Technology has been cited as one of the main culprits in contributing to physical inactivity and obesity in children. However, interactive "exergames" like Dance Dance Revolution and Nintendo Wii have become more and more popular with people of all ages. Some young people who will not engage in traditional exercise enjoy playing exergames. Benefits as well as negatives pose an issue on whether or not to make exergames an integral part of physical education in curriculum. Although skills are not being enhanced like in regular sports, I believe it is a wonderful idea to incorporate these games in the curriculum. Instead of children sitting and watching TV all day or playing on the computer where they are inactive for long periods at a time children get up and actually engage in physical activity. In the Journal of Sport and Health Science it was found that exergames clearly demonstrate potential to increase players energy expenditure which presents an advantage in engaging children in physical activity while playing video games. It also found that exergames will help attract students to physical activity and enhance activity experiences at moderate and vigorous intensity levels. In the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Results showed that exergaming produced substantially more minutes of physical activity and more minutes of opportunity to engage in physical activity than did the standard PE program. In addition, exergaming was socially acceptable to both the students and the PE teacher.
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