Originally published in TEACH Magazine, September/October 2013 Issue
By Eric Grossman
Imagine you are out at the school bus dock supervising kids arriving to school in the morning. Most shuffle off the buses, single file, and parade into school like so many ants following the trail already in front of them. The car riders may feel more special, or just more embarrassed, as parents chauffeur them each morning.
You are proud of your school for encouraging the bicyclists, who you notice zipping up to the newly installed bike racks. They are a confident, independent, and fit set of kids. Unfortunately, they are a small minority of students at your school. Bicycling was so much more common when you were a kid, you think.
Dr. W. Eric Grossman is an associate professor of education at Emory and Henry College, VA, where he specializes in teaching and learning. He has written extensively on performance and motivation for Running Times Magazine online and in his blogs Explore Fatigue and Above Grade.
