The effect on development when recess

is substituted with technology.

BY: Samuel Smith, Darrell

Waller, Asia Starr, Jaimie

Mclean

Table of Contents Background and history of the

problem… 3

Darrell’s background… 3-4

Asia’s Background…4-5

Jaimie’s background…5-6

Ramifications of the Problem …. 7

Darrell’s Ramifications … 7-8

Asia’s Ramifications… 8

Jaimie’s Ramifications… 8-9

Proposed solution to the problem…

10

Darrell’s solutions… 10-11

Asia’s Solutions…11-12

Jaimie’s Solution…12-13

Appendix, sources and bios… 14-15

Background and

history of the

problem By Darrell Waller

1. Parents hovering over the learning of

children, “Helicopter Parents”.

Parents are taking more of an interest

in their children’s learning these

days.

More families have stay at home

parents because one spouse is

making more money, this than

provides more time for the other

spouse to be involved with their

children. This means they can watch

the teachers and schools and have an

opinion about everything their child

is taught. Parents who are so

involved with their kids lives they

are always trying to swoop in and fix

everything for their child. They are

not letting their children fix things on

their own and learn how to deal with

problems.

Children are not learning to be

“Street wise” because they are

always under the supervision of

parents now who schedule

everything for them. There is no

more free time for children to learn

their own life lessons, parents block

out their kids entire day and have too

many things planned.

2. Schools are having more budget cuts

while educational expectations are

on the rise.

Teachers are trying to keep up at

school when the budget is being cut,

they have more kids to teach and

they are still expected to keep the

kids learning at a certain standard.

This leaves teachers unhappy and

looking for a way to please parents

who often come to them unhappy

with their child’s performance in

their class.

A poll of teachers and principals

shows that 86% of teachers and 78%

of principals are saying their school

is having budget problems.

Teachers are being evaluated more

than ever before and new standards

of what the children need to learn are

being raised with the Obama

administration.

3. Children expected to learn more and

know more than before.

With technology connecting more

people around the world, there is

more competition to get job positions

than ever before. Plus with a weak

economy more people are looking

for jobs, causing companies to have

their pick of plenty of people.

A survey polled parents and asked,

“Do you think your child is expected

to learn more or less than you were

at the same age?”

More than 85.6% of parents said yes,

while 5.7% said their children had to

learn the same amount, and 8.4%

said their children had to learn less.

By Asia Starr Children have not changed but the world

around them has and not to their advantage.

Today the world is fast past and expects

children to keep up. Schools used to require

recess for children. But in the last 30 years

this free time for kids to play outside has

been reduced and replaced.

Identify the factors that contribute to cause

and/or intensify the problem:

-“Yet recess has been scaled back or cut

altogether in a number of schools around the

country. The trend can be traced back to the

late eighties and was accelerated under No

Child Left Behind. Districts under pressure

to show academic progress began to squeeze

as much instruction into the day as possible.

Others eliminated recess because of

concerns about safety, lack of supervision,

and subpar playground equipment.”

-test scores

- Safety

-lack of supervision

- Subpar playground equipment.

- Budget cuts

Explore the scope of the problem:

- About 11 percent of states and 57

percent of districts require

elementary schools to provide

students with regularly scheduled

recess,

-79 percent of elementary schools in

the CDC survey said they provided

daily recess. In 2000, it was 71

percent.

-Jarrett maintains that recess has

benefits over gym class. "With

recess, children have choices and can

organize their own games, figure out

what's fair, and learn a lot of social

behavior that they don't learn in

P.E.," she says.

- taking away recess for those who

have received bad grades

- Play structures can cost upwards of

$150,000

1981, kids ages 6 to 12 had about 57

hours of free time per week.

- By 2003, kids had only 48 hours in

which to choose their own activities.

Time spent outdoors was especially

hard-hit.

http://www.livescience.com/15555-

schools-cut-recess-learning-

suffers.html

4. Schools are having more budget cuts

while educational expectations are

on the rise.

