Happily, the New York Times published an article saying that children need to move more. There is actual scientific research proving that immobility is not healthy. It is not healthy for adults but especially not for children, whose bodies are growing.
Some nations, like Finland, realized this a long time ago, so students have recess and outdoor play after every class. Recess! Time to go outside and run and play! The authorities think this is good for the children.
Back in the olden times, most American schools had recess a few times a day, at least once or twice, anyway.
But over the past two decades, the need to raise standardized test scores has dwarfed the importance of movement and play. Test scores are the purpose of schooling, right?
The article includes several references to Apps and videos so that teachers will know how children should move. That’s in case you don’t know or forgot children move.
The Finns have another approach. No videos. No Apps. They open the school doors and let the children go outside, where there is playground equipment. Without any direction, children move all by themselves.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I live in Howard County, MD. We have sugar laws, soda laws, vending machine legislation, healthy lunch laws blah blah blah. To try and force these laws upon us they like to quote obesity and diabetes statistics. They preach all of this in the schools, starting in ES PE classes and science classes continuing it into MS and HS in the health classes. Yet in ES, (monitored) recess has been diminished to 20 minutes once a day (I know I should feel lucky that they get recess at all!) and the children are not allowed to play tag, dodge ball etc. In HoCo, they like to preach to us that we need to be healthy, we need to exercise, we need to spend more money for gyms and recs/parks sponsored sports activities for our children. We do have some really high test scores though (!) but as I walk through my children’s schools, I really don’t see that many obese children. They are unhappy children, but not many obese children. The parents in this county drink the wrong colored KoolAid and allow the school system to limit recess and PE in lieu of better test scores and then spend tons of money to keep their kids physically active after school. What the parents don’t understand is that young children learn better when they are allowed to move around and unstructured recess play builds social/emotion skills that are needed for conflict resolution (bullying issues). We live in a sad world with really unhappy children….it’s no wonder that these children are growing up and not doing well in society.
Any elementary teacher would know that young children need to move. We were stressed in the winter with young children that were going “stir crazy” due to repeated indoor recesses. Some schools have allowed children to stand at their desks rather than seated all day long, and other schools, bitten by the standardized test bug, have restored recess as part of the day. They are finding that children are more relaxed and attentive after having had the opportunity to run off some of their energy. Another added bonus is that when children have a change to move, some schools have noticed a reduction in the number of ADHD referrals. With technology our culture is becoming too sedentary, but it is healthier for all of us to keep moving.
Good to know I have not been alone in seeing the learning benefits to movement. My favorite style for teaching in elementary school is what I refer to as “controlled chaos”. One day a week there are 6-8 centers to teach things outside the normal curriculum. Students spend 8-10 minutes in each center then move to the next one. These have been very effective in getting kids interested in learning … because they want to, not have to.
One of the most effective 20 minute sections I have done over the years to improve reading fluency and comprehension really grabs the attention and interest of the kids. First read a short story in strict monotone. Then play a less than three minute video of Victor Borge at the Electric Company. Then re-read the original story using inflection and observance of punctuation. I have never been disappointed that the kids didn’t make the connection. They immediately start practicing and can see for themselves the difference.
Keeping kids involved using various ways is key and movement is one of those ways. Businesses have long recognized the need for a “break from the routine” is key to raising production…whether it is just frequent short breaks, or time in the company gym, the principle is the same for kids and adults.
I was always a proponent of active participation and I liked to switch things up several times during a lesson.
As an elementary librarian, I often focused on listening skills, trying to devise fun activities to keep the kids interest. Enlivening those boring library skills was my forte.
When I retired the kids told me library was right up there with gym and lunch.
Kids need to move?
Surely this must be an article from the Onion.
Next thing you know, scientists will be telling us that jumping out of airplanes without a parachute can be hazardous to your health.
Poet,
I hope you sensed the snark in my tone.
Yes I did
I was just playing along.
Please be duly deferential and obsequious. After all, this is a Scientific study, produced by the Institute for the Study of the Totally Obvious.
Michael Fiorillo,
The PI (Principal Investigator) was a guy who often appears on TV ads, known as Capt. Obvious.
In NYC, Bloomberg came in with all his mandates and the schools scrambled.
“Sure you can have recess…just include instruction. Like counting how many steps to the slide. Stuff like that”.
We couldn’t believe it. But it’s continued for so long that now we’re in a world where a study of whether children need to move or not would even be entertained or deemed noteworthy.
Common sense has been replaced by the need for official verification. The new middle man.
I always thought that an extended school day should not be for more instruction but to allow some time for recess and enrichment activities.
You don’t need a study, just common sense.
When I did the after school homework center for elementary ELLs, we started with fifteen minutes of outdoor play, followed by bathroom and snack, then the children started their homework. They were allowed to work together and sit on the floor if they chose. The relaxed tone helped the children relax and be more productive.
Common sense?! How quaint! (snark)
I went to grade school in the 1960s, and I recall two half-hour-long recess periods a day, held on clean, safe playgrounds with tetherball poles, a baseball diamond, monkey bars, etc.
