Technology - an incredible, constantly advancing achievement- has greatly impacted our world by creating an efficient and easier way to do work and, as a result, increased the lethargy of our people. However, recess is one aspect that hasn't altered and remains a major source of fitness that monitors obesity rates through exercise. Additionally, it increases a child’s cognitive development. Unstructured recess bestows upon children the ability to learn important life skills such as collaboration, negotiation, and resolution of conflicts, which will be advantageous in the future. However, the design of the unstructured play is being threatened with a new proposal due to the increasing number of worried parents. This new proposal is known as …show more content…
We all want to be safe, it is human nature. Structured recess assures parents that safety while be exercised through every part of the day. Furthermore, structured recess instills conflict resolution skills in students, as “coaches teach simple ways to settle disputes…” (Text 3, line 43). Conflicts are a part of life, and learning how to settle them is vital. Being safe encompasses both mental and physical. Children are frequently excluded, leading to them to develop deep feelings of resentment. Structured recess prevents children from harboring these feelings through by preventing the isolation of students. When playing games without supervision, students choose people who they want to play with, and many times someone is left alone. Structured recess aids by “circumvent[ing] emotionally scarring episodes of being chosen based on skill or popularity.” Unlike unstructured recess, structured recess utilize teachers as a mechanism for preventing people from being disbarred. This is beneficial in more ways than one. If all students are engaging in physical activity, their fitness level increases and obesity rates will lower. In addition to being an effective method of providing safety and promoting inclusiveness, structured recess proves to be advantageous in the classroom. These positive conditions are depicted since “teachers have reported improved behavior and attention in …show more content…
In 2005, scientists Burdette and Whitaker wrote an article emphasizing the importance of unstructured play. According to them, “free play promotes intellectual and cognitive growth; emotional intelligence.” Furthermore, unstructured recess provides valuable lessons that structured recess fails in doing. Children “build...empathy, self-awareness, self-regulation, and flexibility” (Text 2, lines 32-35). These are valuable assets that are expedient in the future. Collaboration skills will a necessity in the workforce. These skills also develop your character. Unstructured recess enables children to make their own life choices. Teachers and adults will not always be there to solve problems. Exposing the children to the real-world at a young age helps to prepare them for the
Are teachers enforcing discipline mechanisms in a healthy way for children? Researchers would answer no to this question because of one major factor: removing recess from a child’s school day. In Jessica Lahey’s article, “Students Who Lose Recess Are the Ones Who Need It Most”, she states that “schools continue to take away recess privileges as a penalty for academic or behavioral transgressions”. Many teachers follow this procedure because they assume that they are teaching the child how to act with appropriate behaviors. However, it is a proven fact that eliminating a student’s recess results in a negative outcome. Therefore, recess should not be removed from a child’s school day because this recreation plays a role in their physical health,
In the “The Crucial Role of Recess in School” (2012) article it explains, many schools are beginning to replace physical activity, like recess, with more attention to academic subjects. What these schools are forgetting is that well-supervised recess also has benefits that surpass academics. They help make a well rounded student because recess offers cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits to the student when they are young that they carry with them into adulthood.
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).
Numerous sources have concluded that it is a necessity for children to have time to play for countless reasons; this includes the development of their mind and bodies. When observing a young child at the age of 4 on November 1st, 2016 I found information that supported why play was essential to children 's development. When conducting this observation I was unable to participate in the children 's classroom activities, but only allowed to watch and listen. During this observation, we were asked to pick one student to observe for this observation. I chose a student whose name was Wyatt, he demonstrated that play is a crucial part of their learning in terms of mood and interactions.
Everyone knows that recess is good for children, but most people do not know why, thus leaving room for schools to cut down or altogether cut out recess. This can damage children and inhibit learning. In 2005, an estimated 40% of schools had cut back or eliminated recess from the average elementary student’s school day (Bland). Teachers may need more instructional time to meet the new demand from standardized testing, but extended unstructured play is essential. It increases children’s cognitive abilities by promoting healthy chemical exchanges within the brain during physical activity, giving more room for creativity, and improving social skills.
Recess holds great potential for promoting positive playground and school experiences among children. According to Pellegrini and Glickman, “Recess is one of
An Article by Dr. Leong and Dr. Bodrova (2016) stated that play is beneficial to children’s learning especially when it reaches a certain degree of complexity. When they engage in play activities most of their early years, they learn to delay gratification and to prioritize their goals and actions. They also learn to consider the perspectives and needs of other people and to represent things significantly to regulate their behavior and actions in a cautious, intentional way.
Schools all over the country are considering, if not already applying, the removal of recess for elementary school students. Having recess has scientifically proven to play a substantial part in the social development of a child, their physical health, and the amount of attention they pay in the classroom. For example the Tennessee Board of Education says, "It is the position of the NASPE that all elementary school children should be provided with at least one daily period of recess of at least 20 minutes on length" (National Association for Sports and Physical Education). Keeping recess in schools could help lower the childhood obesity rate, help children to be more attentive in class, and assist in the development of their much needed social skills. These aspects are essential to academic healthiness and to your child succeeding academically. Removing recess could cause a dramatic decline in the graduation rate in the U.S.
Having recess can help kids be more physically active. For example, The American Heart Association News, a news organization, stated that, ”Recess time has been championed as a way to help combat the nation’s childhood obesity problem. Studies also have shown that the
With the rise in popularity of easily accessible technology, young children have a serious deficiency of physical activity. Recess is one way that these students can receive the physical activity that they may not be getting at any other time. Dr. Murray, a pediatrician, “supports [recess] for many reasons, including physical fitness, which is important when childhood obesity is so common” (Gormly). Physical activity is not the only aspect of physical health that is improved by recess. Children need a healthy way to burn energy outside of the classroom instead of inside it (Youker). Children need to exercise for physical health, to burn energy, and to give their brain a break. Recess is a way to get all of these in one. Why should it be taken away from those who need it most? Recess gives physical benefits to children, and these physical benefits will give way to social benefits as
Ramstetter, Catherine L., Robert Murray, and Andrew S. Garner. “The Crucial Role of Recess in Schools.” Journal of School Health 80.11 (2010): 517-526. Academic Search Elite. Web. 8 Feb. 2012.
In the fall of 2008, the American Journal of Play published Anthony D. Pellegrini's piece, "The Research Debate: A Disjuncture between Educational Policy and Scientific Research." Pellegrini's essay makes an effort to demonstrate throughout that recess has numerous positive effects on children and their academic success. Pellegrini's essay notes that children frequently express a preference for recess, while adults tend to regard it as a brief interlude from the more serious tasks of the day, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. The author's study offers insights into the value of recess for children's academic performance, supporting both perspectives in the debate. Conversely, others maintain that time is squandered during breaks in
Children develop normally when they are exposed to different types of play that allow them to express themselves while using their imaginations and being physically active. According to the Center for Health Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness, “Play is child’s work”; this is true because it is a child’s job to learn and develop in their first few years of life, in order for them to do this, they play. Not only is playing a child’s full time job, the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights listed play as a right of every child. Through their full time job of play, the children develop emotionally, socially, physically, and creatively. Children need to participate in child-led play in order to facilitate healthy development of their minds, body, and creativity.
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