PGIA On the Move

Since the start of the school year, VIMSIA has been experimenting with miMove, an innovative new app for young people to record details of all their physical activity. Teachers are able to access this data, allowing them to know and support their students in new ways. Mr. Franz has been using miMove with PGIA students in his physical education classes, grades 6-10.

Khafri Francois reviews the mimove “question of the day”.

“The central part of this experiment is tapping into how kids think about physical activity,” says Mr. Franz, who has spearheaded the effort from the administrative side. “Kids sometimes see physical activity as a binary thing, like ‘I’m good at a sport or I’m not’ or ‘I can do that or I can’t'. So a lot of times that becomes a factor in a child’s decision, whether or not they have the confidence to do it.

The question is, how can we as a society value physical activity as something meaningful for each person? One of the best things about this app is it allows kids to think about that, and also to get the data to the educator so we can see what motivates them.”

miMove is a website that can be accessed through an app on a students’ phone or browser. Students can create their own profile, select among different choices of activities, and then report factors such as how they feel after the activity, duration, the setting the activity took place in (such as within or outside of school), and write their own observations to elaborate on the experience.

Mr. Franz says those observations help him better understand how the student reflects on the experience, and formulate follow-up questions and actions based on their answers.

“One way to connect with students is through the written word. Sometimes they’re just not comfortable sharing verbally, and can be most authentic through their writing. In many ways, it’s a window into their world. For example, today’s question was, ‘What does the activity you chose today say about you?’ So then I can look at those answers and get the feedback I need to make the activities more accessible, less threatening, whatever they need.”

Mariana Brunt logs MiMOVE activity on her phone.

“We know that sports like basketball and volleyball are important to kids, but they can also be divisive. Data like this helps us meet kids halfway,” Mr. Franz says. “We can look at it and make instructional decisions, change how we use the spaces here, things like that.

We’re done really well so far, but we want parents to support however they can—asking kids if they logged activity on certain days, as an example. I want kids to feel comfortable sharing exactly what they think and feel. And the kids who have been the most honest have seen the biggest outcomes.”

Already, the results from PGIA students are making their way around the globe.

“We’ve been commended by the founder of miMove, who has said that our students’ reflections are as good as any he’s seen,” says Mr. Franz. “He’s impressed with how we are utilizing this data, and he sees all kinds of feedback from around the world.”

In some ways, miMove can be used like a social app. Students can see each others’ activities and react in encouragement, but not comment.

“For our athletics teams, we can also group data based on each team—so we can look at data for the swim team, or volleyball team, or soccer team, and use this for a feedback session after practice, for example. All of that is helpful.

One thing that differentiates physical education from other subjects, apart from ones like drama or music, is that students can watch others do it. So if that brings them anxiety, it’s nice if I can give them a focus to talk about social interactions or confidence, and they can reflect on it at the end of class, and it’s all done in this streamlined app.”

“Ultimately we want students to have fun with the app! I think we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible.”

See our 2023-2024 miMove results here: