How everyday noise can inhibit learning – and how teachers can reduce it
Play is crucial for middle schoolers, too
In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning
Young kids benefit from play. But what should it look like?
Want resilient and well-adjusted kids? Let them play
42 Ways to Boost Learning by Applying Our Bodies, Surroundings and Relationships
How Parents Can Help Middle Schoolers Build Confidence and Character
More Green Spaces in Childhood Associated With Happier Adulthood
Six Ways to Teach Social and Emotional Skills All Day
Sponsored
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However, even background noise like the air conditioning running, the refrigerator humming and delivery vans idling outside can be cause for concern. According to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://brainvolts.northwestern.edu/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nina Kraus\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a neurobiology professor at Northwestern University who studies sound, ongoing noises that people claim to “tune out” are unlikely to harm ears, but they can still have a profound effect on the brain. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Repeated exposure to noisy environments has many negative impacts including increased stress, problems with memory and difficulty concentrating, writes Kraus in her book \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545075/of-sound-mind/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World.”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students’ developing brains are particularly susceptible to noisy environments. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1976-21562-001\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A study on New York City public schools\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> showed that students in a classroom facing loud train tracks had lower reading levels than students in a classroom shielded from the noise. Learners in the room exposed to the sounds of the trains were on average three to eleven months behind their peers. When the New York Transit Authority installed padding on the railroad tracks and the school made updates to the classroom to reduce the noise, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494481800400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the reading level disparity disappeared\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Repeated exposure to noise doesn't just affect language tasks like reading, it also has a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757288/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">negative impact on students’ ability to do visual tasks\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, such as recalling images or concentrating on objects. In one \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916503256260\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">experiment\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, researchers asked subjects to track a moving ball on a computer with a mouse while other balls moved around the screen. Those who were exposed to long-term noise had more difficulty completing the task.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There are sounds that people think of as being safe, but they really aren't, ” says Kraus. “Even if we're not paying attention to noise, it is having an effect on us and it is having an effect on us on multiple levels. And one is very much our ability to think.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sonic Solutions for the Classroom \u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With lockers slamming and chatty students, educators can’t have complete control over the sounds in a school. Yet opportunities to reduce noise can be found all around the school building. “There are so many noises that we do have a choice about,” says Kraus, who urges schools to become more aware of the sounds that students are encountering every day and consider which sounds they can eliminate or reduce.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Changing out buzzing light fixtures, installing quiet HVAC systems and updating insulation in the walls and ceiling are large-scale solutions that can minimize noise in school buildings. There are also simpler changes to students’ sonic environment that can make a meaningful difference for learners. For example, some schools have gotten rid of their \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/59617/students-can-get-to-class-without-bells-but-schools-need-to-adapt\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">school bells\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in an effort \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2017/saved-by-the-peace-and-quiet-at-a-growing-number-of-california-schools/587211\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to eliminate extra noise\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58835/how-the-difference-between-sound-and-noise-can-influence-our-ability-to-learn\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Improving the soundscape for learners\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> can be as simple as closing the door to the classroom or shutting the windows when students need to concentrate. “Schools are notoriously reverberant and not very friendly with respect to dampening sound,” says Kraus about echoey hallways and classrooms. She suggests laying down rugs if possible because they absorb sound and keep chairs from scraping noisily across the floor. Additionally, teachers can choose to decorate their walls with wall hangings or student work that uses fabric or fiber to dampen sounds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“So much of our experience as people happens without our conscious awareness and yet these forces are there,” says Kraus. “And sound is, from an evolutionary standpoint, a tremendously important part of how we connect with the world.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Repeated exposure to noisy environments has many negative impacts including increased stress, memory problems, and difficulty concentrating. Students’ developing brains are particularly susceptible to sound.\r\n","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1670366611,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":11,"wordCount":616},"headData":{"title":"How everyday noise can inhibit learning – and how teachers can reduce it - MindShift","description":"For teachers looking to improve student performance, neurobiologist Nina Kraus provides tips on how to control noise in the classroom.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"How everyday noise can inhibit learning – and how teachers can reduce it","datePublished":"2022-12-13T10:55:49.000Z","dateModified":"2022-12-06T22:43:31.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","path":"/mindshift/60468/how-everyday-noise-can-inhibit-learning-and-how-teachers-can-reduce-it","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s no surprise that loud, unwanted sounds can be disruptive and even damaging to ears. However, even background noise like the air conditioning running, the refrigerator humming and delivery vans idling outside can be cause for concern. According to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://brainvolts.northwestern.edu/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nina Kraus\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a neurobiology professor at Northwestern University who studies sound, ongoing noises that people claim to “tune out” are unlikely to harm ears, but they can still have a profound effect on the brain. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Repeated exposure to noisy environments has many negative impacts including increased stress, problems with memory and difficulty concentrating, writes Kraus in her book \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545075/of-sound-mind/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World.”\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Students’ developing brains are particularly susceptible to noisy environments. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1976-21562-001\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A study on New York City public schools\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> showed that students in a classroom facing loud train tracks had lower reading levels than students in a classroom shielded from the noise. Learners in the room exposed to the sounds of the trains were on average three to eleven months behind their peers. When the New York Transit Authority installed padding on the railroad tracks and the school made updates to the classroom to reduce the noise, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494481800400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the reading level disparity disappeared\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Repeated exposure to noise doesn't just affect language tasks like reading, it also has a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3757288/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">negative impact on students’ ability to do visual tasks\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, such as recalling images or concentrating on objects. In one \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916503256260\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">experiment\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, researchers asked subjects to track a moving ball on a computer with a mouse while other balls moved around the screen. Those who were exposed to long-term noise had more difficulty completing the task.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There are sounds that people think of as being safe, but they really aren't, ” says Kraus. “Even if we're not paying attention to noise, it is having an effect on us and it is having an effect on us on multiple levels. And one is very much our ability to think.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sonic Solutions for the Classroom \u003c/span>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With lockers slamming and chatty students, educators can’t have complete control over the sounds in a school. Yet opportunities to reduce noise can be found all around the school building. “There are so many noises that we do have a choice about,” says Kraus, who urges schools to become more aware of the sounds that students are encountering every day and consider which sounds they can eliminate or reduce.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Changing out buzzing light fixtures, installing quiet HVAC systems and updating insulation in the walls and ceiling are large-scale solutions that can minimize noise in school buildings. There are also simpler changes to students’ sonic environment that can make a meaningful difference for learners. For example, some schools have gotten rid of their \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/59617/students-can-get-to-class-without-bells-but-schools-need-to-adapt\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">school bells\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in an effort \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2017/saved-by-the-peace-and-quiet-at-a-growing-number-of-california-schools/587211\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">to eliminate extra noise\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/58835/how-the-difference-between-sound-and-noise-can-influence-our-ability-to-learn\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Improving the soundscape for learners\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> can be as simple as closing the door to the classroom or shutting the windows when students need to concentrate. “Schools are notoriously reverberant and not very friendly with respect to dampening sound,” says Kraus about echoey hallways and classrooms. She suggests laying down rugs if possible because they absorb sound and keep chairs from scraping noisily across the floor. Additionally, teachers can choose to decorate their walls with wall hangings or student work that uses fabric or fiber to dampen sounds. