Special Notice
Don't miss this unique opportunity to spend a day with Dr. Bonnie Mohnsen learning about how to use technology in physical education. Register before or at the seminar:
College credit is available for all the above seminars plus our online courses. Online courses start in February - see the list of courses in this newsletter.
Featured Articles
DDR: So many Pads - Which One to Choose
The rage today is Dance Dance Revolution -- the interactive PlayStation/XBox/Computer game that
 provides students with hours of aerobic activity as they interact with the video game using a dance pad instead of their thumbs. However, dancing is not the only activity. DDR Athens 2004 has students using the dance pad to participate in track and field activities. Each game runs $30-$50; however you must also purchase the pad. Oftentimes packages can be purchased that include both pads and games at a discounted rate.
Pads run the game from home versions to paded versions to various types of metal versions - so which to choose? Everyone has their opinion. In order to promote an exchange of ideas on the topic, we have set up a yahoo discussion group. In order to joint the discussion, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ddrPE - click on join the group. Then, you will be able to share your opinion and learn from others.
Device Of The Month
PowerGrid
 With Kilowatt there’s no plates, no pedals, no weights and no tread- YOU are the exercise machine!
Plug Kilowatt into any current game system such as PS2, Xbox, Gamecube or PC, load up your favorite video game and feel the full body workout as you push, pull and lean the Kilowatt resistance rod to control the on-screen action. The Kilowatt resistance rod measures force, not distance, so it never actually moves. The resistance rod is reading the amount of force you’re exerting against it and translates this force into the video game. For example, if you’re playing a popular racing game on your PS2 with Kilowatt, the harder you push the resistance rod, the faster you go in the game! Click here for more information.
Office Tips
PowerPoint
We seem to be getting more questions these days regarding PowerPoint - it certainly is a popular program - both for teacher and for students:
Q: Why does the text keep changing size on its own?
A: AutoFit is causing this problem. Choose Tools, Autocorrect Options, and the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Deselect AutoFit Title Text To Placeholder. If the problem's coming up in the amin area of slides, deselect AutoFit Body Text To Placeholder.
Q: I am getting ready weird spacing. What is happening?
A: The answer lies in selecting Format and Line Spacing. You can enter numbers for exact control.
How To
Burn Music on CDs in Windows XP
- Insert a blank CD into your write able CD drive
- Open Media Player and Click Copy to CD
- Click Media Player's Media Library button
- Right-click on the desired song and choose Copy to Audio CD
- Continue to select songs.
- Click Copy Music, the little red buttoner (upper-right hand corner).
- Wait (15 minutes to 1hour depending on the number of songs).
- Retrieve your CD
Web Pages for February:Online Tours/ Tutorials for Health Education
CPR
http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/
FireFighter Protective Clothing Tour
http://www.ci.davis.ca.us/fire/pct/
Online Tutorials for Physical Education
Guided Tour of Visible Human
http://www.madsci.org/~lynn/VH/tour.html
Virtual Body
http://www.medtropolis.com/
The Heart
http://www.fi.edu/biosci/heart.html
Spring 2006 Online Courses
February 1, 2006 - May 15, 2006
Sign up:
Each course is $100 plus an additional $50 for college credit if needed. Click on each course for more information. You may register through April 1, 2006.
Task Cards: Package of the Month
Fitness Task Cards
 This package contains 40 task cards related to fitness. It includes stretching, cardio activities, and muscular strength/endurance exercises. This package is a great companion to the Grade Level Task Cards for Grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. Click here for a complete listing of the cards included in this package.
Remember task cards can be purchased either on card stock with line drawings or on CD with both line drawings and color. Studies suggest that the use of color in task cards is an effective method for promoting faster development in their students. Color increases recall up to 60 percent, and some research suggests that readers pay attention up to 82 percent longer when color is used in a document.
Click on image to visit their site:
Funding! Funding! Funding!
Congress has approved continued funding of the Physical Education for Progress (PEP) grant program at $73.4 million for 2006, identical to 2005 funding. The only change expected from 2005 is a 1% cut, which is an across the board reduction to the entire Labor HHS bill that contains the PEP program. According to a report from the Department of Education, the application notice for PEP grants will be on February 27, with applications due on April 12. The Department of Education estimates that there will be 63 grants at an average $250,000 each. If we can be of assistance - please email Bonnie at bmohnsen@pesoftware.com
Listed below are URLs (web sites) that provide tips for writing PEP grants:
http://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/oehp/hp/card/ pepta.htm
http://www.ed.gov/programs/whitephysed/ applicant.html
http://www.pelinks4u.org/archives/ technology/ 042302.htm
http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/template.cfm
?template=pep_tips.html
www.pe4life.org/articles/tips_PE4LIFE.doc
http://www.pa.org/grants/pep_grant.php
More Funding!
