Most San Diego Unified School District schools have iPads, but budget restraints mean not every school has its own physical education teacher.

Kearny High freshmen are taking that reality as inspiration for innovation. Using their smarts in coding, writing, and physiology, they’re creating a PE curriculum that only requires them to scan a QR code to launch a video demonstration of each exercise. The pilot project could head to city elementary schools this year.

“There’s value on both ends—the elementary students who are going to get the PE instruction, and the high school students who are going to see their project implemented. It’s incredibly powerful,” says Kearny English teacher Daina Weber.

Her school is big on project-based learning, so the PE lessons are written and edited in English class, based on information on anatomy and physiology from biology class, before being coded in computer science class.

The QR codes are printed on decks of “IMPACT cards” (Increased Movement and Physical Activity Class Time), in categories including agility, cardio, flexibility, muscle strength, and endurance. A handful of cards could generate a virtual circuit-training course, no in-class instructor required.

The cards are so far aimed at elementary-age kids, but could someday be used across grade levels and even beyond San Diego Unified, according to Kearny High computer science teacher Corri-Anne Burgess. “We’re
constantly improving and adding things to make it more interactive,” she says.

Tags: Health, Health Data, technology, Tip Sheet