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“So much of our experience as people happens without our conscious awareness and yet these forces are there,” says Kraus. “And sound is, from an evolutionary standpoint, a tremendously important part of how we connect with the world.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/60468/how-everyday-noise-can-inhibit-learning-and-how-teachers-can-reduce-it","authors":["11721"],"categories":["mindshift_21504"],"tags":["mindshift_767","mindshift_21078","mindshift_21454","mindshift_46"],"featImg":"mindshift_60474","label":"mindshift"},"mindshift_60253":{"type":"posts","id":"mindshift_60253","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"mindshift","id":"60253","score":null,"sort":[1668682818000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"play-is-crucial-for-middle-schoolers-too","title":"Play is crucial for middle schoolers, too","publishDate":1668682818,"format":"standard","headTitle":"MindShift | KQED News","labelTerm":{"site":"mindshift"},"content":"\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CHANTILLY, Va. — In Fairfax County, Virginia, thousands of middle school students experience what most of their peers leave behind in elementary school — recess.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The break is only 15 minutes long. But at Rocky Run Middle School, about 25 miles west of the nation’s capital, the seventh and eighth graders make the most of one of the few stretches of time in school that they can truly call their own. Fairfax County schools, a district of around 181,000 students, has taken an unusual step in mandating recess for all its middle school students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On a day in early fall, a large group of students tossed their backpacks in a messy pile and made a beeline towards the school’s blacktop for pickup basketball and soccer games. A kickball game started up on the baseball field, with a teacher handling pitching duties to keep the action moving. Smaller groups of students headed to the school’s gym, while others peeled off towards the cafeteria to play board games, get in some extra study time with their Chromebooks, or just chat with their friends.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s a break after all this other stuff you have to do,” said 12-year-old Colin Bigley, a seventh grader playing the board game Sorry! with three friends. “Playing outside is also nice. You have the option of what you’re going to do.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aminah Naqvi, a 13-year-old eighth grader, loves the social time. She was hanging out with friends on the blacktop, shooting baskets. “You might not get to see your friends if you don’t have the same lunch,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even the school’s principal, Amy Goodloe, agrees that play is important. “There’s really high value for students and, I will underscore, teachers to have that break in the day,” she said. “We underestimate how important that is as a partner to academic learning.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60298\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60298\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, made a 15-minute recess break mandatory for middle school. At Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly, Virginia, dozens of students took the opportunity to get some fresh air. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Fairfax County is an exception. In most communities, opportunities for play and playful learning tend to recede in middle school, replaced by direct instruction, competitive sports and tightly structured academic time. Educators and researchers say students pay the price. Young adolescents go through profound \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31449373/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">physical, emotional and physiological changes\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">;\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> play inside and outside the classroom can provide one way \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.ucsc.edu/dist/a/409/files/2017/07/MSBT-Report-8.28.18-19gf2qp.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">for kids to develop healthy bonds with friends and become more self-confident\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I teach at a K-8 school, and when I look at these seventh and eighth graders, they’re no different than the kindergarteners,” said Robert Lane, a STEM teacher at the Sierra Verde STEAM Academy in Glendale, Arizona. “They get excited when I bring out Play Doh and googly eyes.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lane’s class is entirely built around playful learning. For example, the modeling clay and other crafts were used as part of a stop-motion animation project in his classroom. Other activities for the school’s older students included creating cardboard roller coasters to be judged by the school’s second graders and building a robot that can move without wheels.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60295\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60295\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Middle school students in Robert Lane’s STEM class dig through a box of supplies for a class project. Lane, a teacher at Sierra Verde STEAM Academy in Glendale, Arizona, says play is just as popular with older students as it is with the younger ones he works with. \u003ccite>(Image courtesy of Robert Lane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I break them into groups where they don’t know each other and they just go all in,” said Lane, who also hosts a podcast as “Mr. Lane the STEM Guy.” The activities also give his students a chance to learn how to cooperate, accept failure when it happens, and solve problems as a team, he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want these kids to have all these soft skills as they get ready to go to high school and to college,” Lane said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to developing soft skills, recess is a tool that can get adolescents moving more at a time of life when they become much more sedentary.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60296\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60296\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play2-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In Robert Lane’s STEM class at Sierra Verde STEAM Academy in Glendale, Arizona, playful learning takes the place of lectures and workbooks. Lane says this type of work builds so-called “soft” skills like cooperation and resilience. \u003ccite>(Image courtesy of Robert Lane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/182251\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 2008 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> used accelerometers to capture the activity levels of youth from ages 9 to 15. Nine-year-olds, on average, engaged in three hours of moderate to vigorous activity on weekends and weekdays, well above the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/children/what_counts.htm\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">recommendation of 60 minutes a day\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers found that activity levels plunged as children reached adolescence. By age 15, they were getting an average of 49 minutes on weekdays and 35 minutes on weekends. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With benefits that appear so clear, why does middle school seem to mark an end to both unstructured play time and playful learning? There are several competing challenges, both logistical and social.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle schools generally have more students than elementary schools, and the students themselves are taller and heavier. It’s challenging for school leaders to find enough space and teacher supervision to manage hundreds of children during a break time. The supervision is particularly important because, while middle schoolers crave time with their friends, unstructured time like recess, lunchtime and passing between classes often offers \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://violence.chop.edu/bullying-schools\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fertile opportunities for bullying\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60301\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60301\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play7-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Unstructured play and playful learning is usually left behind by middle school, but experts say adolescents need opportunities for play just as much as younger students. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fairfax County educators had to come up with new solutions. “The logistics were a little bit hard to figure out,” said Cynthia Conley, the principal of Washington Irving Middle School in Springfield, Virginia. Irving, with about \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:::NO::P0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P0_EDSL:151,0\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">1,200 students\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, is one of the Fairfax County schools that has added recess to its schedule. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have four lunch shifts, and we had to figure out how to have four breaks,” said Conley. To accommodate all the students on break at any given time, administrators have opened up several different recess areas for students, including the gym, the blacktop, and the library, which features chess sets, card games, and an exercise bike with a built-in bookstand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“As soon as their feet hit the outside they are shooting, throwing, whatever they have in mind,” Conley said. “I’ve heard people say, why do they need a break. If you can, find me an adult who doesn’t need a 15-minute break during their work day. Everybody takes a break, to look away from the screen a little bit.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60304\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60304\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play10-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly, Virginia, provides several popular games, such as Connect 4, for students who want to play indoors during their 15-minute recess period. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">An additional challenge is that middle school students don’t think like younger students. Some athletic equipment won’t be enough to engage all, or even most of them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rebecca London, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has studied what happens when educators add break or recess time for middle school students. In the middle schools she observed, the sports activities were often dominated by older boys. Younger boys and girls, even athletes, tended to spend break times walking and talking unless schools made an extra effort to set up activities that would attract them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One powerful way to do that is for adults to play alongside students, even if adolescents sometimes act as if they want to get away from adults.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60303\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60303\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play9-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adolescents often respond warmly when adults play along with them, and the adult presence often creates a safe space for those who are more shy or less athletic, say researchers. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“As soon as the adults start playing, the kids want to play,” London said. “Kids inherently crave that. It’s an opportunity for kids to be seen as an expert or a leader.” A warm adult presence also makes the situation feel safer for students who may not be sports stars. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“For all those reasons, it’s great to have adults out there leading games, connecting with students in different ways,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fairfax County piloted a middle school recess break for the 2021-22 school year. Last April, the school board \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://wjla.com/news/local/an-important-break-recess-will-soon-be-required-at-all-fairfax-county-middle-schools\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">voted to make the break mandatory\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for all the district’s middle schools, starting in 2022-23. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/CCLKUS53985E/%24file/P2100.3%20Wellness%20Policy03.24.2022.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">District policy\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for elementary students requires at least 30 minutes of recess a day over two segments. There is no recess policy in the district for high school students. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60302\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play8-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students watch a kickball game during recess at Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly, Virginia. Fairfax County schools implemented a recess period for all of its middle schools, starting in the 2022-23 school year. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Advocates for the change say it filled a real need. “All of our students need some time to rejuvenate,” said Ricardy Anderson, one of the champions of the recess policy on the school board and a former middle school principal. “We have middle school students that get into the building at 7:15 in the morning and they don’t leave the building until 2:30.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anderson said that’s why it’s essential for students “to have a little bit of freedom to do what they’d like to do — to be free of the noise of the cafeteria. just to get some fresh air, just to have a little break in the day. The outdoors component is even more critical.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Parents of elementary school children are often the driving force behind recess policies, but London, the sociology professor, hasn’t seen that same level of energy behind break times for older students. She thinks the isolation kids experienced during the first phase of the pandemic makes break time even more crucial. “It’s going to take a long time before these kids are fully recovered,” she said. “We may need even more play for older kids.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60297\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60297\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play3-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two students work on a stop-motion animation project in Robert Lane’s STEM class at Sierra Verde STEAM Academy in Glendale, Arizona. \u003ccite>(Image courtesy of Robert Lane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lane, at the Sierra STEAM Academy, said that another barrier may be parents and school administrators who may not see the importance of playful learning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Teachers are under so much pressure to get to a certain point,” he said, and they’re also under a microscope. Parents might not understand why class time is spent on playful learning as opposed to more clearly academic pursuits, for example. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Seventh and eighth graders spend a quarter each year engaged in hands-on projects in his classroom, adding up to a semester of active learning. These activities allow students to explore their passions and also understand why failure is part of learning, Lane said. “That’s a K-8 thing, campus-wide. We don’t get frustrated. We come back, we play smarter. And the seventh and eighth graders, they crave it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60305\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60305\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play11-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Because Rocky Run Middle has to accommodate hundreds of students during its mandatory recess period, administrators open several spaces, including the gym. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite the difficulties that may come with figuring out how to squeeze play into upper grades, London said school leaders have the benefit of a set of opinionated experts — the students themselves.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you’re going to start a recess, you should ask your students what they want to do in that time,” he said. “You can even create a school climate task force; the students who volunteer to help think about that time can be tapped as leaders. They know what they need.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story about \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/play-is-crucial-for-middle-schoolers-too/\">middle school and play\u003c/a> was produced by \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/newsletters/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hechinger Report newsletters\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Unstructured time and playful learning are as essential for middle school students as they are for younger children, say researchers and educators. Play offers an opportunity for students to bond with their friends and learn “soft skills” that will serve them well in college and beyond. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1668552826,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":35,"wordCount":2138},"headData":{"title":"Play is crucial for middle schoolers, too - MindShift","description":"Play for middle school students offers an opportunity for physical activity and learning “soft skills” that will serve them well in college and beyond.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Play is crucial for middle schoolers, too","datePublished":"2022-11-17T11:00:18.000Z","dateModified":"2022-11-15T22:53:46.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"60253 https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=60253","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2022/11/17/play-is-crucial-for-middle-schoolers-too/","disqusTitle":"Play is crucial for middle schoolers, too","nprByline":"Christina A. Samuels, \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/a>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","path":"/mindshift/60253/play-is-crucial-for-middle-schoolers-too","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">CHANTILLY, Va. — In Fairfax County, Virginia, thousands of middle school students experience what most of their peers leave behind in elementary school — recess.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The break is only 15 minutes long. But at Rocky Run Middle School, about 25 miles west of the nation’s capital, the seventh and eighth graders make the most of one of the few stretches of time in school that they can truly call their own. Fairfax County schools, a district of around 181,000 students, has taken an unusual step in mandating recess for all its middle school students.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On a day in early fall, a large group of students tossed their backpacks in a messy pile and made a beeline towards the school’s blacktop for pickup basketball and soccer games. A kickball game started up on the baseball field, with a teacher handling pitching duties to keep the action moving. Smaller groups of students headed to the school’s gym, while others peeled off towards the cafeteria to play board games, get in some extra study time with their Chromebooks, or just chat with their friends.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s a break after all this other stuff you have to do,” said 12-year-old Colin Bigley, a seventh grader playing the board game Sorry! with three friends. “Playing outside is also nice. You have the option of what you’re going to do.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Aminah Naqvi, a 13-year-old eighth grader, loves the social time. She was hanging out with friends on the blacktop, shooting baskets. “You might not get to see your friends if you don’t have the same lunch,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even the school’s principal, Amy Goodloe, agrees that play is important. “There’s really high value for students and, I will underscore, teachers to have that break in the day,” she said. “We underestimate how important that is as a partner to academic learning.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60298\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60298\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play4-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, made a 15-minute recess break mandatory for middle school. At Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly, Virginia, dozens of students took the opportunity to get some fresh air. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Fairfax County is an exception. In most communities, opportunities for play and playful learning tend to recede in middle school, replaced by direct instruction, competitive sports and tightly structured academic time. Educators and researchers say students pay the price. Young adolescents go through profound \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31449373/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">physical, emotional and physiological changes\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">;\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> play inside and outside the classroom can provide one way \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.ucsc.edu/dist/a/409/files/2017/07/MSBT-Report-8.28.18-19gf2qp.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">for kids to develop healthy bonds with friends and become more self-confident\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I teach at a K-8 school, and when I look at these seventh and eighth graders, they’re no different than the kindergarteners,” said Robert Lane, a STEM teacher at the Sierra Verde STEAM Academy in Glendale, Arizona. “They get excited when I bring out Play Doh and googly eyes.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lane’s class is entirely built around playful learning. For example, the modeling clay and other crafts were used as part of a stop-motion animation project in his classroom. Other activities for the school’s older students included creating cardboard roller coasters to be judged by the school’s second graders and building a robot that can move without wheels.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60295\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60295\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Middle school students in Robert Lane’s STEM class dig through a box of supplies for a class project. Lane, a teacher at Sierra Verde STEAM Academy in Glendale, Arizona, says play is just as popular with older students as it is with the younger ones he works with. \u003ccite>(Image courtesy of Robert Lane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I break them into groups where they don’t know each other and they just go all in,” said Lane, who also hosts a podcast as “Mr. Lane the STEM Guy.” The activities also give his students a chance to learn how to cooperate, accept failure when it happens, and solve problems as a team, he said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I want these kids to have all these soft skills as they get ready to go to high school and to college,” Lane said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to developing soft skills, recess is a tool that can get adolescents moving more at a time of life when they become much more sedentary.