Lesson Plan 2

Kids Negotiating the Electronic Superhighway -
Self Care & Repetition Injuries

Time: 50 minutes
Purpose

1. To introduce to students the link between a healthy variety of activity and the safe use of technology.
2. To provide students with information about repetition injuries linked to electronic and computer technology.

Objectives
By the end of the session, students will be able to:

1. Describe how a variety of activity is integral to good health.
2. Show an understanding of how the combination of passivity, repetitive hand, finger and thumb movements and technology is linked to injury.
3. Identify which technology poses particular risks of repetition injuries.
4. Understand how repetition injuries can be prevented.

Resources

1. Overheads 1 & 2
2. A collection of mice, keyboards, mobile phones, joysticks, computer game controls, etc, to demonstrate the causes of repetition injury.

Plan

 
Methods:

1. Lecturette
2. Brainstorm
3. Participation
4. Lecturette (paraphrase the following):

 

Our bodies depend on activity for good health.  To have healthy bones, muscles, blood circulation and brain function, we all need to be active.  There are lots of different ways to be active to keep our bodies and minds healthy.
Being active for good health means:

1. Actively using your body.  This means getting up to change channels on the TV instead of using the remote, or walking or riding your bike to get somewhere instead of taking a car.  Even small amounts of exercise and activity make a difference to our overall fitness.
2. Mixing and varying activities throughout the day.  This means doing different types of exercise, sometimes vigorous, sometimes less strenuous.  It also means varying what we do so that we make time for study, work, recreation, play and rest.

 

1. Brainstorm: What are some of the ways we can be active for good health?

 

 

After the brainstorm, be sure these points are covered:
Healthy activity includes;
exercise, sport, stretching, cooking, playing, arts and crafts - anything that involves getting up and moving around!
3.  Lecturette (paraphrase the following):
A variety of healthy activity benefits us in lots of different ways.  Here are just some of the ways it maintains our sense of well-being:

Overhead 1:

1. It improves overall fitness and flexibility, and helps us keep our weight stable.
2. It keeps the mind alert and improves concentration, and helps us from becoming depressed and bored.
3. It helps our bodies’ cells regenerate by improving circulation.  The body depends on good blood and lymphatic circulation to take nutrients around the body and take away waste products.
4. It also helps to prevent injury occurring from either overuse or underuse of any part of your body

Methods:

1. Lecturette
2. Brainstorm
3. Demonstration
4. Participation

1.  Lecturette (paraphrase the following):
Sometimes modern life is described as travelling down the electronic superhighway. It is a way of describing how we speed through life using lots of different electronic technology.  A lot of the things that we find most enjoyable are games and activities that involve being on this electronic superhighway.  Some of the electronic games and activities we enjoy involve us doing a lot of repetitive actions with our hands, fingers and thumbs.  In a funny sort of way, our hands are doing super athletics.

2.  Brainstorm:
What kind of electronic games and activities do you think would be included in this?

Make sure the following are included:

1. computer games, including Nintendo, PlayStation & XBox.
2. Internet chat & MSN.
3. Internet searches/browsing.
4. Computing - typing/keying & mousing.
5. SMS text messaging.

3. Lecturette (paraphrase the following):
This electronic technology often also involves sitting for a long time in front of a computer, television screen or games console.  Without realising it, perhaps because we are having fun or become very engrossed in what we're doing, we are putting our bodies at risk of injury.  As we talked about in the beginning, our bodies depend on activity for good health.  In much the same way that our elite athletes and sportspeople become injured from the stresses placed on their bodies by extreme activity, we can become injured from the stresses we put on our body from sitting in one spot for a long time, using our hands and fingers to do possibly thousands of minute, repetitive movements.  Just like a super-athlete, you can damage the soft tissue, muscles, tendons and ligaments of your upper body, causing discomfort and pain in your fingers, hands, arms, neck, shoulders and back.

4. Demonstration:
Invite the students to participate in a demonstration of poor posture, passive stance, repetitive fingers/thumbs/hand movements on the range of technology collected for this demonstration, such as mobile phones, keyboards, mice, joysticks, etc.

Ask the students to observe how problems might arise from the way we use the electronic technology.

Take a couple of minutes and encourage students to stand, move and stretch.

Methods:

1. Lecturette
2. Brainstorm
3. Participation

1.  Lecturette (paraphrase the following):
Imagine you have been playing a computer game for hours every day for weeks to complete the levels and finish the game. Your fingers, hands and forearms are sore, your shoulders ache and you’ve got a headache.  These would very likely be signs that you may be developing a repetition injury. 

2. Brainstorm: What should you do now?

After the brainstorm, make sure the following points are covered:

1. stop doing the activity straight away
2. rest until the pain has gone away
3. think about how you could do the activity differently, e.g. for shorter periods or by improving your posture
4. rethink the importance of doing the activity at all

3.  Lecturette (paraphrase the following):
Preventing these injuries from using computers and other technology can be as simple as following a few guidelines about looking after yourself.  These are:

Overhead 2:

1. Keep active and vary what you do throughout the day. 
2. Make sure you limit the time you spend on any one activity, especially when it involves sitting at one spot doing lots of repetitive hand, finger and thumb movements.
3. Maintain good posture and reduce unnecessary stress on your body when using electronic rechnology.
4. Stop and reconsider the way you do an activity that causes you discomfort or pain.

 
Methods:
Lecturette

1. Lecturette (paraphrase the following):
It is important to stop doing the activity that is causing you pain and look at ways to take care of your body.  If you continue, the injury can become a permanent and painful feature of your life. 

Repetition injuries from using computers, computer games and mobile phones can be prevented by making sure you spend time each day on a variety of different activities, rather than spending many hours sitting in the one spot doing lots of repetitive work with your hands, fingers and thumbs.  By taking care of yourself in the suggested ways you reduce the risk that you will experience problems. If you do experience discomfort or pain then you  must take action to prevent a long-term repetition injury.
Overhead 1:

 

1. It improves overall fitness and flexibility, and helps us keep our weight stable.
2.  It keeps the mind alert and improves concentration, and helps us from becoming depressed and bored.
3.  It helps our bodies’ cells regenerate by improving circulation.  The body depends on good blood and lymphatic circulation to take nutrients around the body and take away waste products.
4. It also helps to prevent injury occurring from either overuse or underuse of any part of your body.

 

Overhead 2:

• Keep active and vary what you do throughout the day. 
• Make sure you limit the time you spend on any one activity, especially when it involves sitting at one spot doing lots of repetitive hand, finger and thumb movements.
• Maintain good posture and reduce unnecessary stress on your body when using electronic technology.
• Stop and reconsider the way you do an activity that causes you discomfort or pain.

 

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