Revolutionizing Education: The Integration of Physical Activity and Technology in Schools

In an era increasingly dominated by screens, physical education (P.E.) plays a crucial role in keeping kids active. While P.E. is important for ensuring kids get at least some physical activity, not all students look forward to the class. According to a Gen Youth report on physical education, some students feel a lack of skill or body confidence, don’t have a variety of activities to choose from, or experience physical discomfort, all of which might contribute to their lack of enjoyment. But as technology is increasingly incorporated into schools and classrooms, it can also be leveraged to get them moving and enhance the overall learning experience.

The Importance of Physical Education and the Challenges It Faces

Researchers recommend 60 minutes of daily physical activity for young children, but only 1 in 4 kids between the ages of 6 and 17 reach the standard, according to the Gen Youth report. P.E. can help students reach that goal, but not all schools have robust programs. "Physical education and physical activity are good for our rising generation. It’s good for mental health. It’s good for brain health and academic achievement".

While most states require students to participate in physical education, 31 allow substitutions for the credit, and 30 allow student exemptions, according to SHAPE America. “A lot of times, physical education is seen as something extra or something that’s a little bit novel but not necessary or mandatory in our profession,” Lynch said. “I would say that we’re the heartbeat of the school.”

One barrier to physical education in schools is the lack of certified P.E. teachers. SHAPE America conducted a survey of representatives of P.E. teacher-prep programs across the country and found that 42% said their program enrollments had declined in the last 10 years.

Bridging the Gap: Technology as a Catalyst for Enhanced Physical Activity

Ed-tech companies have been looking for ways to both increase student engagement and address the shortage or burnout of physical education teachers. Using technology in P.E. is “meeting students where they’re at,” said Brandy Lynch, a member of the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America board of directors and an associate professor and physical education program coordinator at the University of Central Missouri. SHAPE America is a nonprofit that sets P.E. standards and provides support for educators in the field. That’s where technology-specifically virtual P.E. options-can come in.

Innovative Platforms: Hiveclass and PLT4M

One way to increase student engagement in physical education could be offering more choices through technology, said Joe Titus, co-founder and CEO of Hiveclass, a digital P.E. platform. Hiveclass has created 1,800 standards-based physical education videos on 18 different sports or wellness activities, from dance to basketball, accessible in both English and Spanish. The product launched in 2022 and now operates in 26 states and across different types of schools, including charter, virtual, alternative education, and traditional public schools.

With Hiveclass, teachers could set up two smartboards with video instructions for different activities students can choose from, Titus said. On one side of the classroom, students can learn dance. On the other side, students can learn basketball skills. “The teacher can be a facilitator, helping both sets of students, and that makes it personalized,” he said.

Dan DeJager, who oversees secondary physical education for the San Juan Unified School District and was the 2019 SHAPE America National High School Physical Education Teacher of the Year, met with the founders of Hiveclass before it launched to share ideas on the P.E. ed-tech space and eventually joined the advisory board. “I almost look at it like-especially with what they have in the libraries-a Rosetta Stone where you can learn a language. Well, now you can learn a sport," said DeJager.

A similar product called PLT4M focuses on health and fitness skills and offers teachers ways to track a student’s progress. PLT4M was created and now serves more than 1,000 school districts with over 500,000 students. Since 2019, Molly Collins, a P.E. teacher at Pennfield High School in Battle Creek, Mich., has been using PLT4M in her classes, allowing students to use the app to select an activity or sport. She then tracks how long a student spends on an activity to curate specific goals and measure progress for each student throughout the academic year.

Collins said her favorite part about PLT4M is the opportunity to show students their progress because it makes them excited about their fitness journey.

Read also: Understanding PE Content

The Role of Technology in Enhancing Traditional P.E.

Technology solutions like PLT4M or Hiveclass can play a role in P.E. classes if they include options a P.E. teacher cannot offer. A video, for example, can demonstrate to students how their peers practice a skill or do an exercise-“there’s representation,” she said. Chief Product Officer and Co-founder Paul Suhr told Education Week that Hiveclass content intentionally includes models and actors that are diverse in ethnicity, body type, and age.