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60296\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60296\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play2-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In Robert Lane’s STEM class at Sierra Verde STEAM Academy in Glendale, Arizona, playful learning takes the place of lectures and workbooks. Lane says this type of work builds so-called “soft” skills like cooperation and resilience. \u003ccite>(Image courtesy of Robert Lane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/182251\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 2008 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> used accelerometers to capture the activity levels of youth from ages 9 to 15. Nine-year-olds, on average, engaged in three hours of moderate to vigorous activity on weekends and weekdays, well above the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/children/what_counts.htm\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">recommendation of 60 minutes a day\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers found that activity levels plunged as children reached adolescence. By age 15, they were getting an average of 49 minutes on weekdays and 35 minutes on weekends. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With benefits that appear so clear, why does middle school seem to mark an end to both unstructured play time and playful learning? There are several competing challenges, both logistical and social.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle schools generally have more students than elementary schools, and the students themselves are taller and heavier. It’s challenging for school leaders to find enough space and teacher supervision to manage hundreds of children during a break time. The supervision is particularly important because, while middle schoolers crave time with their friends, unstructured time like recess, lunchtime and passing between classes often offers \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://violence.chop.edu/bullying-schools\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">fertile opportunities for bullying\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60301\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60301\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play7-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Unstructured play and playful learning is usually left behind by middle school, but experts say adolescents need opportunities for play just as much as younger students. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fairfax County educators had to come up with new solutions. “The logistics were a little bit hard to figure out,” said Cynthia Conley, the principal of Washington Irving Middle School in Springfield, Virginia. Irving, with about \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:13:::NO::P0_CURRENT_SCHOOL_ID,P0_EDSL:151,0\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">1,200 students\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, is one of the Fairfax County schools that has added recess to its schedule. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We have four lunch shifts, and we had to figure out how to have four breaks,” said Conley. To accommodate all the students on break at any given time, administrators have opened up several different recess areas for students, including the gym, the blacktop, and the library, which features chess sets, card games, and an exercise bike with a built-in bookstand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“As soon as their feet hit the outside they are shooting, throwing, whatever they have in mind,” Conley said. “I’ve heard people say, why do they need a break. If you can, find me an adult who doesn’t need a 15-minute break during their work day. Everybody takes a break, to look away from the screen a little bit.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60304\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60304\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play10-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly, Virginia, provides several popular games, such as Connect 4, for students who want to play indoors during their 15-minute recess period. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">An additional challenge is that middle school students don’t think like younger students. Some athletic equipment won’t be enough to engage all, or even most of them. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rebecca London, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has studied what happens when educators add break or recess time for middle school students. In the middle schools she observed, the sports activities were often dominated by older boys. Younger boys and girls, even athletes, tended to spend break times walking and talking unless schools made an extra effort to set up activities that would attract them.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One powerful way to do that is for adults to play alongside students, even if adolescents sometimes act as if they want to get away from adults.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60303\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60303\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play9-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adolescents often respond warmly when adults play along with them, and the adult presence often creates a safe space for those who are more shy or less athletic, say researchers. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“As soon as the adults start playing, the kids want to play,” London said. “Kids inherently crave that. It’s an opportunity for kids to be seen as an expert or a leader.” A warm adult presence also makes the situation feel safer for students who may not be sports stars. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“For all those reasons, it’s great to have adults out there leading games, connecting with students in different ways,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fairfax County piloted a middle school recess break for the 2021-22 school year. Last April, the school board \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://wjla.com/news/local/an-important-break-recess-will-soon-be-required-at-all-fairfax-county-middle-schools\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">voted to make the break mandatory\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for all the district’s middle schools, starting in 2022-23. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/CCLKUS53985E/%24file/P2100.3%20Wellness%20Policy03.24.2022.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">District policy\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for elementary students requires at least 30 minutes of recess a day over two segments. There is no recess policy in the district for high school students. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60302\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60302\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play8-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students watch a kickball game during recess at Rocky Run Middle School in Chantilly, Virginia. Fairfax County schools implemented a recess period for all of its middle schools, starting in the 2022-23 school year. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Advocates for the change say it filled a real need. “All of our students need some time to rejuvenate,” said Ricardy Anderson, one of the champions of the recess policy on the school board and a former middle school principal. “We have middle school students that get into the building at 7:15 in the morning and they don’t leave the building until 2:30.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anderson said that’s why it’s essential for students “to have a little bit of freedom to do what they’d like to do — to be free of the noise of the cafeteria. just to get some fresh air, just to have a little break in the day. The outdoors component is even more critical.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Parents of elementary school children are often the driving force behind recess policies, but London, the sociology professor, hasn’t seen that same level of energy behind break times for older students. She thinks the isolation kids experienced during the first phase of the pandemic makes break time even more crucial. “It’s going to take a long time before these kids are fully recovered,” she said. “We may need even more play for older kids.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60297\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60297\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play3-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two students work on a stop-motion animation project in Robert Lane’s STEM class at Sierra Verde STEAM Academy in Glendale, Arizona. \u003ccite>(Image courtesy of Robert Lane)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lane, at the Sierra STEAM Academy, said that another barrier may be parents and school administrators who may not see the importance of playful learning.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Teachers are under so much pressure to get to a certain point,” he said, and they’re also under a microscope. Parents might not understand why class time is spent on playful learning as opposed to more clearly academic pursuits, for example. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Seventh and eighth graders spend a quarter each year engaged in hands-on projects in his classroom, adding up to a semester of active learning. These activities allow students to explore their passions and also understand why failure is part of learning, Lane said. “That’s a K-8 thing, campus-wide. We don’t get frustrated. We come back, we play smarter. And the seventh and eighth graders, they crave it.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60305\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60305\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Samuels-MS-Play11-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Because Rocky Run Middle has to accommodate hundreds of students during its mandatory recess period, administrators open several spaces, including the gym. \u003ccite>(Tom Sandner for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Despite the difficulties that may come with figuring out how to squeeze play into upper grades, London said school leaders have the benefit of a set of opinionated experts — the students themselves.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If you’re going to start a recess, you should ask your students what they want to do in that time,” he said. “You can even create a school climate task force; the students who volunteer to help think about that time can be tapped as leaders. They know what they need.