By Jaimie Mclean Discuss the background of the

issue/problem: Education has been a central

feature of America since the Colonial Era

when the first American colonies were

established. As early as the 17th Century,

education has been a mandatory obligation

for attendance and provided facilities. As

time passed the stressed importance and

availability of education became more

common and the discussion of how much

time should be spent in the classroom has

been debated by local and national

governments ever since. Laws have been

passed requiring integration of both the

races and the sexes, funding and regulation

by both the Federal and State governments

are common, and methods of testing have

come and gone. With globalization, the

competition of industries, governments, and

education between nations has increased the

pressure on all citizens. However, the most

pressure has been placed on the field of

education because they are providing the

employees, innovators, and future business

leaders. The debate about how much time

should be spent in the classroom at all levels

of education has become the feature of

debate on a national and global scale. As the

United States continues to drop on the

worldwide scale of test scores the pressure

has increased exponentially. And so, the

debate about classroom time vs. free time

has come to the crux: should schools

eliminate or reduce recess in order to

provide more time in the classroom and thus

increase test scores?

Identify the factors that contribute to cause

and/or intensify the problem: “The

Programme for International Student

Assessment (PISA) is highly respected

across the globe, and enables politicians and

policy-makers to assess how different

countries education systems compare”

(http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog

/2010/dec/07/world-education-rankings-

maths-science-reading). The published

results from organizations like PISA have

direct affect on how politicians regulate

spending, testing, and other national

policies. As the United States continues to

drop in these international rankings, the

pressure on schools and politicians to make

changes increases.

The need for education stems from

the both the job market, but also from

proven results that education increases a

country and person’s life and well being in

an exponential manner and in all facets of

life.

In the United States, like many other

nations, the continued budget woes from a

lagging economy among other things, has

caused a financial strain on all fronts. The

availability of funds is slim and there

doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to the

financial shortages. If anything, schools

across the nation are facing budget cuts year

after year, but with a demand for higher

performance. In order to balance that need,

the proposal to increase class time by

decreasing or eliminating recess makes

logical sense from a purely financial stance

(when recess is seen as play and not

learning).

Explore the scope of the problem: Is

learning restricted to the classroom, or are

there other venues of learning that are as

effective (if not more effective) than time

spent in class? A recent study found that

between the years of 2001 and 2007, 20% of

schools in the United States reduced recess

time as a direct result of the federal

regulations passed as part of No Child Left

Behind. This same study found that schools

in areas of poverty, high-minority schools,

and urban skills have eliminated recess as

early as the 1st grade due to a lack of funds

and classroom time requirements

(http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/M

ain-Menu/Organizing-a-school/Time-out-Is-

recess-in-danger).

The National Center on Time and

Learning, supported and propagated by

President Obama and Education Secretary

Arne Duncan, propose not only eliminating

recess but also increasing the school year

into (and possibly throughout) the summer

as a way to increase learning. They are

pushing for these policies on local, state, and

national levels.

.

Ramifications of

the Problem By

Darrell Waller

Ramifications to Problem 1

“Helicopter Parents” are the parents

who watch out for every problem or

hard time their child is going to go

through and when a problem comes

along they swoop in to fix the

problem before the child can fix it.

Parents who are over protective

never allow their kids to really learn

the lessons of life. This means this

children do not know how to deal

with a difficult class mate or teach, a

hard day at practice with the coach,

and a bad grade on a test.

Parents who pressure their children’s

school to get rid of recess are taking

away their child’s chance to learn

life lessons.

Without a child having failure in their life

they never learn to develop problem solving

skills in life and rely on their parents for

everything.

Ramifications to problem 2

With budget cuts and tight money,

schools are worried about legal

action when kids get hurt at school.

In Port Washington, NY Weber

school officials are worried about

children getting hurt at recess, so

they have banned footballs,

baseballs, and lacrosse balls. Cart

wheels and games of tag have to be

monitored by a coach.

Schools worried about legal action.

“Recess has been an easy target for

school administrators who are afraid

of lawsuits over playground

accidents and who feel pressured to

improve academic performance by

adding more instruction time.”

Ramifications for problem 3

Parents are always thinking their

child can learn more than other kids

because children progress at different

rates. However learning harder

things earlier could hurt children

who do not learn as fast as others and

feeling like they are failing.

Not all children are at the same level

and have learned the same things,

expecting more out of them can

cause them to feel they are a failure.

Primary education expert Jean Gross

says, “It is much more important for

children to learn the skills of

speaking, writing, and managing

their feelings that trying to absorb

facts in school.”

By Asia Starr

The elimination is of recess is like a horrible

cycle of the teacher are trying to get their

students to lean more but in the process are

making the wrong chooses on how to put

more information in. they start eliminating

recess to see results of more learning but in

turn it makes it harder for them to be able to

learn what they need to.

Recess helps children to:

- Build social relationships

- Are less fidgety and more on task

- Have improved memory and more

focused attention

- Develop more brain connections

- Learn negotiation skills

- Exercise leadership, teach games,

take turns, and learn to resolve

conflicts

- Are more physically active before

and after school

By Jaimie Mclean

While the need to address the financial crisis

in education is necessary, eliminating recess

is the worst possible solution. Study after

study proves that even reducing the amount

of time playing at recess will have long

lasting detrimental effects on both the

children and society as a whole. A reduction

in recess/play leads to:

- An increased rate of mental

disorders, including ADHD, ADD,

clinical depression, anxiety, and

suicide.

o Explanation of the science

o Statistics

o Examples

- An increase in social dysfunction:

free, unstructured play is where

children learn creativity, problem

solving, sharing, self-control, and

how to get along with their peers.

o Why play fosters this social

development better than adult

structured activities.

- A decline in abilities to think

creatively, critically, and

innovatively.

o How the brain develops the

areas of creativity, sensory

processing, critical thinking,

etc.

- A decrease in children’s ability to

control their emotions

o The mental and emotional

stress placed on children as

young as preschool age

children is greater than ever

before: the science behind

over-stimulation and

development and how play

reduces the stress on the

mind and allows the mind

and body to recover for

greater learning.

- A decrease in a child’s ability to

process information and effectively

use the prefrontal cortex.

o As the frontal cortex in the

brain is constantly stimulated

(specifically through

electronics), it becomes over

stimulated and the neural

connections to the frontal

cortex where contextual

information is processed

disappear due to synaptic

pruning. This has a direct

affect on the brains ability to

think contextually (the

prefrontal cortex only

processes literally), process

cause and effect, and linear

thought (both of time and

manner).

Perhaps a better way to approach this is

through the development of these systems in

the brain and comparing the differences of

development through play and classroom

time: emotion control, sensory integration,

hemispherical and lateral neural integration

and communication, and information

processing.

Interview with

expert By Darrell Waller

Darrell Waller

Interview

11/27/2013

Topic:

The Development of Children when recess

is replaced with Technology

Interviewer: Darrell Waller

Interviewee: Taylor Smith

School: Papago school, 2013 N. 36th St,

Phoenix, AZ 85008

School District: Creighton School District

Grade: Kindergarten

Years as Teacher: First year

Questions

Do you see a benefit to recess?

“Yes! It is so hard on rainy days

when we can’t let the kids go outside. They

are crazy and they can’t focus, plus they are

just wild.” We try to give them computers to

play with or games to play with, but it

doesn’t work, they need to get out and just

move around.”

Do you think that children need a break

between learning?

“We have mandatory re-teach and

review everyday for 15 minutes where they

go over old material again; however I

always take the kids out to play because they

need it.”

Do you think Children today are required to

learn more than before?

“Yes, since the comm. Core that has

started there are new standards now for

everyone, so we have to teach to these

standards to get the children ready for

college.”

Do you notice higher standards for teachers

while the budget for the school is going

down?

“Yes, we have a long school day; it

goes from 7:30am to 3pm. We have a snack

time and a lunch period too. They have a

mandatory recess after lunch for 20 minutes.

However, the new standards under the

Obama administration have given us more to

teach and we are not getting more funding.

Do you know what a helicopter parent is?

“Yes, you only find them the more

affluent areas because the parents expect

more. However at my school the population

is mostly Hispanic and the parents are very

respectful of the teachers and listen to what

we say.”

Do you have any experience with helicopter

parents?

“No, since I work with children from

a lower income area the parents generally

respect me and or use me for a babysitter so

they don’t ever try to hover over their

children.”

Does your school ever worry about lawsuits

regarding recess and children getting hurt?

“No, they really don’t worry about that.”

Proposed solution

to the problem By Darrell Waller

Solution 1: Education

Show parents the facts about

physical health and learning.

Use statistics to show

parents kids score

higher on tests with a

break between

learning and physical

activity.

Have teachers share

their personal stories

of children focusing

better after they have

had physical time.

Show parents they

even adults need

breaks from learning

so children would too.

Explain to parents the

epidemic of overweight children in this

country.

Show parents the

weight difference of

children when they

were going to school

and the weight of

children today.

Show parents the

nutrition level of the

food being served in

the cafeteria.

Explain how exercise

is not happening at

home and therefore

needs to happen at

school.

Explain how exercise

will lower weight of

the children since

they will be healthier.

Outline Recess plan

Show parents how the

recess would work,

outline the amount of

time children will

have and the activities

the children will be

involved in.

Show the certain

activities teach

children different life

skills.

Explain that certain

activities do have risk

involved but the

school has eliminated

most of the risk.

Allow parents to pout

in their input on how

they would want their

child to spend his or

her recess time.

Solution 2: Free Time

Allow children free time to

do with what they please.

Explain to parents the

benefits of Children

being allowed time

between learning.

Show the data to

prove that in order for

the brain to learn

there must be a time

between studying.

Have professionals

speak on the matter of

allowing the brain

time to learn.

Parents are allowed to

regulate free time.

Since parents want to

hover over their

children allow them

to pick out what their

child does during free

time.

Explain to the parents

that there will be free

time every day and

their child can decide

what they choose to

do with their free

time.

Allow parents the

opinion of knowing

every week what their

child has been doing

for his or her free

time.

Show the parents

before and after data

of how their child is

improving with free

time.

Solution 3: Recess Beta

Propose a trial time to prove

Recess to the parents

Get approval from

parents to try out

recess.

Allow the parents

with a chance to set

some of the

parameters so they are

involved.

Make the experience

fun for the parents

and children.

By Asia Starr

First solution: make recess mandatory part

of public school

- Recess would help brain

development

- Exercise helps with memory

- Healthy part of child development

- Are less fidgety and more on task

- Have improved memory and more

focused attention

- Develop more brain connections

- Learn negotiation skills

- Exercise leadership, teach games,

take turns, and learn to resolve

conflicts

- Are more physically active before

and after school

- Teachers tend to find their students

more capable to learn, when they

participate in recess

Weakness- takes up time and schools in

the city may have troubles finding space.

Also cost money to build play stations.

Second solution: structured recess- have

teachers plan activities for the children.

- Teachers have more control over

what is happening

- Less bulling

- Watching the children more closely

to avoid inquiry

Weakness- there is less room for creativity

and social problem solving.

Third solution. Recess at the beginning of

the day. Get their energy out at the

beginning of the day.

- Get blood pumping to the head

- Be ready for class

- Will help them be on task

- Does not interrupt the class

Weakness: children may get fidgety

through half of the day.

By Jaimie Mclean

First Solution: Physical activity and

creativity increases mental clarity and

retention.

Clarify: Recess provides the

opportunity for both physical activity and

creativity

- Science behind recess/breaks and

the brain in retention/mental

clarity

- Detail opportunities for creativity

at recess

Implementation: Increase the

frequency and duration of recess

- Research detailing frequency and

duration in recess = successful

breaks.

- Examples and personal

experiences (from parents,

teachers, etc)

Projected benefits to 1-Students, 2-

Educators, 3-Tax payers

- Increased clarity and retention =

higher test scores and a more

enjoyable learning experience

- Educators also receive a break

and are able to utilize classroom

time more effectively

- Less money spent in new

program development, longer

school days, longer school years,

etc = cheaper solution to higher

test scores.

Weaknesses: Bullying, adverse

weather, and injuries.

Second Solution: Recess plays a vital role in

improving mental, emotional, and physical

health of children.

Clarify: Increased use of technology

and electronics has contributed to the overall

health decline of western populations,

obesity, age-related illnesses at younger

ages, decreased mental health, etc.

- Define mental, physical, and

emotional health

- Health statistics in each of the

major health concern areas

Implementation: Increase the

frequency and duration of recess

- Research describing how play

improves mental health and

development

- Research describing how play

improves emotional health and

development

- Research describing how recess

improves physical health

Projected benefits: Long term and

short term potential benefits of

increased recess in terms of health

and development

- Physical health, including disease

prevention

- Mental/Emotional health,

including stress management,

relief, and other emotional key

indicators.

Weaknesses: Potential for emotional

damage through bullying, physical

injury, exposed to toxins in the air,

and the potential for a lack of

stimulating activities for children of

all ages, abilities, and interests.