Target Stores Grants. Eligibility: K-12 public and private schools. Grant Type: Grant to Educators. Regional Restrictions: Locations in the United States where there is a Target store located. Application Deadline: 31-May-06.Description: Grants focus on programs in the arts, reading, and prevention of family violence. Apply at your local Target Store between March 1 and May 31. Application information available at the store. Award: Most grants range from $1000 to $3000.
Nickelodeon's "Let's Just Play" Giveaway Program - one million from September 2005 to June 2006.
NIKE Bowerman Track Renovation Program.
Deadline: ongoing through May 31, 2009
Hasbro Programs for Children Grants. Deadline: ongoing
Bonnie's Fitware Inc Grant Program
The next series of grant applications are due:
May 15, 2006 - email app to bmohnsen@pesoftware.com
Software Choices:
- Health Related Fitness
- Volleyball Complete
- Sim Athlete
- Biomechanics Made Easy
- Muscle Flash
- Elementary Physical Ed Dictionary
- Short Jump Rope CD
- Long Jump Rope CD
- Tinikling CD
The application is simple (no more than two pages): Name of person submitting the proposal and email address; Name of school, address, phone number; Name of software (one title per proposal) and platform (Windows or Macintosh); Description of how (specifically) you will use the software; Description of how (specifically) you will determine if the software makes a difference in student learning. Awardees will be expected to write a one page summary describing their use of the software. The write up is due July 30, 2007. |
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Providing high-quality, standards-based instructional materials at affordable price. All underlined text takes you to additional information.
New Jersey Educators: We are licensed to sell to schools in your state.
Kentucky Educators: We are on the vendor list for KEDC Board - our bid proposal was accepted! |
New Products
Comprehensive Short Jump Ropes
 The coolest feature of this program is the ability of the user to create their own routines and watch them in live action. This program provides a comprehensive (exercise physiology, motor learning, biomechanics, psychology, motor development, aesthetics, sociology, and historical information) perspective to the teaching of jumping short ropes. Teachers and students can access and interact with the information to increase understanding of jumping short ropes on their desktop or notebooks computers. In addition, they can access video clips from this program on their Palm OS/Pocket. Finally, assignments are provided for students which can be added to their electronic portfolios. For more information click here. For a trial version, click here.
Comprehensive Long Jump Ropes
 This program provides a compre- hensive (exercise physi- ology, motor learning, biomechanics, psychology, motor development, aesthetics, sociology, and historical information) perspective to the teaching of jumping long ropes. Teachers and students can access and interact with the information to increase understanding of jumping long ropes on their desktop or notebooks computers. In addition, they can access video clips from this program on their Palm OS/Pocket. Assignments also are provided for students which can be added to their electronic portfolios. The key feature of this program is the ability of the user to create their own routines and watch them animate. Click here to learn more about this program. For a trial version, click here.
Comprehensive Tinikling
 This program provides a compre- hensive (exercise physi- ology, motor learning, biomechanics, psychology, motor development, aesthetics, sociology, and historical information) perspective to the teaching of tinikling. Teachers and students can access and interact with the information to increase understanding of tinikling on their desktop or notebooks computers. In addition, they can access animation clips from this program on their Palm OS/Pocket. Assignments also are provided for students which can be added to their electronic portfolios. The unique feature of this program is the ability of the user to create their own routines and watch them animate. Click here to learn more about this program. For a trial version, click here.
Pedometer Package
 The number one pedometer - DigiWalker SW200 has just got better. This package includes 16 SW200 pedometers, 16 safety straps, one storage box, Integrating Technology and Physical Education book, and a CD with over a dozen recording sheets, graphs, and charts. Click here to learn more.
