The Horsepower Challenge - named in the spirit of the Kentucky Derby, the Horsepower Challenge is an online game that motivates physical activity in school-aged children.
The goal of the Horsepower Challenge is simple -- getting students active. By participating in the Challenge, players learn that small steps can add up to a big achievement as they race around the world in an online school bus that represents their school.
Along the way, students learn about historic landmarks and have the opportunity to accessorize their own individual horse avatar through the currency earned by their personal level of activity.
Gameplay
Each student who participates in the Horsepower Challenge wears a small, round, black pedometer on his or her shoe.
The pedometer stores up to two weeks worth of data and wirelessly uploads to a RAP (Remote Access Point). The HG4H team places a RAP in each participating school in a location that the children walk past each day. The data from the pedometer wirelessly uploads to the www.HorsepowerGame.com website.
Each player has an individual username and password that they use to log on to the game. Once logged on, they can review their step totals and the collective steps of their school as a whole. They can also customize their individual horse avatar by 'purchasing' accessories with currency earned through steps.
Each participating class also earns currency that can be used to 'buy' items to upgrade their school bus, such as new paint colors, gold rims and a gold grille.
The students' steps power the school buses on a race around the world, which pauses for brief history lessons on historic landmarks along the way. The first school to make it to the finish line wins!
The students' steps power the school buses on a race around the world, which pauses for brief history lessons on historic landmarks along the way. The first school to make it to the finish line wins!
Horsepower Challenge Results
Students, parents and teachers have all felt the positive effects of the Horsepower Challenge.
After the flagship race concluded in 2008, the HG4H team surveyed the participants to understand all of the benefits received as a result of the game. The team also analyzed the step count data to understand just how effective the game is at motivating increases in physical activity levels among students.
The research yielded promising results:
•Students' activity levels increased by 13% during the challenge.
•62% of students said they exercised more because of the challenge.
•Students increased their activity levels in a number of ways, such as running up and down stairs, walking with family after dinner, walking the track at recess and making a point of going places that required a lot of walking, like the zoo.
•53% of students said they exercised with their family during the challenge.
•Students felt an obligation to increase activity levels so that their school would win. They felt honored to represent their school and were motivated by the competition between participating schools.
•45% of students said they intentionally ate healthier during the challenge in order to have more energy -- even though there are no nutritional messages in the game itself.
•The greatest increase in activity seemed to occur more in students who were not active in formal sports teams. To gain steps, these students added activities to their daily routines and even considered joining group sports to increase their activity level.
HPC - Galloping into a School near You!
HG4H sponsored the first ever Horsepower Challenge for Louisville-area 6th Graders in the Spring of 2008.
Since then, the Horsepower Challenge has been launched in additional middle schools in 15 states across the USA and in London, England.
If you would like to learn more about the Horsepower Challenge and how you can bring it to your school, contact Exergame Fitness at (847)963-8969 or visit http://www.exergamefitness.com/humana...
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Exergame Fitness USA "Bringing Exercise & Game Play Together" | www.exergamefitness.com
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