Empowering Healthy Kids Blog

NAB have announced Schools First Awards, designed to bring together students, teachers and communities to fund innovative projects:

Impact Awards

The Impact Awards are for those school–community partnerships that can demonstrate improved student outcomes as a result of their partnership.

There are up to 60 local awards of $50,000 each and eight State/Territory Awards of $100,000 each. A national prize of $500,000 to $1 million will be awarded to a truly exceptional school-community partnership that is able to demonstrate outstanding performance against the Award criteria and a compelling strategy for using the funds.

Schools wishing to apply for an Impact Award will need to demonstrate:

1. The partnership was set up to address an identified need or opportunity aimed at improving student outcomes
2. A plan was developed with each partner contributing to the plan.
3. A program was successfully implemented
4. Student outcomes were improved as a result of the partnership program
5. The partnership is sustainable and has become part of the culture and planning activities of each partner organisation.

Schools must also include information regarding proposed use of funding.

Seed Funding Awards

The Seed Funding Awards are for those schools that are either in the process of setting up a partnership or in the early stages of the partnership and are seeking funding to help the partnership develop further.

For the Seed Funding Awards there will be up to 20 Awards with a value of up to $25,000 each.

To be considered for a Seed Funding Award, a school must demonstrate:

1. The partnership is being set up to address an identified need or opportunity aimed at improving student outcomes
2. A plan is either being developed or will be developed with each partner contributing to the plan
3. A well-organised program will be implemented
4. The potential that student outcomes will be improved as a result of the partnership program
5. The partnership can be sustained and will become part of the culture and planning activities of each partner organisation.

Schools must also include information regarding proposed use of funding.

Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) are looking at ways to combat child obesity:

Donna Spruijt-Metz, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, will present an overview of the KNOWME NETWORKS study — a program to develop a Mobile Body Area Network that monitors obesity indicators in minority youth.

The network, developed in conjunction with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, will use a set of wearable wireless sensors that measure physical activity, stress, location in time and space, body fat and a number of other factors. Data will be immediately transmitted to a secure server for storage and analyses. The KNOWME device will be calibrated for the specific user, and researchers will be able to “ping” a participant who remains sedentary for too long, Spruijt-Metz says.

Her presentation includes findings of a study led by colleague Michael I. Goran, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine, physiology and biophysics and pediatrics, and director of the USC Childhood Obesity Research Center at the Keck School of Medicine. The study looks at the impact of a computer-based education program on promoting physical activity in fourth-grade students.

Two Los Angeles County schools used interactive CD-ROMS for an eight-week long health curriculum, while two control schools received educational CD-ROMS not related to health. Researchers found that the program had a significant impact on obesity reduction in girls, but not in boys.

The results reflect the fact that girls and boys have very different activity levels and attitudes about activity, and that interventions will need to be tailored more specifically, Spruijt-Metz says. However, she believes the study also indicates that technology is an important tool in preventing obesity in youth.

“Technology gives us more objective and reliable measures than self-reporting,” she says. “It is particularly appealing because it offers immediate feedback and will allow interventionists and health professionals to respond directly to the child’s behavior as part of the intervention.”

Provided schools are given a choice on using this new technology then I think this is a good idea. It has the same ambitions as my Zippeddy project.

I had the distinct pleasure of giving a talk to 100 or so kids about inventors and inventing. I had been trialling Zippeddy at this school and by luck, for this term, they were learning about inventions through the ages. I told them how I came up with the idea of Zippeddy and the process of creating such a product (along with the trials and tribulations). My observations:

• Kids are easily impressed with the smallest things (just a PCB circuit board with a few lights excites them) and like the fact that something made made “just for them” and looks cool.
• A sizable portion (about 30%) opened up electronic gadgets to see what was in them. I told to keep doing that
• One smart kid said”Are you going to make this in China, cos of the labour?” - I replied with the truth that the parts would be made in China but assembled here in Melbourne.
• Many (including the teachers) wanted to know how you come up with the idea. I replied by saying I wanted to make kids be physically active and I had the skills and knowledge in engineering to do this - thus the concept of a web enabled kids pedometer was born.
• One student asked how do I promote my product? I thought that this kid, not only understands inventing, but business as well.
• Many asked when it will be in shops. I replied that we are trying to get it into schools first, then into shops later.

Afterwards I stuck around and many more kids asked more questions. Some even pitched their ideas to me. Overall, I was impressed with their inquisitiveness and desire to create new things.

Today is Walk to School Day!

Today and Aussie Apples are running a competition to find Australia’s Healthiest School. Here the skinny:

All you have to do is film a 60 second video showing us why your school is the healthiest school in Australia and you must include apples in your video.

See here for more info. Entries close 22 May 2009.

UPDATE: Winner announced (with video).

One of the constant debates that I have is the role of government in childhood obesity. In my view, I think that solutions to this problem will occur from the “bottom up” - from local communities, entrepreneurs, teachers and most importantly the parents and children themselves. It’s best that government regulations and mandates are kept out of the way from individuals finding their own way.

It is thus unfortunate that legislators in georgia have passed a bill, called the Student Health and Physical Education Act, mandates that school provide annual assessments on children’s physical fitness and wellness:

Local legislators said that there are better things the Georgia General Assembly could be doing rather trying to regulate childhood obesity.

