The Effect of Nintendo Wii and Gender to Physical Education Students’ Balance Performance

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore whether there is a gender difference in the beneficial effects of Nintendo Wii-Fit Plus, which is a series of sports video games used to support Physical Education students’ balance performance. Participants were twenty-six (n=26) undergraduate students, between the ages from 20-22 years old. Thirteen (50%) of the participants were male and thirteen were female (50%). The balance ability assessment was performed with the Biodex stability system. Participants voluntarily completed 24-minute Wii-Fit Plus sports video games 2 times per week for a total of 8 weeks. A one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted to compare the adjusted mean score of the post-tests for the two gender groups. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the two gender groups on balance post-test scores. These finding suggest that females will benefit as equally as males by using the Nintendo Wii-Fit Plus balance games. However, further research is needed to see if these results exist with other student populations enrolled in other sports video games.