Addressing Concerns: Technology as a Tool, Not a Replacement

Some educators are concerned about the potential for virtual P.E. ed tech to replace certified P.E. teachers. Lynch, who teaches P.E. teacher-candidates, believes the technology is only a tool, not a replacement. “My students know how to teach quality physical education without the use of technology, and then they also know how to use it to augment the quality teaching that is already occurring,” said Lynch.

Collins agrees that technology like PLT4M can’t replace P.E. teachers, but says students will search ways to exercise on their own. For example, Collins has seen students ask ChatGPT to curate workouts.

Adapting to the Virtual World: Online P.E. in the Post-Pandemic Era

For many students, physical education classes offer more than just a chance to play dodgeball. They serve as an introduction to key concepts, like fitness and exercise. But, in a post-pandemic world, it’s no longer unusual for P.E. classes to take place in a virtual space.

While schools aren’t requiring online learning for students anymore, online learning isn’t going to go away. During the school year, more than 12,000 Tennessee students were enrolled in the Volunteer State’s 58 virtual schools, according to the Virtual Education Annual Report.

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With more and more students learning - and taking gym class - remotely since the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers are having to adapt their curriculums. That’s what led Alex Adams, an assistant professor in Austin Peay State University’s Department of Health and Human Performance, to publish what he says is one of the first reviews of appropriate practices for online K-12 physical education earlier this month.

Most of the guidance - including from the Society of Health and Physical Educators, or SHAPE America - for virtual P.E. instruction actually pre-dated the pandemic, Adams said. So he worked to create a modernized guide to developing and teaching the class online. “Essentially, what we did is we just looked at all the research since then and updated it,” Adams said. “We added to their list and said, ‘Okay, we've learned something since then. Consider these things.’”

The publication is split into four categories: curriculum, learning environment, student pre-requisites and assessment. Adams said every virtual classroom can apply the guide differently. “Within each of those recommendations, there's different ideas of how to adapt or adopt that for their setting, whether it's kindergarten or eighth grade or asynchronous versus synchronous or hybrid,” he said.

Access to class resources can vary wildly from district to district. Materials one teacher might have in their classroom aren’t necessarily available in every school, and gyms - virtual and otherwise - are no different. In-person physical education usually means everyone gets the same equipment and access to the space, but virtual gyms don’t guarantee that. “The big thing is rethink the virtual gym, think about things that you couldn't normally do, and take advantage of that, lean into that and think out of the box,” Adams said.

When it comes to online learning, COVID-19 may be the first thing that comes to mind. But, Adams said there’s a big difference between online courses completed during the COVID-19 pandemic - during what’s called emergency remote learning - and online courses today. “People who are in our virtual schools, they choose to typically be there, right? COVID-19 students didn't choose to be there,” Adams said. “So we try to only look at strategies that actually would work or that could still work in our current virtual settings.”

One of Adams’ major aims is to make P.E. an enjoyable experience for students who take the class virtually, regardless of age. He said the class, which is very visual because of its emphasis on movement, can often be intimidating for some students and cause them to prefer taking the class online. “Historically, one of the biggest populations that took online P.E. are people who didn't like P.E.,” Adams said.

Adams said the goal of the report is to encourage further research and provide guidance to those creating and learning through online P.E. curriculums. “If this helps a teacher or helps a parent or helps an administrator, then this is great,” Adams said.

Integrating Movement into the Classroom: Simple Strategies for Educators

Technology continues to make our lives easier and more connected, but this convenience has come at a cost: Americans are living increasingly sedentary lives. Both children and adults spend far more time sitting than they should, and only a small fraction of Americans meet the recommended levels of daily physical activity.

This isn’t breaking news, though. We all know this, of course - we see it in our schools, workplaces and daily routines. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Movement changes a person’s mood, sharpens focus, boosts memory and enhances academic performance (School Sport Foundation). Physical activity acts almost like a superpower, providing a range of benefits that almost no other activity can deliver all at once.