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story about \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/play-is-crucial-for-middle-schoolers-too/\">middle school and play\u003c/a> was produced by \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/newsletters/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hechinger Report newsletters\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/60253/play-is-crucial-for-middle-schoolers-too","authors":["byline_mindshift_60253"],"categories":["mindshift_192","mindshift_21345"],"tags":["mindshift_767","mindshift_21078","mindshift_21473","mindshift_21214","mindshift_21184","mindshift_145","mindshift_46","mindshift_498"],"featImg":"mindshift_60300","label":"mindshift"},"mindshift_60255":{"type":"posts","id":"mindshift_60255","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"mindshift","id":"60255","score":null,"sort":[1668596451000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"in-elementary-classrooms-demand-grows-for-play-based-learning","title":"In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning","publishDate":1668596451,"format":"standard","headTitle":"MindShift | KQED News","labelTerm":{"site":"mindshift"},"content":"\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">OKLAHOMA CITY — Two third-graders sat on the floor of their classroom and lined up a row of dominoes along the edge of a low-lying table. They positioned themselves at each end of the row of rectangles, leaned in, and blew. The dominoes tumbled forward, crashing into each other. The girls flung their heads back and laughed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In another part of the room, two students spontaneously connected a set of wooden orbs to sticks to mimic planets circling a sun.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s a solar system,” one of the students said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The third-graders in Crystal O’Brien’s class darted from station to station — laughing, arguing, playing. But it wasn’t indoor recess — play is one of the ways students learn every day in O’Brien’s science and social studies class at Shidler Elementary School. Throughout the day, O’Brien weaves free and structured play into her class time. During structured play, O’Brien guides the topic and provides parameters. But during free play, she only asks them to connect something they learned that day to their chosen play activity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They are able to choose whatever materials they want to play with in the room, but I encourage them to think about what we've been doing in our science block when they're playing,” O’Brien said. “And sometimes they'll just naturally do that. They'll tell me, ‘Look, this is an example of gravity. This is an unbalanced force. This is a chain reaction.’”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While play-based learning remains relatively rare in elementary classrooms, Oklahoma City is among a small number of school districts across the country experimenting with increased play time for children as old as 8 or 9. In Watertown, New York, for example, educators have been teaching through play in pre-K and kindergarten for years, said former Superintendent Patti LaBarr, but the district recently shifted to encouraging play for older elementary students, too. And in Austin, Texas, one school official has started training elementary teachers to use Lego Education products toys as a play-based learning tool during class time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60270\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60270\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary4-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A third grade student sets the last domino down in a row along the edge of a table while playing in Crystal O’Brien’s classroom at Shidler Elementary School in Oklahoma City. \u003ccite>(Ariel Gilreath/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The growing focus on play in older grades is not always easy, as teachers contend with pressure to meet standardized testing mandates and a lack of support from some administrators. But educators who have turned to play-based learning say the approach is particularly helpful now, as pandemic disruptions have left students with social, emotional and behavioral gaps.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It can be difficult to explain what play-based learning looks like, said Mara Krechevsky, senior researcher at Project Zero, an education research group in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Over the past seven years, Krechevsky and her research team have been working on a project called the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/pedagogy-of-play\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pedagogy of Play\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, studying play-based learning at schools in Boston, Denmark, South Africa and Colombia.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through their research, Krechevsky’s group came up with three basic tenets for playful learning: students should be able to help lead their own learning, explore the unknown, and find joy. Under this framework, play time doesn’t have to be the reward for completing work and learning. Play can actually be the work, Krechevsky said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Much of the impetus for the shift in Oklahoma City comes from Stephanie Hinton, who started overseeing pre-K through second grade at Oklahoma City Public Schools a few years ago. She knew she wanted to encourage hands-on, playful learning as much as possible. The approach worked for her as a teacher, and it’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13730\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">backed up by research\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Shidler Elementary, most students qualify for free and reduced lunch and test scores have \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oklaschools.com/school/988/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">historically been low\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It’s the kind of school where, typically, it’s difficult to get everyone on board with play-based learning, Hinton said. Despite those challenges, play has begun to catch on in its classrooms.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There is this push for skill and drill in schools and communities where we're not passing the test,” Hinton said. It can be easy to think the solution is assigning more schoolwork and sending home more worksheets, Hinton added. That’s because worksheets are black and white — either the student knows the answer to the questions on the assignment or they don’t. But Hinton said regurgitating answers on a piece of paper isn’t a sign of understanding.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s not authentic, it’s not true learning,” she said. \"And we know from research that when it comes down to it, it hasn’t engaged enough of the brain to make it permanent learning.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60269\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60269\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary3-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crystal O’Brien, center, plays with her third grade students during free play time in her classroom at Shidler Elementary School in Oklahoma City. Free play, which is when O’Brien lets students play any way they want, is a regular part of their class time. \u003ccite>(Ariel Gilreath/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But letting kids learn through play is hard to grasp for educators who have been trained to follow the rules and structure of a traditional school setting, said Peg Drappo, who runs the pre-K program in Watertown City School District in New York. Watertown began to increase its focus on playful learning in 2015, when the district received a federal grant that helped expand play in its pre-K program. In the seven years since, Drappo and the district’s superintendent have been helping teachers of the older grades who approached them about adding play to their own classrooms.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But when she was an elementary school principal several years ago, Drappo didn’t understand what playful learning was supposed to look like. Now, when she speaks at conferences on play-based learning, she tells a story about visiting a kindergarten classroom when she was a principal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The kids were all over the place, all over the floor doing things — just like a kindergarten classroom should be. But I did not know this world of pre-K and play, so I said to [the teacher], ‘I'll come back to your classroom when you're teaching,’” Drappo said. “Now when I walk into a classroom and it’s loud and a teacher apologizes, I say, ‘Stop apologizing. This is how it’s supposed to sound.’”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60271\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60271\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary5-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of third graders in Crystal O’Brien’s class at Shidler Elementary School in Oklahoma City play with toys during a part of class time in which they are allowed to play however they want. At other times of the day, O’Brien guides the students through playful lessons. \u003ccite>(Ariel Gilreath/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Oklahoma, playful learning has support from lawmakers as well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before becoming a teacher, Oklahoma state Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, a Democrat, thought all students were taught lessons through play. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I became a teacher back in 2012 and I realized it’s [play] not even accepted anymore as a way to learn, even in the younger grades,” Rosecrants said. “Some schools do it great, but I'm talking about the way that I learned — going outside, playing, discovering — that type of thing was not something that was focused on in any of the public schools I went to [as a teacher].” (Rosecrants left teaching in 2017 when he was elected to represent Norman, Oklahoma in the state house.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a middle school teacher, Rosecrants said, he rebelled against the idea that students should learn via memorization, drills, and worksheets. In 2021, the Oklahoma legislature \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/hB/HB1569%20ENR.PDF\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">passed a law\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that encourages the use of play in pre-K through third grade classrooms. The law, which was written by Rosecrants with bi-partisan assistance, also forbids administrators from prohibiting educators’ use of a play-based approach to teaching.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I've had a lot of teachers who asked me to print it out so they can post it in their classroom, because administrators will come in and be like, ‘Hey, we gotta hit this standard, what are you doing?’ And they're like, ‘Well, we're hitting this standard, but we're [doing it] with blocks,’” Rosecrants said. “I want to add a piece to [the law] probably this year … to require training for play-based learning for all administrators in pre-K through third grade.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60273\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60273\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary8-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educators at Blake Manor Elementary School say that students learn important math and problem-solving skills while they build, code and play with robots. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some schools are trying to increase play by turning to STEM-focused activities, like building robots with Lego Education products. Manor Independent School District, a district of about 9,000 students just east of Austin, Texas, launched a robotics program around a decade ago, in an attempt to bring more playful learning to students in the early years of elementary school. For several years, robotics was mostly confined to an after-school program.