Exergaming at Hannaford State School

In 2008 & 2009, as part of the Games in Learning exergaming trial, Hannaford State School used exergaming bikes with PC games and Play Station 2 games to improve their students fitness and increase their bike riding skills. The exergaming bikes complimented:

• the school's existing bike safety program
• the exergaming equipment the school had already purchased.

About Hannaford State School
Hannaford State School is a small P-7 school that is located approximately 150 km South-West of Dalby. In 2009, it had an enrolment of 13 students.

What teaching staff were involved in the project?
The teaching-principal, Kay Denning and the HPE specialist teacher Dan Smith who visits the school on a weekly basis organised and ran the project. We would like to thank them for sharing their experiences with us.

What did they do?
Here are some of the ways Hannaford State School used the exergaming equipment and games:

• as part of physical activity rotations
• recording physical activity levels of exertion and skills acquired
• game study - the students studied the characters in the game Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games.

For more details, check out the following:

• Activity Rotations (new window-PDF-341kb) by Kay Denning
• HPE (new window-PDF-235kb) by Dan Smith 
• Hannaford State School's progress update created in the middle of the project.  (pdf - 116 kb - new window)
  

What equipment did the project use?
As part of the Games in Learning project, the school was given access to:

• a PC Gamer bike (natively it hooks up to a PC but adapter cables allow it to also hook up to a PlayStation 2)
• a domestic game bike (natively it hooks up to a PlayStation 2 but adapter cables allow it to also hook up to a PC)
  
• Play Station 2 games console
• Play Station 2 games: MX versus ATV & Off Road Fury
• PC game: Cars

The school contributed:

• Nintendo Wii Console
• data projectors and/or televisions
  
• Nintendo Wii games such as Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games & Dancing Stage: Hottest Party, Guitar Hero
  
• a class-set of (real) bicycles
   

Key findings
Here are some of the key findings:

• Using the exergaming equipment made physical activity fun and appealing to all students especially to those who can be at times reluctant to engage in activities (self-conscious).
• The bikes provided a quality alternative to outdoor physical activities when conditions were adverse (extremely hot, wet, unbearable amounts of prickles/burrs).
• Exergaming provided a way for students to use some of their Mathematical skills such as recording measurements, times, ordinal numbers, scores, etc. It showed a real-life application for knowledge and skills they had been learning or will be learning. It has great cross-curricular application potential.
• Even the younger students became competent at taking their pulse.
• The games played with the exergaming bikes were also useful for for Literacy. The students look at characters and their representations, stereotypes, settings and how the game uses these elements to influence and attract specific users to specific games. 
• The games played with the exergaming bikes were also useful for for The Arts. Students focused specifically on Media elements used in game produtions including interpretation of images, differences between image production, use of colour and use of camera angles and how these vary across different games.
• The teacher reported that, "the students have gained physical fitness, confidence, resilliance, better turn-taking and team work/co-operation skills, organisational skills and more knowledge in using the equipment".

What problems did they counter?
Robustness of gear
One of the cables broke on the PC Gamer bike. The cable was replaced by the supplier. After this, more care was taken regarding cable management issues.
 

Difficulty installing a PC Game
The school experienced difficulty installing the Cars game. They were not sure if it was a MOE/access issue or video card requirements. Access to a technician is difficult in their location.