During my work as a neuroscience research assistant at the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Health, I witnessed this effect firsthand. We measured participants’ aerobic fitness using VO₂ max tests and assessed their performance on cognitive tasks. The findings aligned with years of research: physical activity does more than just accompany improved cognitive abilities - it actively supports and enhances them. Recognizing the power of physical activity and its profound effects on both the brain and academic performance naturally raises a question: how can educators harness this tool in their classrooms?

It is not enough to rely on the occasional gym class or recess. In many schools, gym happens only a few times a week, or in some cases, just once a week. And even then, research shows that much of gym class is spent waiting in line, listening to instructions or doing activities that are not truly active (National Public Radio). Add that to the long hours spent sitting in classrooms, and it is clear that students need more opportunities to move.

Ideally, movement and physical activity would be built into the core curriculum alongside reading and math - not as an add-on, but as an essential tool for learning. To harness the power of physical activity as a learning tool, it is best to make it a part of your daily classroom rhythm. Here are some fun and simple ways to consistently incorporate physical activity into your classroom routines:

Stretching or yoga poses during the first five minutes of settling in after morning announcements
Quick rounds of jumping jacks or high knees before transitioning to a new lesson
Balance exercises or movement challenges after silent reading
A short, fun movement game, such as “Simon Says,” after a long independent work session

For even more inspiration, here is a list of classroom-friendly movement activities. Each activity is designed to be inclusive for varying fitness levels, so all students feel safe and comfortable participating. Best of all, these activities are fun, helping students to see physical activity not as a chore, but as an enjoyable and rewarding part of their day.

The demands of meeting curriculum goals are real, and it can be difficult to find time for physical activity without feeling like it might take away from precious learning time. But physical activity is not a distraction - it is a tool that supports every aspect of education. Every minute of movement in the classroom is a powerful investment. Incorporated classroom physical activity is the simple, missing link to unlocking sharper minds and happier students.

The Cognitive Benefits of Exercise: Research Insights

Children need pauses from cognitive effort, ideally involving unstructured play. Children have been watching athletes win medals and do victory dances. A healthy mind in a healthy body? One genetic study of over a quarter million people highlights the cognitive benefits of exercise, while another, based on 30 years of scientific literature, says the opposite. Physical education is too often sexist and old fashioned. Studies point to students’ movement skills declining during lockdowns, especially among younger children. Inclusive education has been promoted since the 1970s. Governments spend millions to try to get kids moving but these interventions may be short-lived, or only benefit a group of kids.

UNCG Assistant Professor Eric Drollette begins each semester in the same, unexpected way. His question reminds students that academic success can arise from a variety of backgrounds. “I was always manually working and spending so much time farming that it was hard to manage school at the same time, but I still succeeded,” says Drollette. “I’m interested in the effects of exercise on the brain and how we think, particularly with children,” Drollette says. Children scored significantly higher on a standardized test measuring verbal comprehension following just nine minutes of classroom-friendly exercises.

Their short sequence of exercises includes high knees, jumping jacks, lunges, and air squats. “Teachers and educators that I talk to look at that and say, ‘Wow, there’s something I can do that’s not that long that can actually improve children’s academic performance,’” says Drollette. In the study, the researchers also examined a type of brain neuroelectrical activity, error-related negativity, that is observed when people make a mistake. High error-related negativity is associated with mental distraction in the form of greater fixation on the error, Drolette explains. “With interval exercise, we actually see this decrease in this error-related brain response. The team, which includes graduate students Praveen Pasupathi and Bryan Montero-Herreras pictured above, saw a drop in error-related negativity after the exercise. “The department has a strong exercise psychology emphasis. We now have an applied program and an online master’s program and a handful of us that do exercise psychology research. “I can be that person that says, ‘Don’t think negatively about yourself. Don’t think you’re an imposter here because you managed and you did well. Keep going with it,'” he says.

Community Initiatives and Accessible Playgrounds

AppHarvest is launching an educational initiative based on the health and nutrition of Appalachia.

A new accessible playground for students was unveiled at the Kentucky School for the Blind (KSB) in Louisville.

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