DDR a Big Hit in Schools

I've been a fan of Konami's Dance Dance Revolution for awhile because it gets my kids up and moving while playing a video game. Like lots of parents, I realized quickly that this is one video game you don't mind your kids playing for awhile since they are getting some exercise—inside!—while they do.

Known as DDR, the dance video game has been moving well beyond the family room into schools this year. As Robin wrote, the West Virginia schools launched the trend at the start of the school year. Now, several hundred schools in at least 10 states are including DDR in physical education classes, the New York Times reports in this interesting read on the game. By the end of the decade, more than 1,500 schools plan to incorporate DDR into gym classes with the aim to get kids moving and turn the tide on childhood obesity.

If you're not familiar with DDR, arrows on a screen move forward, back, right or left to the beat of the music and the dancer has to hit the corresponding arrows on a mat on the floor. The game emerged first in arcades in Japan. Now, it's mostly played on Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox. The Times reports that kids who normally are not thrilled to be going to PE class are pretty psyched to be there when DDR is on the schedule.

One nice appeal of DDR in schools is it inspires kids who are not keen on team sports to get moving and make exercise a part of their day. Anything that gets kids' hearts pumping and muscles moving is a good thing.

I love the story of how West Virginia adopted DDR in such a big way; nearly all of its 185 middle schools use it. Linda M. Carson, a West Virginia University PE professor and director of the state's Motor Development Center, tells the Times she was walking by an arcade one day and saw kids playiing DDR, and she was stunned: "There were all these kids dancing and sweating and actually standing in line and paying money to be physically active. And they were drinking water, not soda. It was a physical educator's dream."

Related:

DDR is A-OK

West Virginia Schools Stay Fit with Dance Dance Video Game

LINK: PE Classes Turn to Video Game That Works Legs [NYT]