Third Solution: Recess/play contributes to

brain development

Clarify: Brain development –

integration, sensory processing,

hemispherical integration, synaptic pruning,

etc.

Define: The different terms and

explain how they are developed

Implementation: Allowing more

unstructured play through recess allows time

for neurological developments to occur,

refine, and develop fully.

- Research behind play and

hemispherical communication

- Research behind sensory

processing and integration

- Research behind linear thought

development and the “linear” use

of the brain

Projected benefits: More fully

developed neurological connections,

functions, and plasticity.

- Avoiding over stimulation of the

pre-frontal cortex

o Explain

- More creative, a greater ability to

problem solve, retain

information, etc.

- A greater ability to sit in class

and avoiding mental disorders

such as ADD, ADHD due to 1-

over stimulation 2- a lack of

sensory stimulation and

integration

Weaknesses: One could argue that

similar results could be obtained

through other mediums, downplay

the role of sensory integration, or

argue that technology can substitute

for some neurological development

(However, most of those arguments

are lacking sufficient scientific

research and are simply propagated

by certain political groups and

persons).

Appendix Jaimie’s Sources

(http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/de

c/07/world-education-rankings-maths-science-

reading)

(http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-

Menu/Organizing-a-school/Time-out-Is-recess-in-

danger)

Darrell’s sources

“A Generation Tethered to their Helicopter

Parents” Aspen Education Group. 2011

<http://aspeneducation.crchealth.com/article

s/article-helicopter-parents/>

Lisa Blau. “How Helicopter Parents Affect

their Children” Global Post. 2013

<http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/helicopt

er-parents-affect-children-1946.html>

Joy Resmovits. “Teachers Survey Shows

Record Low Job Satisfaction In 2012”.

Huffington Post. 02/21/2013. <

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/

teacher-survey-job-satisfaction-

2012_n_2729062.html>

Dean D. Jodie “School bans balls, tag,

Cartwheels lest someone gets hurt”

Moonbattery. Oct 2013 <

http://moonbattery.com/?p=37720>

“Do you think your child is expected to

learn more or less than you were at the same

age?” School Family. 2013

<http://www.schoolfamily.com/poll-results-

page/15-expected-to-learn>

Hannah Richardson. “What can five-year-

olds be expected to learn?” BBC News. July

2013 <

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-

23226339>

“Papago School” 2013

<http://papago.creightonschools.org/> -

source for the interview

Asia’s Sources

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-

03/local/41712186_1_playworks-recess-d-c-

schools

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/r

ecess-makes-kids-smarter

http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/The_Be

nefits_of_Recess_in_Primary_School

Team Members

Bios Darrell Waller- Writer 1: I am Darrell Waller. I

live in Tempe, Arizona and I work for Arizona

State University. I graduate this semester with

a general studies degree and I plan on pursing

another degree at ASU. My goal is to be an ENT

or an ear, nose, and throat doctor. I'm the

youngest in my family and I'm the only one not

married and not raising any children. I love

motorcycles and working out, I hope to one day

look like Hulk.

Asia Starr- Writer 2: Asia Anne Starr was born in

Salt Lake Utah and was raised in Shawnee,

Kansas. In the summer of 2013 she was married

to Shane Starr. She is now studding at BYU-

Idaho in theatre education. She hopes one day

to open her own children s theatre.

Jaimie Mclean- Writer 3: I am Jaimie Mclean. I

live in Spring Branch, Texas and I am recently

married. My parents adopted 11 special needs

children and my experiences growing up in that

household has greatly influenced who I am

today. Throughout the years of my education, I

have attended public school, private school, a

charter school, and I was homeschooled. I will

complete my bachelor’s degree in December

2013 with a double major in History and

German with a minor in Exercise Physiology. I

currently work as an in home aid for families

with special needs children and help teach

parent training in the foster care program in my

area.

Samuel Wilson Smith- Editor: I am Samuel Wilson Smith. I live in Lovell, Wyoming and I am the middle child of 5, all boys. I earned my High School diploma at Lovell High School in May of 2008 and earned my associate's degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwest College in May of 2011. I'm hoping to complete my University Studies major with a minor in Communications in April or July of 2014. I'm currently working in Lovell as a sports writer for the local newspaper and a high school commentator for the local high school sports teams in the area.