Garmin Project 2.0

The aim of the project was to expand on the successful Garmin Project trialled initially with Kurnai College – Churchill campus in 2018. A set of 30 Garmin devices per participating school were allocated to classes of Year 7, 8 or 9 students with varying levels of activity and fitness.

This project focuses on encouraging students of Year 7/8/9 across all Latrobe Valley Secondary schools to engage in more incidental activity by providing them with a Garmin watch for a period of one school term.

Students would be explicitly taught the concept of Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines, including the importance of moving 10,000 steps per day in order to maintain positive health outcomes, moving with moderate to vigorous intensity for at least 60 minutes per day and choosing to sit less and move more.

Students used the provided devices to record their progress on a weekly basis in order to monitor the number of steps achieved. The devices also recorded minutes of exercise per week, heart rates (intensity of exercise), energy expenditure etc. At the end of the term, students were offered a reward including activity vouchers, class excursions, healthy lunch etc.

Eight schools participated in the Garmin project. The participating schools were Kurnai College – Morwell, Kurnai College – Churchill, Lowanna College; Lavalla Catholic College, Traralgon College, Baringa Specialist School, St. Pauls Anglican Grammar School Traralgon and Latrobe Special Development School.

Two Schools chose to withdraw from the project and returned their set of Garmins. The schools that withdrew were Latrobe Specialist School and Lowanna College.