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jacob Luevano, the innovative teaching strategist at Manor ISD, said he has been working to train teachers to integrate robotics into their classrooms. “I think now more than ever, we need [playful learning] in the classrooms,\" Luevano said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So far, Luevano has had more success in getting robotics activities introduced to classrooms in kindergarten through second grade than in upper elementary, which he attributes, in part, to the pressure of standardized testing that starts in third grade. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60272\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60272\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary7-800x562.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"562\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student at Blake Manor Elementary School in Manor, Texas, works on a Lego Robotics program during a morning meeting of the school's robotics club. The Manor Independent School District is trying to increase play opportunities for students by using Lego Robotics. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As children recover from the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic, active, playful learning is more important than ever because it strengthens social and emotional skills, said Hinton in Oklahoma City. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This isn't just about play. This is about building relationships, and social-emotional learning,” Hinton said. “Sometimes when an adult is losing their mind about something, I think: I wonder what your play behaviors were like as a child?” It helps, she clarifies, if children have already experienced losing in a cooperative setting — whether at Monopoly, Hi Ho! Cherry-O or another game. “How you handle that, it says a lot about where you are in your social emotional development,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In O’Brien’s classroom in Oklahoma City, there are no desks. Instead, students sit at round tables or on a rug in front of the whiteboard, depending on the activity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently, the class learned about static electricity. O’Brien set up stations with different items — balloons, tissue, paper — to show the kids how static electricity works. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I asked them to figure out how they could make these different materials move without directly touching them,” O’Brien said. After that, she led a discussion on what the students discovered and presented them with some technical, scientific terms.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year is O’Brien’s first back at Shidler Elementary. She left the district in 2021 to get a master’s degree in early childhood education and work at a private preschool in Colorado that uses the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/parenting/reggio-emilia-preschool.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reggio Emilia approach\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to teaching, an approach born in Italy that encompasses significant play.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like other play-based programs, Reggio Emilia is most often seen in private and affluent preschool classrooms. When O’Brien made the decision to return to Shidler Elementary, she was partly on a mission to bring play-based learning to a public setting. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s not something that should just be for the elite, and I think all children can benefit from learning this way,” O’Brien said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story about \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/in-elementary-classrooms-demand-grows-for-play-based-learning/\">play-based learning\u003c/a> was produced by \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/newsletters/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hechinger Reporter newsletters\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jackie Mader contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Correction: This story has been updated to note that Manor ISD in Texas is using LEGO Education products.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"As students returned from remote learning with gaps in social emotional skills, elementary schools across the United States have started teaching more students through play — an approach to learning typically confined to preschools.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1668710811,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":37,"wordCount":2122},"headData":{"title":"In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning - MindShift","description":"As students returned from remote learning with gaps in social emotional skills, elementary schools across the United States have started teaching more students through play — an approach to learning typically confined to preschools.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning","datePublished":"2022-11-16T11:00:51.000Z","dateModified":"2022-11-17T18:46:51.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"60255 https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=60255","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2022/11/16/in-elementary-classrooms-demand-grows-for-play-based-learning/","disqusTitle":"In elementary classrooms, demand grows for play-based learning","nprByline":"Ariel Gilreath, \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/a>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","path":"/mindshift/60255/in-elementary-classrooms-demand-grows-for-play-based-learning","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">OKLAHOMA CITY — Two third-graders sat on the floor of their classroom and lined up a row of dominoes along the edge of a low-lying table. They positioned themselves at each end of the row of rectangles, leaned in, and blew. The dominoes tumbled forward, crashing into each other. The girls flung their heads back and laughed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In another part of the room, two students spontaneously connected a set of wooden orbs to sticks to mimic planets circling a sun.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s a solar system,” one of the students said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The third-graders in Crystal O’Brien’s class darted from station to station — laughing, arguing, playing. But it wasn’t indoor recess — play is one of the ways students learn every day in O’Brien’s science and social studies class at Shidler Elementary School. Throughout the day, O’Brien weaves free and structured play into her class time. During structured play, O’Brien guides the topic and provides parameters. But during free play, she only asks them to connect something they learned that day to their chosen play activity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“They are able to choose whatever materials they want to play with in the room, but I encourage them to think about what we've been doing in our science block when they're playing,” O’Brien said. “And sometimes they'll just naturally do that. They'll tell me, ‘Look, this is an example of gravity. This is an unbalanced force. This is a chain reaction.’”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While play-based learning remains relatively rare in elementary classrooms, Oklahoma City is among a small number of school districts across the country experimenting with increased play time for children as old as 8 or 9. In Watertown, New York, for example, educators have been teaching through play in pre-K and kindergarten for years, said former Superintendent Patti LaBarr, but the district recently shifted to encouraging play for older elementary students, too. And in Austin, Texas, one school official has started training elementary teachers to use Lego Education products toys as a play-based learning tool during class time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60270\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60270\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary4-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A third grade student sets the last domino down in a row along the edge of a table while playing in Crystal O’Brien’s classroom at Shidler Elementary School in Oklahoma City. \u003ccite>(Ariel Gilreath/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The growing focus on play in older grades is not always easy, as teachers contend with pressure to meet standardized testing mandates and a lack of support from some administrators. But educators who have turned to play-based learning say the approach is particularly helpful now, as pandemic disruptions have left students with social, emotional and behavioral gaps.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It can be difficult to explain what play-based learning looks like, said Mara Krechevsky, senior researcher at Project Zero, an education research group in Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Over the past seven years, Krechevsky and her research team have been working on a project called the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.pz.harvard.edu/projects/pedagogy-of-play\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pedagogy of Play\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, studying play-based learning at schools in Boston, Denmark, South Africa and Colombia.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Through their research, Krechevsky’s group came up with three basic tenets for playful learning: students should be able to help lead their own learning, explore the unknown, and find joy. Under this framework, play time doesn’t have to be the reward for completing work and learning. Play can actually be the work, Krechevsky said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Much of the impetus for the shift in Oklahoma City comes from Stephanie Hinton, who started overseeing pre-K through second grade at Oklahoma City Public Schools a few years ago. She knew she wanted to encourage hands-on, playful learning as much as possible. The approach worked for her as a teacher, and it’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.13730\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">backed up by research\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Shidler Elementary, most students qualify for free and reduced lunch and test scores have \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://oklaschools.com/school/988/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">historically been low\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. It’s the kind of school where, typically, it’s difficult to get everyone on board with play-based learning, Hinton said. Despite those challenges, play has begun to catch on in its classrooms.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“There is this push for skill and drill in schools and communities where we're not passing the test,” Hinton said. It can be easy to think the solution is assigning more schoolwork and sending home more worksheets, Hinton added. That’s because worksheets are black and white — either the student knows the answer to the questions on the assignment or they don’t. But Hinton said regurgitating answers on a piece of paper isn’t a sign of understanding.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s not authentic, it’s not true learning,” she said. \"And we know from research that when it comes down to it, it hasn’t engaged enough of the brain to make it permanent learning.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60269\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60269\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary3-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Crystal O’Brien, center, plays with her third grade students during free play time in her classroom at Shidler Elementary School in Oklahoma City. Free play, which is when O’Brien lets students play any way they want, is a regular part of their class time. \u003ccite>(Ariel Gilreath/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But letting kids learn through play is hard to grasp for educators who have been trained to follow the rules and structure of a traditional school setting, said Peg Drappo, who runs the pre-K program in Watertown City School District in New York. Watertown began to increase its focus on playful learning in 2015, when the district received a federal grant that helped expand play in its pre-K program. In the seven years since, Drappo and the district’s superintendent have been helping teachers of the older grades who approached them about adding play to their own classrooms.