Touchstone 1

.docx

School

Southern New Hampshire University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

123-Q5859

Subject

English

Date

Jan 9, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by DeaconPower11778

Sophia Learning English Composition 2 Touchstone 1.1: Engage with a Work of Research December 2 nd , 2023 The Recess Debate Recess has been a pleasure for kids since the beginning of their education in school. Many can argue about the benefits of recess and whether it may cultivate academic learning and social skills. As someone who is an immigrant and experienced bullying recess growing up, that may be another factor that is a negative of recess as there is a lack of regulation at times for all the students. Many may argue that recess is a misuse of time as the time could be used to delve deeper into students' education and give instructors a little more time to teach. Many arguments can be presented to oppose recess in schools. One of which is the time it takes away from learning in class. Those who oppose recess may argue that wasting time makes the school days less productive, as that break in education may reduce retention of the information that students are consuming in class. Atlanta Public Schools superintendent Benjamin Canada claimed that he eliminated recess, instead replacing it with physical education, with the claim stating that it had raised achievement scores (Pellegrini 2008). Anthony Pellegrini reached out to Benjamin Canada for evidence regarding his claim but was never presented any to uphold his claim (Pellegrini 2008). In fact, Pellegrini counters the claim with a summary of his own, stating that the evidence is opposite to Canada’s claims, citing controlled experiments and how a break deprivation decreased children’s attention to school tasks (Pellegrini 2008). The other argument to be made is bullying. A major contributor to that is a lack of adult supervision, as children are more likely to pick on other students when there is not an authority figure present. In turn, this could have long term effects on the social and behavioral development of the children partaking in the bullying. Putting preventative measures in place, such as full supervision by a teacher or staff member for the duration of the school day may prevent that as opposed to removing recess altogether. Disciplinary measures for students acting out may help curve that behavior towards something positive, as opposed to negative to bolster their development, as opposed to stunting it by enabling that type of behavior. Removing recess all together will not be a solution to bullying, as kids will find other areas in the school to pick on other kids, specifically ones that they have already had previous transgressions with. There are far more benefits than negatives to having recess. The major benefit is the time set aside for children to be social, which is crucial to their physical and mental development. Many children do not receive attention from parents and remain in their room or alone for most of the time they are home, resulting in a lack of socialization. Therefore, that extra 30-minute period in their day for recess may be a crucial part of their day to help them socialize and be more

confident and develop into social people with sustainable social constructs and social cues. The social building skills learned through recess by playing, interacting, sharing, and communicating with other children will result in social skills necessary for them to eventually navigate through life as adults accordingly. Besides socializing, there are other benefits to recess. A positive outcome of recess is the mental benefit of a break and resetting. This can be applied to adults too, as working adults receive vacation or sick time they may use and often do use for a break for physical and mental wellness. As stated in the article, “ Although one would predict that changing from one type of focused activity to another would yield some cognitive benefit, children (especially young children) may experience a continued buildup of interference with repeated performance of even different highly focused tasks, and thus experienced greater benefit from a drastic change in activity, such as is afforded by recess ”(Pellegrini 2008). Young children specifically can benefit from a break in their academics, as they are still learning to get into the routine of school and education. Adults and children alike tend to work more efficiently when they have had time to rest and recharge. Physical education may be necessary for the physical health of a child but does not provide the same benefits as recess as it is instructional, as opposed to recess which allows students to be creative and free to do what they want with their break, which institutes a positive environment. There are different perspectives on every topic in society. If everyone universally agreed on the same topic, innovation and inventions would be reduced as brainstorming and critical thinking is a factor of that and that is removed when there is no dialogue, discussion, or arguments regarding the effectiveness of a given topic. In conclusion, the benefits of recess far outweigh the negatives. Reference: Pellegrini, A. D. (2008). The debate over recess: A sad tale of the disjuncture between educational policy and scientific research. Recess, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410613325 -1

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help