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The Importance of Recess, Play, and Active Classrooms

  • The Importance of Recess
  • The Importance of Play
  • The Importance of Active Classrooms
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Recess is one opportunity where schools can provide physical activity to their students. Research has shown that students who are physically active tend to have better school attendance, classroom behaviors, cognitive performance, and grades. Recess, in particular, has shown the following benefits (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and SHAPE America):
  • Improves students’ learning and overall academic achievement
  • Increases classroom engagement
  • Reduces disruptive behavior in the classroom
  • Lowers stress in students
  • Leads to greater on-task behavior in the classroom
  • Improves students’ memory, attention and concentration
  • Supports social-emotional development by improving social skills
  • Allows students to learn which physical activities they enjoy, fostering lifetime activity
  • Supports the normal growth and physical development of students
  • Helps students meet the nationally recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity
Research
Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP)
CSPAP Organization
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Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) resources from the CDC and SHAPE America

"Schools play a vital role in ensuring children and adolescents get the nationally recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day...A CSPAP is a multi-component approach by which school districts and schools use all opportunities for students to be physically active, meet the nationally-recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day, and develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to be physically active for a lifetime. A CSPAP reflects strong coordination and synergy across all of the components: physical education as the foundation; physical activity before, during, and after school; staff involvement; and family and community engagement."
The Importance of Physical Education
articles on the IMPORTANCE OF RECESS
GUIDELINES FOR RECESS
  • Children should accumulate at least 60 minutes of age-appropriate physical activity on all, or most days of the week. This daily accumulation should include moderate and vigorous physical activity with the majority of the time being spent in activity that is intermittent in nature.           
  • Children should participate in several bouts of physical activity lasting 15 minutes or more each day. 
  • Schools should provide all students in grades K-12 with at least one daily period of recess of at least 20 minutes in length.​
  • Children should participate each day in a variety of age-appropriate physical activities designed to achieve optimal health, wellness, fitness, and performance benefits.     
  • Extended periods of inactivity (two hours or more) ​are discouraged for children, especially during the daytime hours. 
  • Scheduling recess breaks directly before or after academic lessons positively affect student on-task behaviors.
  • Recess should not be taken away for punitive reasons (​10 Ways to Discipline Students Without Taking Away Recess).
Strategies for Recess in Schools
Strategies for Recess in Schools
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RESOURCES FOR RECESS
RESOURCES FOR PLAYGROUNDS
The Relationship Between Physical Activity & Academic Performance - Multimedia
Click on Photos to Enlarge and on the Links for Original Source​
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE - SPARK by Dr. John Ratey
​SPARK: "A groundbreaking exploration of the connection between exercise and the brain’s performance that shows how even moderate exercise will supercharge mental circuits to beat stress, sharpen thinking, enhance memory, and much more."
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE - ​RESEARCH ARTICLES
  1. A Longitudinal Examination of the Link Between Youth Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement
  2. A Review of Acute Physical Activity Effects on Brain and Cognition in Children
  3. Active Education: Growing Evidence on Physical Activity and Academic Performance
  4. Aerobic Fitness and Academic Achievement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
  5. Associations of Physical Fitness and Academic Performance Among Schoolchildren
  6. ​Be Smart, Exercise Your Heart: Exercise Effects on Brain and Cognition
  7. ​Before-School Running/Walking club: Effects on Student On-Task Behavior
  8. Beneficial Effects of Acute Exercise on Executive Function in Adolescents
  9. Boost your Brain, While Having a Break! The Effects of Long-Term Cognitively Engaging Physical Activity Breaks on Children’s Executive Functions and Academic Achievement
  10. Brief Aerobic Exercise Immediately Enhances Visual Attentional Control and Perceptual Speed
  11. ​Decisions to Act: Investing In Physical Activity To Enhance Learning And Health​