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But when she was an elementary school principal several years ago, Drappo didn’t understand what playful learning was supposed to look like. Now, when she speaks at conferences on play-based learning, she tells a story about visiting a kindergarten classroom when she was a principal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The kids were all over the place, all over the floor doing things — just like a kindergarten classroom should be. But I did not know this world of pre-K and play, so I said to [the teacher], ‘I'll come back to your classroom when you're teaching,’” Drappo said. “Now when I walk into a classroom and it’s loud and a teacher apologizes, I say, ‘Stop apologizing. This is how it’s supposed to sound.’”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60271\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60271\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary5-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of third graders in Crystal O’Brien’s class at Shidler Elementary School in Oklahoma City play with toys during a part of class time in which they are allowed to play however they want. At other times of the day, O’Brien guides the students through playful lessons. \u003ccite>(Ariel Gilreath/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Oklahoma, playful learning has support from lawmakers as well.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before becoming a teacher, Oklahoma state Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, a Democrat, thought all students were taught lessons through play. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I became a teacher back in 2012 and I realized it’s [play] not even accepted anymore as a way to learn, even in the younger grades,” Rosecrants said. “Some schools do it great, but I'm talking about the way that I learned — going outside, playing, discovering — that type of thing was not something that was focused on in any of the public schools I went to [as a teacher].” (Rosecrants left teaching in 2017 when he was elected to represent Norman, Oklahoma in the state house.)\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As a middle school teacher, Rosecrants said, he rebelled against the idea that students should learn via memorization, drills, and worksheets. In 2021, the Oklahoma legislature \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2021-22%20ENR/hB/HB1569%20ENR.PDF\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">passed a law\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that encourages the use of play in pre-K through third grade classrooms. The law, which was written by Rosecrants with bi-partisan assistance, also forbids administrators from prohibiting educators’ use of a play-based approach to teaching.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I've had a lot of teachers who asked me to print it out so they can post it in their classroom, because administrators will come in and be like, ‘Hey, we gotta hit this standard, what are you doing?’ And they're like, ‘Well, we're hitting this standard, but we're [doing it] with blocks,’” Rosecrants said. “I want to add a piece to [the law] probably this year … to require training for play-based learning for all administrators in pre-K through third grade.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60273\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60273\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary8-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educators at Blake Manor Elementary School say that students learn important math and problem-solving skills while they build, code and play with robots. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some schools are trying to increase play by turning to STEM-focused activities, like building robots with Lego Education products. Manor Independent School District, a district of about 9,000 students just east of Austin, Texas, launched a robotics program around a decade ago, in an attempt to bring more playful learning to students in the early years of elementary school. For several years, robotics was mostly confined to an after-school program.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jacob Luevano, the innovative teaching strategist at Manor ISD, said he has been working to train teachers to integrate robotics into their classrooms. “I think now more than ever, we need [playful learning] in the classrooms,\" Luevano said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">So far, Luevano has had more success in getting robotics activities introduced to classrooms in kindergarten through second grade than in upper elementary, which he attributes, in part, to the pressure of standardized testing that starts in third grade. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60272\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60272\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Gilreath-Play-Elementary7-800x562.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"562\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A student at Blake Manor Elementary School in Manor, Texas, works on a Lego Robotics program during a morning meeting of the school's robotics club. The Manor Independent School District is trying to increase play opportunities for students by using Lego Robotics. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As children recover from the isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic, active, playful learning is more important than ever because it strengthens social and emotional skills, said Hinton in Oklahoma City. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“This isn't just about play. This is about building relationships, and social-emotional learning,” Hinton said. “Sometimes when an adult is losing their mind about something, I think: I wonder what your play behaviors were like as a child?” It helps, she clarifies, if children have already experienced losing in a cooperative setting — whether at Monopoly, Hi Ho! Cherry-O or another game. “How you handle that, it says a lot about where you are in your social emotional development,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In O’Brien’s classroom in Oklahoma City, there are no desks. Instead, students sit at round tables or on a rug in front of the whiteboard, depending on the activity.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Recently, the class learned about static electricity. O’Brien set up stations with different items — balloons, tissue, paper — to show the kids how static electricity works. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I asked them to figure out how they could make these different materials move without directly touching them,” O’Brien said. After that, she led a discussion on what the students discovered and presented them with some technical, scientific terms.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This year is O’Brien’s first back at Shidler Elementary. She left the district in 2021 to get a master’s degree in early childhood education and work at a private preschool in Colorado that uses the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/parenting/reggio-emilia-preschool.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reggio Emilia approach\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to teaching, an approach born in Italy that encompasses significant play.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Like other play-based programs, Reggio Emilia is most often seen in private and affluent preschool classrooms. When O’Brien made the decision to return to Shidler Elementary, she was partly on a mission to bring play-based learning to a public setting. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“It’s not something that should just be for the elite, and I think all children can benefit from learning this way,” O’Brien said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story about \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/in-elementary-classrooms-demand-grows-for-play-based-learning/\">play-based learning\u003c/a> was produced by \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/newsletters/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hechinger Reporter newsletters\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jackie Mader contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Correction: This story has been updated to note that Manor ISD in Texas is using LEGO Education products.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/60255/in-elementary-classrooms-demand-grows-for-play-based-learning","authors":["byline_mindshift_60255"],"categories":["mindshift_192","mindshift_21345"],"tags":["mindshift_767","mindshift_21078","mindshift_20720","mindshift_21101","mindshift_21214","mindshift_21184","mindshift_46","mindshift_498"],"featImg":"mindshift_60268","label":"mindshift"},"mindshift_60248":{"type":"posts","id":"mindshift_60248","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"mindshift","id":"60248","score":null,"sort":[1668510059000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"the-complex-world-of-pre-k-play-young-kids-benefit-from-play-but-what-should-it-look-like","title":"Young kids benefit from play. But what should it look like?","publishDate":1668510059,"format":"standard","headTitle":"MindShift | KQED News","labelTerm":{"site":"mindshift"},"content":"\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SEATTLE — On a bright October morning, two dozen 4- and 5-year-olds were scattered around a classroom at Impact Salish Sea Elementary in south Seattle, enthralled by plastic food, dolls, blocks and clay. In the center of the room, four children buzzed around a wooden play kitchen, mixing various pretend food items in pots and pans. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m making chocolate cupcakes,” proclaimed Rosa, age 5. A few feet away, Jordyn, 4, was carefully washing plastic dishes in a bright red sink filled with water, before drying them off with a blue towel. When their teacher, Shareece DeLeon, took a seat at a pint-sized table in the middle of the kitchen, the children paused and turned to look. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Our customer is here!” one student proclaimed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With challenging elementary standards and kindergarten readiness assessments looming, some may question whether educators should be spending so much time on play. But child development experts agree that this type of playful activity is exactly what young students should be doing every day — now more than ever since young children lost crucial opportunities to play and build social and pre-academic skills during the pandemic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Play is uniquely imperative for young children given that the parts of the brain that are most developed in the earliest years are those that respond to play and activity, experts say. Young children have shown \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://parentingscience.com/benefits-of-play/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">improved language skills\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, math skills and problem-solving skills after playing. Certain types of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdev.12695\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">imaginative play\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> have been found to improve perseverance. When children play, their brains release \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.primalplay.com/blog/play-and-the-feel-good-hormones\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">chemicals\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that can impact memory, motivation, attention and mood, and help regulate emotions and support social skills. Play is so powerful, there is evidence that it can \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/twenty-six-studies-point-to-more-play-for-young-children/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">close achievement gaps\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> between children ages three to six.