Virginia District Embraces Tech to Fight Obesity in Schools

The Henrico County school district in Virginia has turned to technology in an attempt to improve student fitness and stem childhood obesity.

As almost one in three American students are overweight, the Henrico County schools district has turned to technology in an attempt to get students more active in school.

Officials have announced that the district is launching a pioneering pilot program at three county elementary schools designed to track students’ physical activity and reward them for their achievements.

The program – Moving Grooving for Life – will be provided in collaboration with New Way Fitness. The program sets physical activity goals for students, and if they meet them they will be rewarded. will strive to meet.

Mike Heppert, founder of Moving Grooving for Life, said:

“Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic, and this program is designed to fight back.

“Moving Grooving encourages and rewards children for participating in healthy lifestyle habits, including physical activity. Not only will this increased activity lower their risk of ever becoming obese, but it will help them incorporate a healthy lifestyle into their regular routine.”

The program uses innovative radio frequency identification (RFID) scanners that will be placed on school playgrounds or tracks. When students – who will be issued personalized RFID cards – passes from one scanner to another with the RFID card, the scanner will take in the information and calculate the distance the child ran or walked.

The information will be then be sent to a centralized data bank.

This comes after the Parkway school district in Missouri is testing out new ‘fat monitors’ that track students’ physical activity.

The district purchased the 400 electronic devices to track 2,500 elementary students’ physical activity and monitor their heart rate, calories burned, steps taken, and even sleep patterns on a watch-like display.

The Moving Grooving for Life program will be piloted in March at Holladay, Rivers Edge and Ward Elementary Schools.

Comments

Darliene Howell

March 6, 2012 at 8:35 pm

I would like to recommend the free NAAFA Child Advocacy ToolkitSM (CATK) and other written guidelines/resources to assist you looking at programs.

A Yale Rudd Center report reviewed existing research on weight stigma in children and adolescents, with attention to the nature and extent of weight bias toward obese youths and to the primary sources of stigma in their lives, including peers, educators, and parents. As a result of weight bias and discrimination, obese children suffer psychological, social, and health-related consequences. http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/resources/upload/docs/what/bias/StigmaObesityChildrensHealth.pdf

Rebecca Puhl of the Rudd Center further brings to light the stigmatization of large children in the following article.
http://www.obesityaction.org/magazine/oacnews7/Childhood%20Obesity%20and%20Stigma.pdf

The NAAFA Child Advocacy Toolkit shows how Health At Every Size® takes the focus off weight and directs it to healthful eating and enjoyable movement. It addresses the bullying, building positive self-image and eliminating stigmatization of large children. The CATK lists resources available to parents, educators or caregivers for educational materials, curriculum and programming that is beneficial for all children. It can be found at:
http://issuu.com/naafa/docs/naafa_childadvocacy2011combined_v04?viewMode=magazine&mode=embed

Reply
- Linda Brees
  
  March 7, 2012 at 3:57 am
  
  It’s amazing how many “obesity fighting” programs hinge of the “fame and shame” approach. Why breed bullies when schools are willing to do the job themselves?
  
  Reply
Virginia District Embraces Tech to Fight Obesity in Schools | International Education News | Renascence School International | Panama City | private preschool, elementary school, middle school

March 7, 2012 at 4:34 pm

[...] has turned to technology in an attempt to improve student fitness and stem childhood obesity.”(more) Comments (0) Go to main news [...]

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Bob Marley

March 23, 2012 at 6:02 am

we shoulf feed all ther fat kids/adults to the hungry people in other countrys so there for we solve world huger. and fat people.

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Erica lorax

March 23, 2012 at 6:05 am

parents, and teachers shoyld od more ot help fight this. maybe kids wouldn’t so big if it the schools ( MCMS) wouldn.t serve such nasty food!!!!!

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