Minds in Motion @D39C

On Tuesday morning, we worked with a group of community members to begin thinking about what fitness will look like at Design39Campus.  It is always exciting to meet with people from various backgrounds and experiences.  Each person had a unique experience with sports, athletics, or movement to share with the group.

As usual, we worked through the design thinking process to think differently about "minds in motion."

Emphathy:

In this phase, we looked at fitness and thought about all the aspects of the topic.  If you have been to one of our focused workshops, you will recognize these questions.  

When you hear we are changing the way we do fitness…

• What changes do you want to see?
• What excites you about changing fitness in school?
• What new opportunities do you hope your child will have?
• What don’t you want to see at D39C?
• What’s a deal breaker?

Individually and in partner groups, participants wrote responses on post-it notes and they were sorted by question. To see all the responses from the participants, click here.

Define the Problem:

The current model of Physical Education in schools does not meet the needs of all students.

Ideate/Brainstorm:

As usual, the most exciting part of the workshop was the group discussion and generating potential ideas to solve the problem.

Here are some of the ideas that were developed:

• Teachers involved and participate in fitness with students. Model fitness and lifelong health to students.
• Structured or non-structured - They need to know how to play in non-structured time, and then also how to behave in structured time.
• Having a garden at school could also be integrated into fitness and how you fuel a body.
• By exposing the students to many different sports, students may find a sport that they like.
• Outside of school, participate in charity events, such as walk-a-thons, or 5Ks.  This would also give back to the community and continue to be fit.  We could also hold our own events that would promote fitness and fundraising.
• Great Urban Race: You take your mobile devices to solve the puzzle and run to that next place!  You could do this as teams.  It would be a great team building event, too.
• Organized games during lunch and recess.  Consider how to make this efficient so kids can organize less and play more.
• Like the idea of kids being able to sweat, have fun, and play.
• Focus on nutrition.  This is a natural integration to science, too.  Half of the 7th grade curriculum focuses on the body.

Do you have ideas for fitness at D39C? We would love your input in the comment section below!

Kelly Eveleth
Teacher-Athlete
@Design39Campus