Grant brings ‘Dance Dance Revolution’ game to Oak Point students

By Leah Shaffer

Projected on the wall of the Oak Point Intermediate gymnasium is a large video game in progress. Arrows move across the screen as the David Bowie song, “Let’s Dance,” blasts through speakers. The kids in the gym move their feet as the arrows direct, their focus never shifting from the projection: Welcome to the fitness revolution, the “Dance Dance Revolution” that is.

“They’re all engaged, every one of them,” noted Patti Just, a physical education teacher at Oak Point.

What draws the students’ attention is a video game called “Dance Dance Revolution” in which a player scores points for moving along with the assigned dance moves. Just and physical education teacher Karen Peterson are introducing the game as part of the PE curriculum this year. A $5,000 grant from the Foundation for Eden Prairie Schools made it possible for them to afford the game, which includes two electronic pads for students to dance on, and a set of practice pads.

 “We want the kids to have fun with it but we really made sure that that learning piece was in there too,” noted Peterson.

DDR

The use of a video game to get kids moving is not an untested idea. A recent article in a magazine published by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) details the results of an ACE funded study to test the effectiveness of Dance Dance Revolution or DDR. According to that article, the study, conducted by researches at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, found that all subjects “showed a marked increase in exercise intensity as they participated in each increasingly difficult mode in the DDR game.”

“It really does serve as a viable option for physical activity for kids,” said ACE’s chief science officer Cedric X. Bryant, in the article.

Just and Peterson went the extra mile to make sure the game is aligned with national standards for physical education.

Peterson said  movement stimulates the brain for learning and whenever they can engage kids, it’s going to be good.

In the gym, that isn’t always the case, “because you have a lot of kids that are overweight, not motivated and they don’t always want to do a lot.”

But with DDR, all the kids were totally focused.

 “And they love it … and what’s nice about it is, it allows all kids to be successful,” added Just.

Peterson noted, special needs kids are “totally engaged” with the game.

A student in a wheelchair was able to participate by sitting on a pad and using her hands, she said.

Students learning the dance moves is just one part of it.

 “We also teach the kids target heart rate zones,” said Peterson.

The students will use handheld monitors while the video game is in “workout mode,” which goes very fast.

For that day, the goal is to work hard to get the heart rate up, not necessarily master the moves.

Peterson said they’ll have a third component where they get to make up their own routine, using their own music.

“That element where you take kids into self-directed learning of their own, is in there too,” she said.

The class also incorporates Classrooms of the Future technology and strategies from the National Urban Alliance.

Peterson said they plan to go through a DDR section every year. They plan to loan the program to the music department which can use it for rhythm and counting lessons.