ROGERS (KFSM) -- Rogers School District Physical education teachers spent two days riding bicycles to introduce biking into their curriculum for the 2015-2016 school year.
The school district recently purchased 130 bicycles from Phat Tire Bike Shop with grant money to use in their phys ed program.
"Usually we have at least five to six kids in every class that maybe have never ridden a bike, or it is their first time or they have really low skill level," Deb Walter, a phys ed teacher at Kirksey Middle School, said.
Teachers spent about 14 hours Thursday (August 24) and Friday learning to get on and off bikes, shifting gears, biking up and down hills, emergency breaking and helmet safety so they can pass the knowledge along to their students.
"We believe exercise builds a healthy brain, and so if a child rides their bike to school they are getting that blood flowing," Walter said. "That brain is ready to go when it actually gets to school."
Students will be required to spend 12 hours on a bike during the school year to fulfill curriculum requirements and teachers are hoping each student leaves school asking for a bike for Christmas.
"We will have a lot of kids who come in and say 'I want the bike I am riding in class' and they come in and they are excited and they are kind of pulling their parent's hands around and saying which bike they want," Scott Schroen, general manager at Phat Tire in Bentonville, said.
The Fayetteville School District began including biking in its phys ed curriculum during the 2014-2015 school year.
The Springdale School District has its bikes assembled and is working to include them in its phys ed curriculum during the 2015-2016 school year.
The Bentonville School District has been using bikes in its curriculum since the 2011-2012 school year and is now in the early stages of developing a National Interscholastic Cycling Association mountain team for the 2016-2017 school year.