November 7, 1997

Healthy little bodies mean healthy little minds

1997-98 Killam Annual Professorship Award winner, Dr. Graham Fishburne, keeps the fun in fitness.

It's a long way from the soccer fields of his native England, where after three years of playing for Carlisle United, Dr. Graham J. Fishburne hung up his professional jersey for the last time. It was then he decided he would hit the books and go back to teaching math, science and physical education to children.

This way, he could combine his engineering background and love of sports, particularly soccer and track and field.

It was a decision that eventually led to a career teaching teachers at the University of Alberta.

And, as the Killam Annual Professorship Award for 1997-98 proves, his career is filled with top-notch research, lectures, and community contributions. All in the name of getting more children more involved in any kind of sport or activity program. "I see Grade 1 children who can't wait to run into the gym. If I let them outside, I know they'll start climbing up trees," says Fishburne with enthusiasm.

"But 12 years later, these students are now conditioned to a more sedentary lifestyle....The natural aspect of activity in the community is no longer there."

Fishburne says it's important in this time of computers and cable television to counterbalance sedentary learning and amusements with activity.

"Studies show fitness levels decrease as children go through school, especially for girls," says Fishburne.

This is a health concern now and could be a prerequisite for disease later in life, he says.

But more importantly, research shows activity and movement help children stay more alert and more focused which in turn helps them process information better says Fishburne.

It also helps children manage stress, which helps create a better classroom environment.

The key, says Fishburne, is to create suitable programs which entice children.

"Children have to have competencies before they can be successful. For example, if they lack hand-eye coordination, don't start with handball," says Fishburne. "Or if they don't have rhythm, leave out dancing."

This is another area of Fishburne's research-trying to get physically awkward children involved. There is always something a reluctant child can do, he says.

"We have more brain cells for receiving information from movement than we do for vision and hearing combined," says Fishburne. "Therefore, why not use all three when teaching?"

It's one reason he brings his set of colorful juggling balls around to classes.

Holding the balls up when teaching a lesson, Fishburne delights in keeping his students in suspense until the very end when he demonstrates that, yes, he can actually juggle.

"I think I have the most exciting job in the world. It's like being paid for a hobby."

And it shows.

Fishburne is a recipient of the Rutherford Award for Excellence in Teaching, the 3M Canadian Universities National Teaching Award, and the Faculty of Education Teaching Award.

As a leading international expert in sports pedagogy, theory and research, Fishburne will also be contributing to Alberta Education's revamping of curricula for elementary and secondary schoolchildren.

Fishburne says he's excited about the provincial government's increased interest in promoting a more active lifestyle for schoolchildren.

But community contributions closer to his heart include coaching his younger daughter's soccer team "which hasn't been beat in the last two years," he says.

And when the soccer shoes come off, the painter's smock goes on. Fishburne paints watercolors.

In a book he takes everywhere, Fishburne sketches landscapes that come to life on canvas when he pushes the textbooks and coach's whistle aside.

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