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The importance of play in early childhood education
Importance of play based learning in early childhood education
The importance of play in early childhood education
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Position on recess
“Recess serves as a necessary break from the rigors of concentrated, academic challenges in the classroom” (AAP).
This statement alone expresses my position on recess; children deserve a break from the structured classroom, although they are out of the classic learning environment does not mean that they have stopped learning. When children are outside on the playground they are in their natural learning environment. Recess teaches children how to regulate their emotions, while building people skills and learning compromise. Some may even be applying the lesson they learned inside the classroom to something they see on the playground that has sparked their interest. Children are constantly learning no matter their setting.
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Children whose schedules are very demanding tend to turn out to be will rounded not just because they are exposed to different things like the arts, but because they are exposed to different types of play. Play can be many take many forms, not just the general play time with toys or on the playground. According to Oxford Dictionary play is defined as the “engagement in an activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than serious or practical purpose.” This means that children with intense schedules are still at play even when they are busy, that is as long as they enjoy the activities they are involved in. In a study conducted by Joseph Mahoney and Andrea Vest they found that “there is consistent and strong evidence of a positive association between participating in organized activities and indicators of positive development” (2012). Is evidence shows strong correlations between positive development and increased extracurricular activities, then why should parents expose their children to all life has to offer, especially if the child shows interest on his/her own? In the classroom, we want children to be interested in what they are learning, so if children are still learning doing something they love then I feel they should be free to expand their …show more content…
Using field trips helps children to apply their own knowledge to a topic, but the excitement comes from the way the teacher collects information. If a teacher uses worksheets to assess what his/her students learned during he field trip, students are more likely to shut down or not try as hard because they are simply not interested. Field trips should be a way for teachers to expand the learning experiencing of their students. Teachers should be prohibited from assigning worksheets during field trips, but encourages to find new and improved ways to assess the knowledge that students have gained from the experience. Linked below are two articles that were designed to help teachers make field trips and informal learning experiences more
With an increasing demand for higher standardized testing scores, schools are finding themselves in a tough position. The huge question being asked is how do we create more time for students to learn common core. The simple answer is, we don’t! Incorporating more time for recess is the key to success for students everywhere. Many researchers and educators alike agree that participating in recess increases students’ cognitive, academic, and social skills. The amount of time allotted for recess should be increased for students of all ages. A child’s well-being encompasses more than just academia. Children spend almost eight hours a day at school, sometimes more. The school system and
Some people might say that middle schoolers shouldn’t have recess, but, middle schooler don’t always have gym, and they don’t get enough exercise, so recess would be beneficial to middle schoolers.
Children can burn off bottled up energy at recess that they have accumulated while sitting through their teacher’s lessons. Lahey mentions that “studies have found that students who enjoy the benefit of recess are more attentive once they return to class”. This is helpful because the child will be focused on what they are learning instead of fidgeting in their chair. Also, providing breaks to students while they are learning can result in longer attention spans. Recess is a break that recharges the brain and allows elementary students to control their desire to adventure. Young children are easily distracted, so recess regulates this by providing them with their own free time. Students become more self-contained after they return from recess due to their tiredness. This is useful in class because children will be less hyperactive. The absence of recess would not permit students to learn self-control
Sindelar, R. (2004). Recess: Is it needed in the 21st Century? Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting, Vol. 18, Issue 1, 1-6.
