CALDWELL, Idaho (KBOI) — Students at Heritage Community Charter School in Caldwell are trying out a new way to track their fitness.
They're using heart rate monitors called the Adidas ZONE for IHT Spirit, the first wrist watch fitness tracker designed specifically for physical education class.
"It has made motivating the students a lot easier," said Angie Rodgers, P.E. and Health Teacher at Heritage Community Charter School. "They are self motivated and they also monitor themselves a lot better."
Heritage was the first school in Idaho to use the new technology.
Each student's fitness tracker is programmed for them specifically. When they log on, it tells them what their goal is for the day based on their personal fitness level.
Then, as they work out, it sends them messages about how they are doing.
"Blue is when you first start, yellow means you're doing good, red is when you're doing awesome," said Yahir Flores, a seventh grader. "I mostly get red!"
At the end of every day, the students get to see their progress. The data is also emailed to parents so they can see how their child is doing.
The state standard for physical education is that students have to be in the cardio zone 50% of the class period.
The watches offer an accurate way to track that, whereas in the past it has been more of a guessing game.
The data from the watches is stored so that students, parents, and teachers can also see the progress over time.
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