Recess (break)
In education, recess is the American and Australian term (known as break or playtime in the UK), where students have a mid morning snack and play before having lunch after a few more lessons.
Typically ten to thirty minutes, in elementary school[1] where students are allowed to leave the school's interior to enter its adjacent outside park where they play on equipment such as slides and swings, play basketball, tetherball, study, make up any missing assignments or talk.
Many middle and high schools also offer a recess to provide students with a sufficient opportunity to consume quick snacks, communicate with their peers, visit the restroom, study, and various other activities.
Current research emphasizes recess as a place for children to "role-play essential social skills" and as an important time in the academic day that "counterbalances the sedentary life at school.
"[3] Play has also been associated with the healthy development of parent-child bonds, establishing social, emotional and cognitive developmental achievements that assist them in relating with others, and managing stress.
Children need the freedom to play to learn skills necessary to become competent adults such as coping with stress and problem solving.
[11] The conflict resolution process helps children to attain a vast range of social and emotional skills such as empathy, flexibility, self-awareness, and self-regulation.
This vast range or capabilities is often referred to as "emotional intelligence" and is essential to building and maintaining relationships in adult life.
Even as early as preschool, children use language to make group decisions and establish authority or a standing in the social setting of the playground.
[14] Educators, parents, and experts are debating the importance of recess and play time in the school day.
[17] Also, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) advocates for unstructured play, including recess.
[19] Studies show that this lack of free and unstructured play during recess may contribute to the rise in childhood obesity, anxiety and depression among children, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
[25] Recess can be an outlet for students to get some of this physical activity and aid in preventing childhood obesity and diabetes.
[27] According to the American Heart Association, the CDC reported that there is a link between physical activity and academic performance in 2010.
One of the goals of recess is to help students release excess energy and be refreshed focused upon return to the classroom.
In 2013, researchers from the University of Chicago Illinois found that 68 percent of school districts had no policy or law prohibiting educators from taking away physical activity from students.
[36] Oftentimes students serve punishments such as completing late work or talking to the principal regarding behavioral issues during their recess times.
During the break, snacks are sometimes sold in the canteen (U.S. cafeteria) and students normally use this time to socialize or finish off any homework or schoolwork that needs to be completed.
Thus, the structure of the school-day consists of three lesson blocks, broken up by two intervals: recess (morning tea) and lunch respectively.
A typical day contains the same amount of instructional time as children in the U.S. but a long enough lunch break to go home and eat with their family.
The benefits of having a longer break and several non-academic clubs after school is that the students interact with one another and tend to have fewer physical symptoms related to stress, as well as better relationships with their classmates.
Some schools in Beijing, China allow children to spend an hour or two to socialize or to step out of the classroom per day.
However, in college, students usually have free periods, which are similar in spirit, although usually one studies or talks with one's friends during such times rather than playing games, which are made difficult by the lack of a playground.
Recess is a common part of the school day for children around the world, but it has not received much attention from scholars.
Games and play both occur on playgrounds, so it is important to differentiate between the two when discussing activities in which children engage at recess.
[47] The youngest children in elementary schools (kindergarten through second grade) prefer the simplest activities such as chase, kickball, jump rope, and unstructured games.
[47] By the time children are in upper elementary school (grades three through five), they prefer sports and social sedentary behavior like talking.
