{"id":419,"date":"2016-01-06T08:51:27","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T13:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pay4schoolstuff.com\/blog\/?p=419"},"modified":"2016-01-06T08:51:27","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T13:51:27","slug":"importance-recess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pay4schoolstuff.com\/blog\/importance-recess\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Recess"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recess<\/strong>. In a society plagued with a desire to always be the best, and statistics that point out that the United States is trailing other developed countries in mathematics and science, it may seem like an unnecessary frivolity. Surely, you may think, students would benefit more from 15 minutes more of math lessons than time spent running around. Wouldn\u2019t extra time spent on multiplication tables or fractions provide more intellectual stimulation than a game of tag? <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, as it turns out, probably not.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to studies done by <\/span>Stanford University<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)<\/span><\/a>, recess is an incredibly important part of each child\u2019s day. Not only does it provide children with the opportunity to burn off excess energy, it provides them with downtime \u201cbetween complex cognitive challenges,\u201d something that <\/span>Dr. Robert Murray<\/span><\/a> – a co-author of the AAP study – indicates is imperative to their ability to process information. He states, \u201c[Children] tend to be less able to process information the longer they are held to a task. It\u2019s not enough to just switch from math to English. You actually have to take a break.\u201d<\/span>
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\n<\/span>Similarly, the Stanford study points out that \u201ca positive school climate,\u201d of which recess is an integral component, \u201chas been linked to a host of favorable student outcomes, from attendance to achievement.\u201d That said, the AAP study found that only three states – Delaware, Virginia, and Nebraska – require 20-minutes of mandatory recess per day, and that only six states – Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Illinois, and Iowa – adhere to standards from the National Association for Sports and Physical Education that children should be participating in a minimum of 150 minutes of physical education per week.<\/span>
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\n<\/span>The importance of recess is so crucial, in fact, that the AAP has \u201coutlined <\/span>a set of guidelines<\/span><\/a> intended to help schools develop positive recess programs.\u201d These guidelines include the following points:<\/span><\/p>\n