October 25, 2022 -- It’s time for gym class at Valleyview Elementary School. Students are doing jumping jacks and playing freeze tag. They’re running and dodging and practicing their math.
Wait… math? In gym class? According to Valleyview’s physical education teacher Channon Gross, the combination is much less strange than it seems.
“We know through research that when kids move, they learn better,” Gross explained. “This is the perfect marriage of the academic world and the physical fitness world.
To achieve this pairing, Gross utilizes the Lü Interactive Playground. This high-tech audiovisual system projects interactive games and teaching tools onto a wall. Then, the kids can then physically interact with these programs, which are often fun academic games.
One of the games is a team-based math competition. The Lü system projects a math problem on the wall and offers six possible solutions. The students run up to the answers and poke the one they choose with shortened pool noodles. If the answer is correct, a new problem will appear for the next student in line to solve.
The students do jumping jacks while eagerly waiting for their turn. The game is high energy, and students can get competitive.
“To see them interact with the Lü system and get excited and competitive is great,” Gross said. “Some of the games are becoming a group effort. It’s nice having that spirit of helping each other out.”
The Lü Playground is also helping keep students engaged in their other classes. Gross said teachers noticed students working especially hard during their math lessons in hopes of winning the Lü competitions.
“Kids may not all love math, but they’re so competitive that they learn their math facts better because they want to do well at the game. It’s been really cool to watch them grow with their math fluency from that,” she said.
Many young students today are tech fluent and enjoy engaging with screen media. However, Gross said that with the rise of digital technology, students don’t always move as much as they should. She thinks technology that encourages exercise, like the Lü Interactive Playground, helps get students moving in a fun way.
“To have a technology that incorporates them moving is so beneficial,” Gross said. “We’re in this era where there is a lot of sitting. This gives them another way to be interested in doing an activity.”
Several other CCS buildings have Lü Interactive Playgrounds. These include Hamilton STEM Academy, Columbus Spanish Immersion Academy, Siebert Elementary School, Ecole Kenwood French Immersion, and Como Elementary School.
