of time and chronology, as described in the Social Studies TEKS, and develop inquiry and informed decision-­making processes as outlined in the Science TEKS. The following document includes the applicable TEKS and the details of the Everybody on the Move! unit. The final section of this document presents the applicable Texas College and Career Readiness Standards adopted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) on January 24, 2008.

Phase I. Learning Experiences

  1. Introduce students to how mathematics can be used as a tool to describe distances, times, units of measure, and quantities. In small groups, ask students to measure their smallest unit of regular forward movement (e.g., their strides) using standard units of measure. Write down that number at the top of the attached Data Collection Sheet.
  2. Ask students to brainstorm alternate units for measuring the distance (e.g. number of bottle caps, number of footballs). Lead the class in a discussion on how standard units of measure help to clarify communication and review units for distances such as centimeters, meters, kilometers, inches, feet, yards, and miles. Also review units of measurement for time such as seconds, hours, and minutes.
  3. Post a large number line at the front of the room. Divide students into three groups: A, B, and C. Ask Group A to move from one corner of the classroom to the other, counting paces. Plot the numbers along the number line in one color of marker. Ask group B to move halfway across the room and plot their paces. Ask group C to move all the way across the room and then move back halfway and plot their paces. Question students on how each groups’ numbers are related and how we might predict what would happen if group C finished moving the rest of the length of the room? How might students explain mathematically what is happening to the numbers? For instance, why do the numbers continue to increase, even when a group moves backwards across the space?
  4. Introduce students to technological devices used to track distances such as pedometers and GPS devices and how tracking quantities of movement forms a key part of a personal fitness plan. You may wish to read students a book on personal fitness and health such as:
    • The Busy Body Book: A Kid's Guide to Fitness by Lizzy Rockwell
    • Albert the Running Bear's Exercise Book by Barbara Isenberg & Marjorie Jaffe
    • Dudley: The Little Terrier That Could by Stephen Green­‐Armytage
    • Murphy Meets the Treadmill by Harriet Ziefert
  5. Invite a guest speaker into the class such as personal trainer, athlete, or sports medicine expert. AND/OR
    Take a field trip to a local gym and ask students to observe and describe cardiovascular workout equipment such as treadmills, stationary bicycles, and elliptical trainers. How might students describe these pieces of equipment using mathematics terminology (e.g., the treadmill helps people add steps to their daily total)?
  6. Over a period of a week ask students to take measurements of the following four activities using the attached Data Collection Sheet:
    • How far does the student travel each day through moving their bodies using their muscles, instead of by vehicles or electronic means (students can count in paces and convert to standard units of measurement using their stride length)
    • How far does the student travel in a day by vehicle?
    • How much of the student’s time in a day is spent sitting and sleeping?
    • How much of the student’s time in a day is spent doing some sort of movement or fitness activity?

    Students may want to present their findings by constructing bar graphs that describe the data for each day of the week.
  7. Introduce students to the President’s Active Lifestyle Challenge (PALA+) at https://letsmove.obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/ and the goal of increasing movement activities during the day. The student objective during the independent research process is to discover ways to increase physical activity in each student’s daily routine.

Phase II. Independent Research

A. Research process

  1. Selecting a topic. In small groups, students should brainstorm a list of ideas for how they might increase their time spent moving physically. Students should seek a balance of what they love doing with their new fitness goals. For instance, if a student enjoys video games, how might that student still participate in those games, but also be physically active at the same time? Students may wish to complete the Activity Inventory to identify areas for change. Student topics should focus on studying changes to one of the following areas:
    • their daily choices and behaviors,
    • the mechanics/structure of their activities (e.g., how a game is played), or
    • a technological change to either a mode of transportation or new type of fitness equipment.
  2. Asking guiding questions. Each student creates a KWHL chart. Encourage the students to include questions like, “In what ways might this activity be modified to increase physical movement, while still being enjoyable and safe? During what time periods of the day am I most active? Which time periods— during the period from when I wake up to when I go to sleep— have the least amount of physical activity? What are the activities of my friends and how might we increase our physical fitness as a group? What safety precautions need to be taken with a fitness plan, game, or mode of personal transportation?”
  3. Creating a research proposal. Brainstorm with students how to find the answers to the questions in their W and H columns.
  4. Conducting the research. Collaborate with the librarian to provide books and/or websites with visuals that students can access with help. Analyze current sports activities and games to determine how they are played (game mechanics). Review methods of personal transportation that use physical movement to provide forward motion (e.g., bicycles, scooters, skateboards, roller skates, rowboats). Observe individuals using fitness equipment. Student can interview personal trainers, the physical fitness instructor, or other mentors with expertise in the field. Conduct a survey of peers related to which physical fitness activities are the most enjoyable and why.
  5. Proposing solutions. Each student gathers his/her research and designs a product to be used as an intervention.

B. The product

Each student within the group should develop ONE of the following products:

  1. A public service announcement for a new plan to help kids increase their physical fitness activities
  2. A new game, sport, or altered activity that increases physical fitness. Predict how this game will increase movement and use mathematics terms to describe your findings
  3. An invention such as a new piece of fitness equipment or a new method of transportation that increases physical fitness

Use mathematics terms to describe the nature of the problem, make predictions on the impact of the intervention (i.e., the plan, game, or invention), and indicate how the intervention will be marketed and sold to students and parents. Each product should also list safety considerations.

C. Communication

Each group presents their concept for a physical fitness intervention (i.e., fitness plan, sport/game, or invention) to classmates using appropriate vocabulary. The group should take questions or comments at the end of the presentation.

D. A completed project consists of:

  1. Completed data collection chart and bar graphs illustrating areas for change
  2. A KWHL chart
  3. Notes for the student’s plan or design
  4. The product (PSA, prototype of game/activity, etc.)
  5. A poster describing the design, complete with charts describing its merits
  6. Videotape or audiotape of the presentation, including the Q&A session
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