Pedometers offer a way to cheaply and effectively monitor how much your students move around in physical education classes. You may switch on a light bulb in students' minds on how they can become more active. Those thousands of steps recorded on the pedometer can show the PE class how it stacks up compared to age-appropriate activity expectations. Research on real-world experiences of teachers conducted by Wayne State University can help you with a realistic expectation of how pedometers can work for your PE students.
Preparation
Students need instruction on how to wear the pedometers, ideally on a waistband aligned with the knee. You'll need to be prepared for occasional snags. Boys with baggy pants and girls with sundresses may have difficulty mounting them properly. A typical class may also experience two to four malfunctioning pedometers despite correct maintenance. Accuracy can also be an issue if a pedometer malfunctions, and accuracy "is a big deal for the kids," says Nate McCaughtry and co-authors of the 2008 Wayne State study published in the "Journal of Teaching in Physical Education."
Baselines
At the beginning of PE class, have students check out a pedometer and an activity card to log their steps, recommends Robert P. Pangrazi and colleagues in "Pedometer Power." The students must enter their average stride length, as calculated by measuring 20 steps and dividing by 20. If the pedometer has an option to record activity time rather than steps, this may be preferable to negate the advantage of the additional steps taken by shorter students. Students can also upload their data on the WalkSmart! Active Schools website. Have the students record their activity levels over the course of four PE classes to establish a baseline of their average PE lesson activity.
Activities
Elementary students can use the pedometers to measure the steps required for different activities, as well as trying to tiptoe across the activity area without recording steps to gain an understanding of how the device works, Pangrazi suggests. More advanced games can include Frisbee golf, a scavenger hunt and sports relays. The students can graph their recorded activity levels in conjunction with a computer or math teacher or on their own with pencil and paper. Secondary students can develop their own games and include activities outside the classroom, such as walking the dog, playing at lunch or break time and raking leaves. They can measure the steps required of their own invented dance routines and walking rather than driving or riding to school.
Warning
You may find it easiest to work with just one class at a time to address issues with maintaining, tracking and checking that the pedometers work OK. Students may want to beat the system by shaking the pedometers to falsely record additional steps, the Wayne State study found in the course of interviewing PE teachers who use pedometers. Or students may get into a competition to see who records the most steps and rig the results. Set ground rules on behavior at the start.
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