UT School of Public Health Offers Summer Institute that Brings Science Teachers to FIT - September 5, 2007
Teachers learned a wide array of health and fitness concepts that they can present in classroom lessons.
“There is good evidence that children who are more fit perform better on academic achievement tests,” says HEADS UP principal investigator, Dr. Nancy Murray. “The trip to the FIT lab provided teachers with an opportunity to better understand fitness and may provide some ideas for activities for their classrooms.”
Science teachers participating in the HEADS UP Teacher Summer Science Institute recently visited the College of Education’s Fitness Institute of Texas (FIT) to engage in hands-on, multidisciplinary activities that will improve their classroom teaching. HEADS UP stands for “Health, Education And Discovering Science while Unlocking Potential.”
“The most profound statement all week for me was that these topics must become part of the ‘school language,’ where good health, physical fitness and nutrition are as important as TAKS!”
–2007 Teacher Summer Science Institute Participant
HEADS UP is an initiative developed by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in collaboration with Spring Branch Independent School District, Project GRAD Houston, Lower Rio Grande Valley schools and numerous science organizations. A Science Education Partnership Award from the National Center for Research Resources funds the initiative.
An assessment with the DEXA machine yields the most accurate body mass composition results.
As part of the project’s mission to get and keep students excited about science, it accepts around 20 middle and high school science teachers for a week of intensive training in the summer. Participants learn teaching strategies, health and medical concepts and laboratory skills from health professionals and research faculty.
A body composition evaluation reveals the amount of lean body mass, fat mass and bone mass.
“When we teach science in the classroom, we use laboratory activities so that the students can see and experience what they are learning about,” says Dr. Deanna Hoelscher, director of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living, home to HEADS UP. “For teachers to be able to effectively teach science, they also need to participate in ‘learning labs’ where they can observe and participate in these same activities.”
This year’s Institute theme was nutrition and physical activity, and teachers left the Institute with multimedia science curriculum modules that will help them deliver cutting-edge, challenging science content.
Dr. John Ivy, chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, delivered a presentation on “Physical Activity 411” and gave teachers a tour of The Fitness Institute of Texas - FIT. The instructors gained hands-on experience as they learned about physical assessment techniques and tools, and some received body composition assessments with the DEXA (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) machine. DEXA is the most technologically advanced and accurate way to measure total body fat, fat mass, bone mass and lean mass.
FIT, which is located in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, is a comprehensive fitness assessment center on The University of Texas at Austin campus.
Dr. John Ivy, chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, stressed the importance of
physical fitness in his presentation titled, "Physical Activity 411."
The UT community as well as the public can access the institute and receive aerobic, muscle, body composition and calorie assessments by trained professionals. In addition to providing fitness assessments, the facility also is a valuable resource for UT scholars and scientists who are conducting advanced health- and fitness-related studies for publication. It is used by many of the UT athletic teams to benchmark players’ progress as well. As part of FIT’s commitment to education, instructional programs are offered that address nutrition, physical fitness and social and psychological issues.
To find out more about FIT, please visit The FIT Website or read the article, "The Perfect Fit", on the university features site.
Related Links:
- FIT Website
- Article: The Perfect Fit
- HEADS UP Website
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