Council on School Health (2012). The Crucial Role of Recess in School. Pediatrics, 131, 182-189. doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-2993
In her Huffington Post blog article titled Here’s One Way to Wreck a Child’s Education: Take Away Recess, Haley Krischer takes an emboldened stand against the practice of eliminating recess; which is often done as a punishment or to make more time for instructional learning. I stand in agreement with Krischer. I do not agree with schools taking away recess for any reason with the exception of dangerous weather or environmental circumstances. Yet, research indicates how common the 86-ing of recess is occurring in schools. A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2010) revealed 77% of school Principals reported taking away recess as a punishment, and 81.5% of schools allow students to be excluded from recess. Krischer begins the article by introducing her 9 year old son and his affinity for recess: “the only subject he will talk about”. She gives examples of how recess benefits her son such as other students who help him troubleshoot technology issues and challenging him to improve his sports skills. Indeed, the unstructured playtime allows children to explore their environment and develop new ideas and understandings of it and those within it (American Pediatric Association, 2013). Kischer also expressed that children need active play to combat restlessness and that this is especially important for children who may suffer from ADHD, noting that taking away recess as a punishment for misbehavior may be counterproductive and result in increased behavioral problems. A longitudinal study that followed over 10,000 students between the ages of 8 and 9 concluded that student recess of at least 15 minutes resulted in better behavior as rated by teachers (Samuels, 2009).
Ah recess, the highlight of the elementary school days, no work to do, just running around outside, but did it really benefit us? Many people across the world are against recess because they believe it takes time away from learning. In addition, some parents value the education more than letting their kids have a break during school, which leads them to believe that recess is no good. What they don’t know is that recess actually benefits their kids. Kids should have recess because it helps them build social skills, reset their brains for future information to be learned in the day, and improve their mental function through regular fitness.
Keeping recess in schools has both its pros and cons. Along with the positive things presented by keeping recess there are also the things that prove to be negatives. One problem presented by keeping recess is that class time is cut shorter. Instructors are pressed to teach the lessons in a shorter amount of time. "Schools began cutting back recess in the late 1980's to allow more instructional time" (Jarret). Shorter instruction time means less time for the teachers to reiterate what has been taught that day. Another problem with recess is that if not properly supervised children can injure themselves or one another. Also, some children get bullied while on the playground.
...ctive. Play is an essential learning tool and one that must not be ignored within the classroom. It is a catalyst to help children develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. It is not only an important part of a child’s development as a pupil but also a child’s development as an individual.
However, despite the unquestionable link to a brighter future for the children who engage in it, less and less time is being allotted for play in the classrooms. As standards for what children are expected to know at younger and younger ages continues to rise along with the demand for standardized testing from the state, time for play is being sacrificed. Adults are choosing to get rid of time for unstructured play and recess to make time for this new testing interfering with the time allotted for children to learn independently through play. Cutting play and recess is a mistake, and here is why: “recess gives students time for social interactions: for students must be able to initiate, negotiate, cooperate, share, and build relationships with one another--skills that are highly valued in the adult world but that often are quite different from work or play under adult supervision and control” (Chang). Those skills learned through play, are often not the sole purpose of a classroom lesson and could potentially be the only place they learn those needed skills. Play is an affective measurement in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom and children can learn so much from it if only given the chance
Teachers have the most demanding and significant job on the planet: to equip the next generation with the information and lessons they need to lead our world into future success. It is foolish to believe that all students will be able to retain and apply everything they learn in the classroom. Our problem is solved by using the world we live in to teach lessons through application. These types of “lessons” can be taught to any age group and are most commonly referred to as field trips.
...n, B., (2012) Yay for Recess: Pediatricians Say It’s as Important as Math or Reading, Available at: http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/31/yay-for-recess-pediatricians-say-its-as-important-as-math-or-reading/, (accessed: 05/01/14)
Field trips can also help with the enforcement of rules inside the school which makes a teachers job easier. This is just the tip of the iceberg on why field trips can help students and teachers inside and outside of the school.
When using a virtual field trip to visit a place that is not possible to visit, teachers are given the opportunity to bring the positive and exiting components of that location to the
Two-thirds of children who participate in extracurricular activities are expected to attain at least a bachelor’s degree, whereas only half of children that do not participate do (National Center for Education Statistics, 1995). Childhood is a very important time in our lives, a time when we develop many vital skills that follow us into adulthood. Some people laugh or scoff at us parents that keep our children to busy schedules. Those same people would also argue that our children should be allowed to have a childhood, to not be so tightly scheduled in their daily lives. Before jumping on that bandwagon, I would suggest doing a little research. Participating in after-school activities has shown to benefit children in many ways. Children should