Heart Rate Monitor Packages:
Why pay more for a heart monitor? CardioSport heart monitors allow you to change the transmitter battery and they come in a wide variety of styles with great features. They also are available in packages to save you money and provide you with a variety of instructional resources. Here are a couple of the models:
CardioSport Go Package
 Single button press during workout and the Go enters scan mode to display an exercise session timer in hours, minutes, and seconds, plus the user's maximum, minimum and average heart rate of the exercise session. After a training session, with a single button press, the memory recall display scans the last workout statistics of session duration and minimum, average, and maximum heart rate. Package includes 15- heart monitors, Integrating Technology and Physical Education book, and a CD with over a dozen recording sheets, graphs, and charts.
Fusion 20
 Cardiosport, a world leader in heart rate monitoring technology, has developed a safe, 122kHz digital transmission with improved interference resistance and coding, to allow exercise in close proximity to other monitors. The package includes 15- heart monitors (with coded transmission), Integrating Technology and Physical Education book, and a CD with over a dozen recording sheets, graphs, and charts.
Elementary Physical Education Dictionary: New Edition
 A to Z dictionary with pronunci- ation, picture or animation, and description. Also contains quizzes to test student understanding of physical education vocabulary. The quizzes are now available online or they can be printed out for student use. This software is appropriate for students in grades 2-6. For more information, click here. For a trial version, click here.
DDR Pads and Games - now available for XBOX
Professional Development
Assessment and Grading in Physical Education - presented by Bonnie Mohnsen
Conference and Conventions
In The News
3D Heliodisplay
IO2 Technology's Heliodisplay displays video images in thin air, projecting a 2D 22 to 42 inch diagonal image that floats above the device. The system accepts most 2D video sources. Heliodisplay images appear 3D when viewed from more than a few feet away because there's no physical depth reference. Viewing requires no special glasses or screen. The Heliodisplay uses lasers, but the images are not holographic. Viewers can use their finger or hand to move images around in the air as if they were grabbing a tangible object. For more information: http://www.ohgizmo.com/2005/08/17/ interactive-3d-display-its-here
Sony's Hard Drive Camera
Sony has release a hard disk drive camcorder, the DCR-SR100. The camera houses a 30 GB hard drive, a 1/3"Advanced HAD CCD, a 10x optical zoom, a Carl-Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens and the capacity to capture stills at 3- megapixels. It comes with a guilt-in flash, has analog inputs to enable the camera to function as an A/D/ converter, an active interface shoe, Super Nightshot, Super SteadyShot, and a 123K color viewfinder. The 2.7" Touch Panel SwivelScreen LCD has zoom and record controls.
Hard Drive Hits One Trillion Bytes
Maxtor has just release the 1TB OneTouch III Turbo (1 terabyte = One trillion bytes or one million megabytes, or one thousand gigabytes). The external device is really two 500 GB drives.
MX40 Motion Capture System
Vicon's (www.vicon.com) MX 40 cameras are the world's first to record with sub-millimeter-accuracy. The MX camera record the entire image in 10-bit grayscale. You can get cleaner and better data which will increase your quality and speed. With the new software you can create a full body capture with hand and face markers at the same time!
Robots Assist in Surgery
A robot, developed by Dmitry Oleynikov and colleagues at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, is able to move around inside a patient's abdomen to give doctors an inside view of the area being operated on. The robot is also able to perform biopsies.
The Future
VirtuSphere
The VirtuSphere from the University of Washington's Human Interface (HIT) Lab, is a hollow ball that sits on top of a base that lets the sphere rotate 360 degrees. The person inside it, equipped with a head-mounted display, interacts with an immersive virtual-reality environment. The visitor inside can walk and even fall, within VRML simulation environments. The cost today is $100,000 - but they are currently used for military, gaming, and museum applications.
Organic Displays
Cambridge Display Technology says it has produced 14-inch, full-color displays that use OLED. OLED's use an organic compound as their emissive layer - a component that provides far more flexibility for manufactures. OLEDs can actually be printed or sprayed on a screen to create a display.
Talking Pictures
Tomorrow's printers will add spot-on soundtracks to go with the visual images. Italian startup Zanetti Studio has created a printer called the Speeky-smart that adds a magnetic strip to side of a photo to store several seconds of audio. To hear the audio, the person viewing the picture must slide a reader device along the magnetic strip.
Xeroxing Cells
From New Scientist we hear that a printer has been developed that splits out ultra-fine droplets of cells instead of ink. It has been used to print live brain cells without causing them any apparent harm. This could lead to building replacement tissue cell by cell.
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