  12. ​​Effect of Classroom-Based Physical Activity Interventions on Academic and Physical Activity Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
  13. Healthy and Academic Achievement
  14. Healthy and Ready to Learn
  15. ​Health-Related Behaviors and Academic Achievement Among High School Students — United States, 2015 (CDC)
  16. ​High-Intensity Training Enhances Executive Function in Children in a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial
  17. Independent and Combined Influence of the Components of Physical Fitness on Academic Performance in Youth
  18. Insights on the Effects of Exercise on Cognitive Performance
  19. ​Is There a Relationship Between Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement? Positive Results from Public School Children in the Northeastern United States
  20. ​Justifying Physical Education Based on Neuroscience Evidence
  21. Muscular and Aerobic Fitness, Working Memory, and Academic Achievement in Children
  22. Physically Active Lessons in School and their Impact on Physical Activity, Educational, Health and Cognitive Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
  23. ​​Physical Activity, Fitness, Cognitive Function, and Academic Achievement in Children: A Systematic Review
  24. Physical Activity, Health-Related Fitness, and Classroom Behavior in Children: A Discriminant Function Analysis
  25. ​Physical Activity Promotes Academic Achievement and a Healthy Lifestyle when Incorporated into Early Childhood Education
  26. ​Physical Education, School Physical Activity, School Sports and Academic Performance
  27. ​Physical Fitness and Academic Achievement in Third- and Fifth-Grade Students
  28. ​Relationships of Physical Activity to Brain Health and the Academic Performance of Schoolchildren
  29. ​The Association Between Aerobic fitness and Language Processing in Children: Implications for Academic Achievement
  30. ​​The Effect of Physical Activity on Sleep Quality, Well-Being, and Affect in Academic Stress Periods.
  31. ​The Effect of Physical Activity Interventions on Children's Cognition and Metacognition: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
  32. The Influence of Daily Structured Physical Activity on Academic Progress of Elementary Students with Intellectual Disabilities
  33. White Matter Microstructure Mediates the Association Between Physical Fitness and Cognition in Healthy, Young Adults
  34. ​​Whole Brain Volumetric Approach in Overweight/Obese Children: Examining the Association with Different Physical Fitness Components and Academic Performance
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY - RESEARCH ARTICLES
  1. ​Association between Increased BMI and Severe School Absenteeism Among US Children and Adolescents
  2. ​​Individual-Level Fitness and Absenteeism in New York City Middle School Youths, 2006–2013
  3. ​The Association of Obesity and School Absenteeism Attributed to Illness or Injury Among Adolescents in the United States
  1. Associations Between Health-Related Physical Fitness, Academic Achievement and Selected Academic Behaviors of Elementary and Middle School Students in the State of Mississppi
  2. Association Between Objectively-Measured Physical Activity and Sleep
  3. Brain Connectivity Fluctuates Based on Exercise Intensity (cognitive control, attention, and emotional processing)
  4. Systematic Review of the Health Benefits of Physical Activity and Fitness in School-Aged Children and Youth
  1. ​​A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Children's Physical Activity and Mental Health
  2. Association Between Physical Exercise and Mental Health in 1.2 Million Individuals in the USA Between 2011 and 2015: A Cross-Sectional Study
  3. Depressive Symptoms and Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour throughout Adolescence: A Prospective Cohort Study
  4. Exercise as a Potential Treatment for Drug Abuse: Evidence from Preclinical Studies
  5. Exercise Therapy Improves both Mental and Physical Health in Patients with Major Depression
  6. Physical Activity, Physical Fitness, and Health-Related Quality of Life in School-Aged Children
  7. ​Physical Activity and Incident Depression: A Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies
  8. Physical Activity and Mental Health: Evidence is Growing
  9. Physical Activity and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents: An Updated Review of Reviews and an Analysis of Causality
  10. Physical Activity Improves Mental Health Through Resilience in Hong Kong Chinese Adolescents
  11. Physical Activity in European Adolescents and Associations with Anxiety, Depression and Well-Being
  12. Physical Activity Interventions and Depression in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
  13. Physical Activity May Protect Against New Episodes of Depression
  14. The Relation of Physical Activity and Exercise to Mental Health
  15. The Role of Exercise in Preventing and Treating Depression
  16. Volume and Social Context of Physical Activity in Association with Mental Health, Anxiety and Depression Among Youth
Documentaries/videos promoting physical activity
​Promoting Quality Physical Education through Advocacy and Free Access to Information and Resources