Interactive Health Technologies

Teaching PE remotely is hard. Grading it fairly? Even harder.

Without objective data, virtual PE accountability collapses into guesswork — self-reported logs, screenshot submissions, and a lot of hoping students are actually moving.

That's the problem the Spirit System was built to solve.

Heart rate data collected in real time, synced directly to the teacher, organized by student and session. No patchwork. No honor system. Real accountability, no matter where students are learning.

Read our latest blog post to learn more: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/virtual-pe-accountability-how-to-track-students-remotely/

Early signs of dysregulation often appear physically before they show up behaviorally. Monitoring those signals creates opportunities for prevention instead of reaction.

Schools using the Spirit System are seeing students pause, check their monitors, and self-correct … before the outburst, before the shutdown, before the referral.

Learn more about how schools are using heart rate data to help students recognize escalation before it becomes a behavioral incident: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/how-schools-use-heart-rate-monitors-to-help-students-self-regulate-their-emotions/

Renita Searcy, PE teacher at Whispering Pines Elementary in Humble, Texas, wanted heart rate monitors for her students but didn't have the budget. So she did something about it: she applied for and was awarded an American Heart Association grant, raised additional funds through Field Day T-shirt sales and her school's Turkey Trot, and built a program from the ground up for her 100 fourth graders. 🫀

Now, students who used to resist running are engaged. These young students can see their heart rate zones in real time, allowing them to understand what their bodies are doing and feeling.

“They can actually see what they’re doing,” Searcy said. “It’s such a game-changer. And it might even cut back on some of your behavior students or students who really are not the big PE kids. This is a new generation of kids who are all about technology. So bringing technology in, that’s what they love.”

If you're a PE teacher who's been wondering how other educators are funding edtech for their programs, Renita's story and her tips are exactly what you need. She even shares helpful tips about how to apply for AHA grant money.

Read the full blog post here: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/pe-teacher-used-american-heart-association-grant-to-bring-heart-rate-monitors-to-elementary-school/

A 9th grader walked into PE class weighing nearly 450 pounds.

By the next school year, he'd lost 52 pounds – not because of a fitness program, but because his PE teacher met him exactly where he was.

Using an IHT Spirit heart rate monitor, he could see his own data. His teacher gave him one goal every day: just make your body that much stronger.

"He started paying less attention to what others thought and was focused on himself," his teacher said. "And now he's got a physical difference to see for it."

This is how PE can transform a child’s life with the use of like the Spirit System.

Read more about this powerful story: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/high-school-students-focus-on-heart-rate-to-take-ownership-of-fitness-journey/

What if the secret to getting kids focused in class happened before they ever left PE class?

Eagles Elementary School PE teacher Tyler Hetland (in Fargo, North Dakota) uses party lighting + IHT’s heart rate monitors to help his elementary students calm their bodies and minds before heading back to class … and it's changing everything.

The result? Calmer kids, more focused classrooms, and teachers who notice the difference.

“Not only are the (heart rate monitors) and lights helpful from a classroom management standpoint, I think they are helping set our students up for a successful, healthy life further down the road,” Hetland said.

Read more about his innovative PE program: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/teachers-creative-pe-lighting-prompts-elementary-students-to-calm-bodies-and-minds/

🎯 Goal-setting. Safety. Independence. Self-awareness. These gains are possible when heart rate monitors are used in adapted PE. From tracking exertion to supporting IEP goals, the right can help students with disabilities thrive.

Learn more about how this educator transformed his Adapted PE class: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/adapted-pe-teacher-transforms-student-safety-fitness-evaluations-for-students-with-disabilities/

This , we're thinking about what it actually looks like to support student mental health – not just in theory, but in practice, every single day.

At an elementary school in Littleton, Colorado, behavior-based incidents dropped from 17 to just three in a single school year. Suspensions dropped from eight to three. The tool at the center of it? A wrist-worn heart rate monitor.

When students could see their own heart rate rising in real time (before frustration became an outburst, before anxiety became a shutdown) they had something most kids never get: an early warning signal they could actually act on.

"Heart rate is one of the simplest and easiest ways to see how people are doing on the inside," said Littleton Public Schools Director of Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Services Nate Thompson. "The progress these students made was life-changing for them."

More and more schools are using our heart rate monitors in counseling programs, special education settings, and all-day wear for students who need continuous biofeedback support.

This May, if you're thinking about how to do more for your students' mental health, this is worth a read: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/how-schools-use-heart-rate-monitors-to-help-students-self-regulate-their-emotions/

Meet the Student Growth Report, the latest addition to the Spirit Software Suite! 📊 ✨

Easily see every student's fitness progress side by side, across any time period. Track fitness gains, validate your program’s impact, identify struggling students, track longitudinal progress for IEPs, adjust curriculum, evaluate teacher effectiveness, support state physical education requirements and more! No other system gives educators this much longitudinal data, this clearly.

Your program is working. Your students are improving. Let us help you collect the quantifiable data to prove both.

Learn more and watch the demo video: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/the-student-growth-report-track-student-progress-over-time/

When your PE Coordinator or Principal asks for student fitness data and you already have it. 🥳 🏆

The Classroom App tracks, syncs, and reports … before anyone asks for data.

If you’re a PE teacher not already using the Spirit System and the Classroom App, contact us today to make your 2026/2027 school year your most impactful year yet.

“I’m blessed because my district truly believes in student wellness,” Humble School District Coordinator of PE/Wellness Helen Wagner said. “The more kids you can show that you’re going to affect, the greater the return on what the district can get for you. The biggest thing I’m hearing is that [IHT] has completely changed the mindset of PE in high school.”

Read more about how this Texas school district’s Coordinator of PE/Wellness used grant money to strengthen her district’s wellness curriculum: https://ihtusa.com/iht-blog/students-commit-to-wellness-using-iht-zone-heart-rate-monitors/