In Arkansas, a law was passed this year requiring schools to obtain student BMI's and provide them to parents in a "health report card." I thought initial efforts should be toward improving math instruction, so that maybe in 2-3 generations we would have parents who could understand the BMI.
************************************************* Michael T. Scoles, Ph.D. Director, Arkansas Charter School Resource Center Associate Professor of Psychology & Counseling University of Central Arkansas Conway, AR 72035 voice: (501) 450-5418 fax: (501) 450-5424 ************************************************* > -----Original Message----- > From: Paul Brandon [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 11:05 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences > Subject: Re: BMI Scale > > > At 8:56 AM -0800 11/20/03, Jean-Marc Perreault wrote: > >Hi Rick, > > I went to see what my BMI was, and to my > surprise, I am > >half a point below being overweight. Now, if you saw me, you would > >know why I am surprised! I am 6'3'', and weight 195 > pounds. I am not > >fat, and am quite in good shape. > > > >I am curious to know if anyone knows "how" the BMI has been > >"normalized", if it has been. If I am just below being > "overweight", > >what does this say about most people? > > > >This kind of popular scale can have some far reaching > consequences, > >if it is being used widely. Now, I KNOW I am not overweight, so do > >not really care about what a number says... but what about youger > >folks who are still developing their self-image? > > > >This topic is of great interest to me right now... I'm in > the middle > >of teaching a Motivation section in Intro, and we touch on > Anorexia. > >The link seems to stick out. > > The BMI is not a measure of body mass -- it's an index that > indicates > an estimate of relative body fat composition. > It's a very broad indicater -- really just a suggestion for a more > accurate check such as: > 1. Skin fold measures using calipers. > 2. A _direct_ measure of body density accomplished by > immersing said body in water and measuring the > volume of water displaced. > > I suspect that either of the latter would show that you're > far from obesity. > > There's a good point here about the virutes of direct measurement. > -- > * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * > * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University * > * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 * > * http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html * > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
