Getting Physical – Why P.E. should be in your Learning Pod’s Curriculum

As many students transition from learning in the classroom to learning at home, physical activity can be one of the first things to leave their daily life. There’s no recess. No gyms. Students can’t even walk between classes! 

Luckily, learning pods offer flexibility and resources for your child’s education, and staying active can be a part of it. Being able to learn while being active with other children in a learning pod opens up a variety of ways to improve your child’s fitness, learning, and health. Read below to learn more about just how integral physical education is to your child’s well being, and why it should be included in every learning pod’s schedule this school year. 

A Strong Body Leads to a Stronger Mind

A study from University of Urbana shows that engaging in physical activity improves learning ability.

Getting your child active outside of class can be a great way to improve their performance in class. The CDC confirms that students who practice physical education earn higher standardized test scores and are able to focus on tasks more efficiently. Further, the Institute of Medicine also states that active students retain information and problem solve more easily than less active peers. Incorporating exercise into your pod will quite literally wake up your students’ brains, allowing them to be more attentive during other lessons.  

What Staying Active Now Means for Staying Active Later

The chart above shows students with access to P.E. are more likely to lead healthy lifestyles later on.

The exercise habits your child learns now are closely correlated with the exercise habits they will develop as an adult. Students without access to physical education are more likely to become sedentary as adults, meaning they engage in no form of exercise or physical activity in their daily life. Studies conducted by the Physical Activity Council show that students with access to physical education are roughly two to three times more likely to engage in other physical activities outside of their education. 

Additionally, adults that did not participate in their school’s physical education were sedentary at twice the rate compared to adults that did participate in their school’s physical education program. Encouraging your children to stay active in their school days will ensure that they lead healthier lifestyles well into adulthood.

Balancing Out Learning on Screen

Even in learning pods, many of your children’s curriculums involve active screen time and internet use. While the use of technology creates more opportunities for your students to learn, too much screen time can have negative effects on the long term health of users. In fact, excessive screen time can be detrimental to your students’ sleep, vision, posture, and even their blood pressure. Incorporating physical education into your learning pod’s curriculum adds balance to their routine, and takes some of their time away from screens. 

It’s difficult to know the best way to help your child learn among the changes brought about by the pandemic. Innovations like learning pods have helped immensely in preserving some sense of normalcy while keeping children safe. By adding physical education into your learning pod’s daily routine, you can ensure long-term benefits to your child’s learning, happiness, and health, even through the chaos of COVID-19.

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