New Mexico Dance Institute Shows how to Put Healthy Movement Into Classrooms
National Dance Institute of New Mexico pilot tested, refined and evaluated a dance training curriculum designed to help elementary school teachers increase students' physical activity by incorporating movement into all their classes, not just physical education.
It also developed a training website with teacher comments, a schedule of classes and a link to the train the trainer manual, Hip to be Fit.
Key Results
Approximately 71 Santa Fe public school teachers completed a series of six dance training workshops.
Approximately 80 teachers from school districts across the state completed intensive workshops at various locations; several trained one on one with instructors in school.
All the trainees said they had implemented some of the new curriculum in their classrooms, with 81 percent claiming to have used at least half of it.