May 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 29

Action-Based Learning

he chairs have been replaced with stability balls and, along
with the iconic student desks, every classroom at SUPER
School 19 in Indianapolis, Indiana, has an elliptical or exercise bike,
a standing desk and room for kids to do a few jumping jacks if they
need a brain break. How does this not dissolve into chaos you may
wonder? Well, SUPER School 19 is a kinesthetic magnet school,
meaning that movement is incorporated into every class - kindergarten through eighth grade. As Principal John McClure says,
" We believe that exercise builds brain cells, so the more movement we can incorporate into our classrooms is going to correlate
into higher learning, which will lead to higher achievement. "
Research shows when students are allowed to move in learning
environments, they experience improved blood flow, which helps to
deliver more oxygen to the brain and enables it to function at a higher level. At the kindergarten level, it is especially important to provide
students with outlets for their extra energy. Doing so, McClure says,
calms the students' behaviors and minimizes classroom disruptions.
He states: " We encourage [students] to be open with our teachers to
say, 'Hey, I need to take a break.' We're like, 'that's OK.' If they need
that, we incorporate it into our day. "
McClure, a former PE teacher, is a passionate advocate for
healthy, active lifestyles and for adding movement to our
schools. He points to the importance of
programs, like the NFL's Play 60 campaign,
which encourages kids to be active for at
least 60 minutes a day. " We just weren't
seeing enough activity in our schools, " he
explains. " IPS [Indianapolis Public Schools]
is a leader nationally with innovative styles
of education, and when the [SUPER] school
was developed, it was developed on the
idea that we need to have more movement.
We need to have action-based learning as
part of our school, and it caught on. Students love it, the parents love it, and we're
in our fifth year of action-based learning. "
Sandorf Park, site of the 2018 Parks Build
Community project, sits right next door to
SUPER School 19. The school's unique approach to learning, makes it the perfect
neighbor to the park. " We're really excited to
have the partnership with the parks and really honored to have them build a park next
to where we are because of our school and
its uniqueness, " says McClure.

Before Indianapolis Parks approached the SUPER School with the
idea of reinventing Sandorf Park, the playground was in disrepair. Principal McClure describes the playground equipment as " not necessarily
safe. We definitely had to block off certain areas because either it was
falling apart, it was rusted, it was broken - and it becomes a safety
issue. Any time our students are at recess, safety is the No. 1 priority. "
A reinvented Sandorf Park will not only be welcomed by the
SUPER School 19 students, but also by the surrounding community.
Come September when the park officially opens during the 2018
NRPA Annual Conference, the students will once again use it every
day during recess, and, McClure believes, they'll want to come back
after school and bring their families. " Parks bring people together, "
he says, " and having the opportunity to add fitness, to add wellness
and a social component to this community is going to make everything better. It's going to reunite this community in a way that it
hasn't had for many years. And, it fits in perfectly with our model of
movement. The more our students and our community can move,
the more healthy, active lifestyles we're going to have. "

Stability balls, shown on students' desk below, have replaced chairs
in all SUPER School 19 classrooms.

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