ActivEd Blog

Americans were consuming fewer sugary drinks. That progress has now stopped. Children and adults now consume about the same number of calories from soda, sports drinks, and other sugary drinks as they did in 2009-2010. From the Washington Post:

Technology in gym class? For those of us who remember the "good old days" of four square and flag football, the concept seems foreign. But Victor Kass, a health and physical education teacher in Brampton, Ontario, understands the importance of technology in the phyiscial education. In a recent post at EdTech Magazine, Kass highlights his initial thoughts on the matter:

Recently, William Brown and Fred Crawford wrote a guest column for Greenville Online.The article highlights the ongoing longitudinal study that ActivEd founder, Dr. Julian Reed, is completing at Legacy Charter School. South Carolina currently has the 13th highest childhood obesity rate and getting children active can have a huge impact on resolving the obesity problem. Legacy Charter School is ramping up the fight against childhood obesity with healthy meals and daily physical education. 

From the article:

Dr. Reed found that Legacy students had statistically significant improvements on 100 percent of the fitness measures compared to no significant increases in any of the fitness measures for control school students in year seven. Astoundingly, control students exhibited a 66 percent decrease on the fitness measures. Children at Legacy Charter School, such as fourth-grader Michael, could perform push-up, curl-up and aerobic tests better than the control students. “Michael started the year with low fitness scores but ended the year with the highest scores in his class,” says his physical education coach, Lacey Lyons. “He went from doing three push-ups to 21 and two curl-ups to 40. Along the way, Coach Lyons noted the increase in Michael’s confidence and the respect and encouragement he received from his classmates.

These fitness advances correlated with Legacy students exhibiting a statistically significant increase on 50 percent of the cognitive measures, compared to 0 percent for the control students.

Legacy Charter School students also exhibited a significant decrease in the percentage of overweight or obese youth in year seven, while the control schools witnessed an increase in obesity and overweight youth.

Many schools are failing in the fight against childhood obesity. However, the statistics from this groundbreaking study show Legacy is doing something right. Providing daily physical education for every student can impact:

• Cognition
• Aerobic capacity, muscular strength and muscular endurance
• Reduce the percentages of overweight and obese youth

Congratulations to the staff of Legacy Charter School for their hard work and the positive impacts they are having on students. Looking to learn more about how you can get your students moving? Check out Walkabouts!

ActivEd was co-founded by Dr. Julian Reed as a way to help educators utilize his research in the classroom. As a associate professor at Furman University, his research continues. Most recently, he has been conducting a longitudinal study on the effects of daily physical education in students. 

Why does physical education matter? 

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a global advocate for equality in learning. UNESCO created the following infographic as part of the Quality Physical Education Policy Project. The project is dedicated to giving students across the world access to education. The infographic showcases how being active contributes to a 21st century education. 

Our founder, Dr. Julian Reed, has dedicated his career to making sure all children can benefit from physical activity. At ActivEd, we create movement-rich lessons to help student achievement, but we also know that the continued benefits of active learning are much deeper and longer lasting. To learn more about the science behind ActivEd, download our white paper.