No Obstacle in Learning Grant

Below is part of a grant applications I submitted to my school district. Winners are announced in November.

Image being a 12 year old student and walking into class to discover this was part of your lesson for the day:

How could you not be excited to participate in learning taught with an inflatable obstacle course?? Imagine your delight when a few weeks later a different subject meets outside to incorporate this in their class for another spin on learning!

The National Center for Disease Control and Prevention has found:
•Students who participate in physical activity show an increase in ability to pay attention, and improve up to a grade level in reading comprehension following exercise.

•MRIs show those who exercise experience increased brain activity in the prefrontal cortex -- an area associated with complex thinking, decision making and correct social behavior.


The greatest benefit is that the obstacle course can be used by all of our students in multiple disciplines! Below are some objectives that can be taught using the inflatable obstacle course by subject:

Math-
•Central Tendency: Calculating mean, median, mode, and range
•Graphing data, choosing the best graph, interpreting graphs
•Calculating unit rate and proportions
•Course Conversion: minutes/seconds/hours, feet/inches/yards/meters
•Measurement: measuring course distance, volume of obstacle, surface area, angle of slopes

Science-
•Cause/effect relationships
•Friction
•Calculating: speed, force

ELA-
•Descriptive writing activities based on experience within the course

Health-
•Body systems being used during exercise
•Calculating heart rate
•Demonstrating the fun in exercise

Physical Education-
•Goal setting
•Detecting and correcting errors
•Assess physiological effects of exercise during and after physical activity
•Describing and selecting physical activities that provide for enjoyment and challenge

The obstacle course can also be used during incentive activities (rewards for hard work, low discipline referrals) and field day, saving our school the cost of renting the items from local vendors.

(Inflatable is from Sam's Club for $2,633)

~Mrs. Scott