The Walking Classroom (TWC) is a national award-winning nonprofit program created to improve the physical, mental, and academic health of students. The program is designed to build core academic content knowledge, health literacy, and listening stamina while addressing different learning styles and getting students some desperately needed fresh air and exercise.
The program, which is available for 4th and 5th grades, is simple: students take brisk 20-minute walks as a class (preferably outside) while listening to specially written, kid-friendly educational content that is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and pre-loaded onto audio devices called “WalkKits.” There is also a brief health literacy message at the beginning of each podcast.
Recent research supports the positive correlation between exercise and learning, as well as the strength of elementary students’ listening skills:
At a minimum, if the program is used 2-3 times per week as designed, students will get an additional 40 to 60 minutes of physical activity each week. The optimal outcome is that students retain the information better, demonstrate improved classroom performance, and make healthier lifestyle choices. Feedback from teachers supports these outcomes.
Among responding teachers who implemented TWC nationally as designed during the school year, the following benefits were reported:
- default_titleALL agreed students were better behaved after TWC lesson
- default_titleALL agreed students were more engaged in learning after TWC lesson
- default_titleALL agreed TWC addresses different learning styles and helps meet needs of non-traditional learners
- default_titleALL agreed TWC is easy to implement
- default_titleAll agreed TWC strengthened students’ understanding of curriculum
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National Grand Prize Winner: ChildObesity180 / Active Schools Acceleration Project, 2012
Winner: Health Innovation Challenge, BlueCross BlueShield North Carolina 2012
National Winner: Teachers’ Choice Award, eSchool News 2013-14
National Finalist: Innovations in Rural Health, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust 2014
The Walking Classroom Institute, an educational non-profit, provided over 285 audio devices (called WalkKits) to 12 classes of 4th and 5th grade students in Palm Beach County, free of charge. These digital WalkKits are preloaded with over 85 Language Arts podcasts that are kid-friendly, aligned to the state standards, and allow students to get exercise without sacrificing instructional time.
Teachers are supported with a great Teacher’s Guide that has a lesson plan for each one of the podcasts. Thanks to a grant by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the following Palm Beach County schools are using The Walking Classroom with their students:
- default_titleAcerage Pines Elementary
- default_titleAllamanda Elementary
- default_titleBerkshire Elementary
- default_titleBeacon Cove Intermediate
- default_titleGove Elementary
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“I knew that I would enjoy the idea, but I was amazed to see how much the students bought into this program. From the outset they were eager to come and participate. They continually surprise me with what they glean from the podcasts and how much they retain and connect to their own knowledge base.”
“Thank you again for these tools which captured the interest of our students to [listen], walk and learn. The „WalkKits‟ gave the teachers an awesome resource…with fascinating stories of history to wonderful lessons of life. We are very appreciative of this gift of learning. One of the kids said that they felt they had been moved to the 21 Century!”
“The Walking Classroom has been an amazing addition to the classroom curriculum. It has sparked the interest of my students to want to research and learn more about the topics covered on the "WalkKits."
"My students enjoyed having another format for lessons to be introduced, enriched or retaught. The Walking Classroom is another way to help me reach ALL of my students."
The Walking Classroom from John Carlos Borja on Vimeo.