I remember back in the Neanderthal days when we had recess every day all day.
…And that didn’t hurt us one bit.
I’ll bet you learned to work and play cooperatively and nicely with your peers, which is something I can’t say about a certain illegitimate president and his coterie….
On the same note this letter to the editor from a Long Island Principle. Possibly she read the Times article . But the one thing for certain is the editors at Newsday have not and never do . . As they keep pushing the same garbage from the corporate ed-reform movement.
http://www.newsday.com/opinion/letters/letters-educating-the-whole-child-ecuador-epa-1.13324845
The DEFORMERS want human ROBOTS who just don’t question. So, SLAM them when they are young and then they will not question. Isn’t this what politicians and big business want? NON-QUESTIONERS who don’t upset the RICH’s status quo.
I wonder how much those apps and videos cost and what private sector corporations profit.
“Without any direction, children move all by themselves.”
Amazing! Why, it’s almost as if they had minds of their own! 🙂
That’s the problem. Children do have minds of their own. And Betsy DeVos and her minions, including the malignant narcissist (MN) in the White House don’t want children to think for themselves. Betsy DeVos, and MN, doesn’t want children to be critical thinkers and problem solver who might question her (his) insane thinking.
Reblogged this on BLOGGYWOCKY and commented:
Imagine my surprise. Not.
Children need to move around, they need regular play time and exercise. They are not little robots.
But the schools increasingly diminish or reduce recess, and PE, too, for that matter. And then they tell parents that kids are getting too fat and need to exercise more.
Even worse, schools “identify” more and more kids as ADHD and pressure parents to get their kids on drugs.
This is not to say that there are no children with actual ADHD (believe me, I know there are, I have worked with these kids), but a lot of the kids now being identified as ADHD are just normal, more active kids who need to move around more, and regularly, and let off some energy so that they can subsequently settle down and do their work.
This is normal for children. They are not meant to sit at their desks all day, preparing for tests and memorizing things.
What have we done to our children in the interests of “standardized tests”?
Nothing good. 😟
Adults can’t sit for long hours at meetings – that’s why they have breaks.
Even plays and musicals have an intermission.
Shouldn’t children be given the same considerations?
An exellent article and I hope someone….anyone…will give it serious investigation. However, this is not a major scientific discovery; at least not a recent one. Anyone who has read Dr. John Ratey (Harvard Med), Dr. Carla Hannaford (U of Hawai’i), Dr. John Medina (“Brain Rules) and many, many others, knows that the necessity to move on a frequent basis has been common knowledge for for at least 30 years. Perhaps I should say closer to 3,000 years since Plato, Socretes and Aristotle all believed in the absolute necessity for daily exercise, as did Voltaire, Dickens, Thomas Mann, Thomas Jefferson, Nietzche and on and on and on. As a physical educator (now more than 50 years), I began to study the neurophysiological benefits of exercise, in the mid 1990’s, and I was already behind many of my colleagues in that study. Exercise promotes the growth of brain cells in the Hippocampus, the learning and memory center of the brain; it promotes the binding together of brain cells for faster processing of “information.” Exercise promotes the release of dopamine, seratonin and nor-epinephrine which promote focus, attention and feelings of calmness and allow students to enter the classroom in a learning ready state. To deny children the right and proper amount of exercise through recess and quality physical education borders on the criminal. Humans are not designed to be motionless for more than 30 minutes at a time. We should all make best use of that fact, but most of all we should apply it to our chldren It benefits them physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively. Other countries are way ahead of us here; time we caught up. Do it for the kids.
“Sedentary is Best”
Jabba the Hut
We all can see
Is who and what
Our kids should be
To lie around
Like slugs each day
Is really sound
The only way
Destroy a love of literacy and claim kids are behind in reading… We have interventions for that!
Narrow curricula and claim kids have no creativity/critical thinking skills… Buy this project based learning kit!
Deny kids recess and make them sit all day… Hey! Try this app to get our kids moving again!
What in the world is happening to our society that this would be “news”?
When I was in 1st grade (a long time ago), the teachers noticed that I was a very good reader. So they got me together with about 5 or 6 other kids who were reading above grade level and we all met at recess, after lunch, to even better develop that skill.
I can remember it like it was last week: sitting near the open window on a sunny day, looking longingly out at the playground where all the kids were having so much fun.
Fortunately, they expelled me from the group for lack of attention. My parents didn’t punish me when I told them why.
Major Scientific Discovery: Kids Need to Move More
Dr. Ravitch, your facetious comment is most apropos!
Our genius, John Dewey, has written extensively about the need for experiencing – learning by doing.
