Physical education class has turned into fun instructional time for students at Peachcrest Elementary School.

The school unveiled its new Lü interactive playground Feb. 28. The playground transforms traditional school environments into immersive and interactive spaces using a catalog of activities and audiovisual equipment.

The playground features a giant wall projection, a 3D camera system that turns the wall projection into touchscreen that can detect multiple objects, and a light and sound system. There are activities in all academic subjects for each grade level.

Peachcrest is the first school in DeKalb County School District to have this program. Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson thanked the school for being the flagship in this new way of learning.

“This is awesome, this is incredible, I love it and this needs to be in every school,” Tyson said. I hope you will invite your colleagues to come over and see what you’ve done here because it’s teaching and learning and moving. We know the impact of obesity with our children and the impact in their health and lives, and this is an instrumental way to address it, while at the same time learning.”

Peachcrest Principal Sheila Nelloms, Ed.D, said a lot had to be done to make the program functional in the school’s gymnasium. With assistance from the school district, the school received remote controlled blinds to cover the windows in the gym to make the wall projection visible. Lü also partnered with Nisewonger Audio Visual Center of Lawrenceville to install some of the equipment.

Adam Yates, vice president of Nisewonger, said his company is transforming the gymnasium space.

“We call this the classroom. This is your classroom,” Yates said. “We see this as a new classroom space that needs technology that gets these students up and moving. We’re encouraging people, every grade level to come in here and use this space, not only for the PE time but instructional time. This ties it all together.”

“Things have changed in the way we educate our children,” said Nelloms. “There are things that we had to do in the past that we have to do now—motivate more, encourage more, find different ways to expose them to instruction. If we have to trick them and do it during PE class, then that’s what we need to do.”

Contributed by Carla Parker