If Not Now, When?
There is one sure way for everyone to be measured for effort in all exercise and class activities. In 1982, I pioneered the implementation of heart rate sensors. Every kid was then measured by their effort each day, using their personal data from their own heart rate. No one is guessing. I now had the ideal technology to individualize exercise for every single student. This invention also gave me the ability to let students choose the aerobic exercise each day, for the cardio portion of class. You could choose exercise bikes, rowing machines, etc. Running is not the best choice for cardio workouts. It is the cheapest, but overweight kids and those who hate running, are given no choice. The excuses for “still” trying to defend the effort portion of a grade, are due to the lack of integration of basic heart rate technology, that should be a cornerstone in every undergraduate degree in physical education in every college. We continue to graduate physical education majors and coaches from college, who are not trained in the use of heart rate technology. Today’s heart rate technology is cheap and affordable. The excuse that there is no money for this in schools, is hard to accept. The technology budgets in every school, must include spending for PE.
Yet, those young physical educators coming out from college, are unaware that these budgets exist, and you as a member of the faculty have every right to get technology funds from this part of the school budget. I have written the technology proposal for physical educators to submit to your technology committee in schools. Simply go to our funding page. It is there for you to get. Without using any of your PE budget, you must be the person to go to the technology committee and present your need. You should start with the “fact” that half of your grade in PE is effort. Effort cannot be defended without this heart rate data. You are always guessing when you are teaching or coaching students when it comes to intensity throughout every class or coaching session. Our profession is unable to defend our exercise prescriptions that are given to “groups of students“.
We must be able to prescribe exercise to INDIVIDUALS in a group setting. We also must be our students greatest advocates for getting technology invented for our profession, into the classroom. When we are not educated in the use of technology, it looks like we are not “CAPABLE “ of learning the technology invented for our field of exercise SCIENCE. Guessing is not assessing. With so many students who are on various drugs, overweight, asthmatic, and everyone at different levels of aerobic fitness, we are risking our daily interpretations of student performance, using guessing. Exactly how can anyone possibly guess the correct effort for 30 to 65 students in every class? Show me your data. Where is the data history of exercise, for every student or athlete, stored? It is 2022. What are you waiting for? How much did your undergraduate degree cost? Are you graduating without the ability to individualize exercise prescriptions? Every major in physical education and exercise science should be required to buy a heart rate sensor in the first semester. They are $80.00.
This one invention will be used in countless classes and also in coaching. It will also be used individually, for their own workouts. We need to be moving to the beat of our heart in the year 2022.
Beth Kirkpatrick (Right)
Beth Kirkpatrick with her students