House Bill (H.B. 229) passed the Georgia House and is now headed to the Senate. The bill, called the Student Health and Physical Education Act, mandates that school provide annual assessments on children’s physical fitness and wellness.

It also mandates the results be put in a report to the governor and that there be a recognition program.

A similar bill failed last year in the Georgia General Assembly because officials were allowed to take body mass measurements. That wasn’t a part of this bill, but could be included later.

Sixteenth District Rep. Rick Crawford (D-Cedartown) voted against the bill, saying it was “yet another requirement” the state is putting on local systems.

“It mandates they do certain things,” he said. “I’m fine with them doing those things if the local boards decide they need them.”

State Sen. Bill Heath said he likes to reserve his comment until he sees the bill. However, he is dubious about its intentions.

“Our teachers need to focus on educating our children, not weighing them. My first priority is to see us move up in education from 49th in the nation,” Heath said.

Via eSchools:

Some $20 billion for school modernization and $1 billion for educational technology are among nearly $150 billion in funding targeted toward education in the House version of the new economic stimulus package, which lawmakers introduced Jan. 15.

Specifically the education portion includes:

• $41 billion to boost learning in local K-12 school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology block-grant program ($1 billion);

• $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities using existing formulas, $15 billion to states as bonus grants for meeting key performance measures, and $25 billion to states for other high-priority needs, such as preventing the layoffs of public safety and other critical employees, including teachers;

• $6 billion in school modernization funds for colleges and universities; and

• Funding to make college more affordable, including $15.6 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant amount by $500, from $4,850 to $5,350, and tax credits for up to $2,500 per year spent in college tuition.

Democratic leaders in Congress have pledged to have a bill ready for Obama to sign by mid-February.

Growing evidence shows that not only does a healthy body lead to a healthy mind, but a smart one too:

The California Department of Education (CDE) looked for a correlation between fitness scores and test scores. They found that kids who were deemed fit (by a standard test of aerobic capacity, BMI, abdominal strength, trunk strength, upper body strength and overall flexibility) scored twice as well on academic tests as those that were unfit.  In the second year of the study, socio-economic status was taken into account, to possibly eliminate that variable as an explanation. As expected, those in the upper-income brackets scored better overall on the academic tests, but within the lower-income set of students, the same results were observed — kids who were more fit performed better academically.

Also from the article, a quote fromJohn Ratey, a Harvard clinical associate professor of psychiatry:

In his latest book, “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” (2008, Little, Brown), John Ratey, a Harvard clinical associate professor of psychiatry, argues for more physical fitness for students as a cure for not only their obesity but also their academic performance.

“I cannot underestimate how important regular exercise is in improving the function and performance of the brain.” Ratey writes. “Exercise stimulates our gray matter to produce Miracle-Gro for the brain.” That “Miracle-Gro” is a brain chemical called brain-derived neurotropic factor, or BDNF. When we exercise, our working muscles send chemicals into our bloodstream, including a protein known as IGF-1.

Once in the brain, IGF-1 orders the production of more BDNF. The additional BDNF helps new neurons and their connections grow. In addition, levels of other neurotransmitters are increased after a strenuous exercise session.

“Dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine — all of these are elevated after exercise,” says Ratey. “So having a workout will help focus, calming down, and impulsivity — it’s like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin.”

Sandy Hopkins from Delaware Trail Elementary uses video games to promote physical activity:

Today, thanks to a grant from an educational foundation at her school that supports innovative teaching ideas in the classroom, Hopkins’ students play their way to physical fitness with “Dance, Dance, Revolution” and “EyeToy” for Sony’s PlayStation 2.

Hopkins operates the games as a station, with 3-4 screens and dance mats. Six students typically use the station at one time, and those who are waiting to play use practice dance mats she has created out of carpets and tape. Jump ropes or stationary bikes are sometimes provided at the station as well. Every student is expected to remain active during the entire period.

I believe that novel ideas using technology will increase across schools as teachers try to find new ways to motivate and engage with kids. I have talked with a number of teachers and one constant struggle (other than budgets) is coming up with new creative ideas to teach and inspire kids to learn - thus the number of individual teacher-led innovations will continue to grow.

My philosophy towards public health and social problems is to find work on the solution from the ground up. Start with the individual, then family, then local community, then state, then national. This is why I like this initiative - the solution is skewered towards the local community:

Picking up the phone may not be the best form of exercise, but the CanDo Coalition is hoping people will do it to help defeat obesity.

The local nonprofit organization is using an automated telephone survey to gather information on the health needs of Loveland residents, so the group can plan ways to help local residents eat better, get active and prevent obesity.

The CanDo Coalition began in 2003, Englert said, as a response to the obesity rate in Larimer County, which had doubled during the previous 10 years.

The founding organizations were the Poudre Valley Hospital Foundation, Colorado State University and the city of Fort Collins.

Over the past five years, the CanDo Coalition has worked with Fort Collins schools, employers, health care professionals, new mothers, low-income residents and older adults to improve residents’ health habits.

In the schools, CanDo created a “School Wellness Kit” for teachers and parents, to help them find ways to get children to eat healthier, exercise more and limit TV, computer and video-game time.

The coalition also has helped Fort Collins businesses start exercise, weight-management and stress-management programs.

The funding for the Loveland expansion came from LiveWell Colorado, a partnership of health care organizations, charitable foundations, nonprofit organizations and public health agencies.