“AT THE RISK of repeating what has been often said by me I want to say something about the other side of the problem of social control, namely, the nature of freedom. The only freedom that is of enduring importance is freedom of intelligence, that is to say, freedom of observation and of judgment exercised in behalf of purposes that are intrinsically worth while. The commonest mistake made about freedom is, I think, to identify it with freedom of movement, or with the external or physical side of activity. Now, this external and physical side of activity cannot be separated from the internal side of activity; from freedom of thought, desire, and purpose. The limitation that was put upon outward action by the fixed arrangements of the typical traditional schoolroom, with its fixed rows of desks and its military regimen of pupils who were permitted to move only at certain fixed signals, put a great restriction upon intellectual and moral freedom. Straitjacket and chain-gang procedures had to be done away with if there was to be a chance for growth of individuals in the intellectual springs of freedom without which there is no assurance of genuine and continued normal
growth.” Excerpt From: Dewey, John. “Experience And Education.” Macmillan, 1959; copyright,1938 by Kappa Delta Pi
As you previously mentioned, Superintendent David Gamberg is one such educator who is cognizant of what education entails.
Memorizing facts is not learning- unless first experienced such as stepping into the shoes of characters to relive literature and in turn understand human nature- themselves. Dramatizing brings stories to life along with the problems and conflicts– movement is a given. Further movement is required in cheering a new vocabulary word: hands in the air for tall letters; hands on the hips of letters on base line; and touching floor for letters going below the line- good reinforcement and meaningful exercise.
In math, fractions are meaningless even with paper illustrations. Using the class, the concrete, to illustrate their meaning will bring understanding; movement also reinforces the concept.
And the beat goes on.
I remember as a child my favorite part of the day was going outside for recess and lunch because I was able to hang out with my friends and clear my mind. Children cannot be expected to be all the way attentive when they are thinking about other things like eating, going to the bathroom, or even playing. For this reason, they need to be allotted an ample amount of time to sufficiently “relax” and get their minds off of the intensity of class. Especially when certain schools are enforcing strict testing rules, children should be allowed to go outside more often than two times in a seven, sometimes even eight, hour day. Giving students this freedom would probably boost grade levels as well as positive attitudes, which could never be a bad thing!
Two examples of wise superintendents on Long Island considering what is best for students:Last April Superintendent David Gamberg spoke out on the importance of recess for the body, mind and soul posted in ECE Policy Matters.
Two days ago the Superintendent of Patchogue, Long Island asked for parents’ input about homework. The survey appeared on line.
Getting rid of the homework drudgery would be such a relief to parents /caregivers! For one thing, it would give them time to sit and read to their children each night.
I always resented when the teachers gave too much homework, especially in elementary school, because it took time away from bonding with my children as their mother. I had kids because I love children, especially my own. While sometimes I could see the value of the assignments, sometimes they were only busy work. Come on, don’t waste our time with nonsense. (My grand daughter had the same social studies teacher as my son in middle school – and she was given the same silly worksheets he got ten years earlier).
“My grand daughter had the same social studies teacher as my son in middle school – and she was given the same silly worksheets he got ten years earlier).”
I tried to do the math on this briefly, but gave up when it became clear I’d only hurt myself! 🙂
Dear Flos56, “….it took time away from bonding with my children as their mother. I had kids because I love children, especially my own. While sometimes I could see the value of the assignments, sometimes they were only busy work. Come on, don’t waste our time with nonsense…” Truer words never spoken!!!!!
Busy work for sure for those who do not need the reinforcement. If homework can’t be tailored forget about it!!!!! And what teacher has the time to correct all the work they dole out? Mistakes are made in correcting and parents get all bent out of shape,” Look! our teacher doesn’t even know!!!!!!! or some such thing! Teachers have a life too. Unreasonable mandates come from above.
This business of writing each spelling word x amount of times is waste of time and for sure writing a sentence with each word especially when a child is tired and wants to go to bed!
I always gave reading as homework. As a parent I knew what havoc homework caused in the home. When the homework extended into hours and it was passed their bedtime, I would finish the homework. Once my husband and I couldn’t answer two questions on my son’s lab homework. We apologized to him the next morning. After telling him what the problem was he answered it immediately. Why assign homework that students already know?
When classes are departmentalized and every teacher gives an hour home work that is enough to make parents pull out their hair. I remember reading where in one case homework caused a divorce a the family. For sure it causes tension.
With CC homework has been pushed down to PreK!!!!!! Ugh!!!!! They struggle to hold their pencil! Ugh!!!! Memorizing facts has no meaningful impact. Memorizing vocabulary in isolation is a waste of time.
Much research has been done on this business of homework. If anyone wants the info I can accommodate.
Mary, you make some valid points. Might I add that even relevant homework can become cumbersome, such as when 50 math problems are assigned when 15 to 20 are more than adequate.
Surprise, Surprise! Children aren’t meant to sit in desks and stare up front all day. Did it really take scientific research and a New York Times article to bring emphasis to this idea? In high school, I was required in P.E. class to run the 5k a few times, and the timed mile at least once a month. Occasionally, we would stretch, or play games that require minimal jogging or movement. But does that make up for all of the sitting time we accumulated in each other class? No! There should be movement in every class, teachers need to tape papers up on each of the walls, ask that students alternate around, and take a three minute stretch break in the middle of a period. And you wonder why so many children are diagnosed ADHD.. They are shamed for their innate desire for moving around!