It would be great to use this tool with students. Here's how I imagine the way you could use this tool:
- Read and study about healthy food and activity. In many ways this can be linked to new science standards.
- Make charts and study the math of a healthy daily nutrient balance.
- Have students chart their food intake for a day, week, or more. Have students compare their intake with healthy stats. Do this in a sensitive, private manner, and if a child is uncomfortable allow them to work from an ideal situation with tasks such as planning a healthy meal, day of eating, or week's menus.
Similarly, my health stats are online now. I recently studied all my health stats from my most recent physical. It was awesome to see where I'm strong statistically and where I have room for improvement with regard to healthy stats. The print-out from the doctor is complete with all kinds of data and related information. I could easily compare last year's health stats with this year's stats too which gave me an idea of where I'm trending up and where I'm trending down.
If we allow students to begin to manage their health with stats such as those provided by My Fitness Pal, we'll teach them how to read, understand, and use stats to lead to better health and wellness in all areas of their health profile. This would be a relevant, meaningful, and enriching math, tech, science, and wellness curriculum effort.