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We don’t have to see it as a choice between play or academics, play should be academics for preschoolers,” said \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alissa Mwenelupembe, the senior director for early learning program accreditation at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what does that look like? Experts and educators \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">generally agree on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/five-essentials-meaningful-play\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a few main principles\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> when it comes to quality play for young kids: It should be a defining feature of the day and not just a brief diversion, like recess; there should be some element of choice — allowing kids to pick an activity and decide how to pursue it; it should be enjoyable and spontaneous; and in most cases, a supportive adult should provide at least some guidance and help reinforce academic and social emotional concepts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond those tenets, what learning through play looks like on the ground — or playground, as the case may be — can vary greatly based on a program’s approach or philosophy. Play in early ed settings is more deliberate and nuanced — not to mention important — than the casual observer realizes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “When you’re actually really being intentional with how they’re going to play, they do pick up a lot more and they understand a lot more,” said DeLeon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60263\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60263\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A teacher accepts plastic food items from one of her students.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shareece DeLeon, a teacher at Impact Public School’s Salish Sea Elementary, accepts plastic food items from one of her students during a 90-minute block of play time. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Impact Salish Sea Elementary, one of three elementary charter schools in the Seattle area run by Impact Public Schools, educators focus on “imaginary play,” like pretending to run a restaurant or hospital, as a tool to teach young children self-regulation and cognitive skills. The approach is partially inspired by Russian developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who saw \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/play-based-learning/according-experts/role-make-believe-play-development-self-regulation\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">imaginative play as a critical activity\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to support a child’s development. This differs from “immature play,” where children “don’t interact with each other and flit from thing to thing,” said Deborah Leong, co-founder and president of Tools of the Mind, the organization behind the curriculum used by Impact and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://toolsofthemind.org/learn/locations-alignments/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">dozens of other school\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> districts and charter schools nationwide.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teachers act as “play mentors” to help children develop and create a scenario, build props, and plan out their play. Classrooms embrace themes — like grocery store or home — and transform their space accordingly. Children have around 90 minutes each day for this play time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This daily experience ultimately supports the development of “mature” play, where children are able to stay in pretend roles for a longer period of time, Leong said. “It’s the foundation for being able to imagine a world that’s different from what you’re living in,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60266\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60266\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK5-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"The front of a school building with bricks and windows. The school name, Impact, is written above the double door entrance.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Impact Salish Sea Elementary, in south Seattle, is one of three charter schools run by Impact Public Schools. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just a few weeks into the school year, the students at Impact Salish Sea were still learning the routines of their transitional kindergarten classroom, a year meant to prepare 4- and 5-year-olds for kindergarten. Play period began one mid-October morning with students picking a colorful clothespin from a board and affixing it to their shirt. The different colors of the clothespins corresponded to various play centers in the classroom. As children fanned out across the room, the classroom’s two teachers circulated. They stopped to watch various students, asking questions about their play, and encouraging them to count as they used blocks to build rocket ships or problem solve when the water in the sink became too cold. When a young charge approached DeLeon after the doll she wanted was taken by another student, DeLeon encouraged her to go talk to her peer and try to work it out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While such classrooms can look different from traditional elementary classrooms, and even appear chaotic at times, students are indeed learning how to interact with their peers and solidifying early math, science and literacy skills. “It’s not just play for play’s sake,” said Lauren Ellis, senior director of programs at Impact Public Schools, though free play is also important, she added. Students at Impact also receive nearly an hour of recess a day, play games throughout the day and have a block of free play near the end of the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having frequent opportunities to play is something experts with NAEYC look for when assessing the quality of preschools. Regardless of the school’s curriculum or approach, NAEYC evaluators want children to be engaged in play and have some choice about their activities for a “substantial” part of the day, said Mwenelupembe.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One sign of quality play is when children are interacting with materials and peers, she added. Teachers should be asking questions that “stretch” emerging knowledge, and helping children navigate conflicts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60264\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60264\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK3-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two children play with blocks and other tools during a morning play session at Impact Salish Sea Elementary.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Impact Salish Sea Elementary play during a long, morning play session. The school uses a curriculum by Tools of the Mind that emphasizes imaginative play. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Play can be seen as a spectrum, ranging from direct, teacher-led instruction on one end, to free play on the other, said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. While there are benefits to other types of play, the sweet spot for classrooms is in the middle at “guided play,” she added, where children play with a learning goal in mind and educators provide gentle guidance. That does not, however, include activities that some teachers may view as play, she added, like making letters out of Play-Doh. “That is direct instruction in play clothes,” she said, since children are being told exactly what to do with their materials.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet some play advocates lean more toward a form of free play that includes no adult-directed learning goal or teacher direction. AnjiPlay, a philosophy that originated in the Zhejiang Province of China about 20 years ago and has pilot programs around the world, provides children with at least two hours of uninterrupted outdoor play each day using materials like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.anjiplay.com/materials\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ladders, barrels and climbing cubes\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Children have additional play time inside, read daily and spend time reflecting on their play through drawings and discussion.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The goal, as stated on the organization’s website, is to enable “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.anjiplay.com/rights\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">deep and uninterrupted engagement\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” in a chosen play activity. While teachers are on hand, they do not steer or guide students at all. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Children make the distinction between play that belongs to them, and play that is coming from somebody else,” said Jesse Coffino, CEO of Anji Education, Inc. and chair of the True Play Foundation. “I don’t see guided play as play,” he said. “There’s specific learning outcomes that an adult has decided are important.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This type of child-led, free play is beneficial and all too often lacking, said Doris Bergen, a distinguished professor emeritus at Miami University of Ohio’s Department of Educational Psychology whose research has focused on child development and play. Bergen finds it worrisome when “children have too much structured time when they’re young,” adding that they should be permitted to make up their own rules and pursue their own interests at least part of the time. “They need to have some control, and some time where they are deciding what to do … and where to be, and what to use.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60261\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60261\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK6-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Experts say providing ample time for play is even more important now than ever, helping to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on young children, many of whom missed out on opportunities to play and build relationships with their peers. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The obstacles to introducing more play opportunities can be formidable: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/11/teaching-pre-k-higher-standards-not-enough-training-and-the-importance-of-purposeful-play.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rigorous\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> academic concepts are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307895775_Pulling_preK_1_into_a_K-12_orbit_the_evolution_of_preK_in_the_age_of_standards\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sliding down\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the preschool years as kids are prepped for more challenging early elementary grades. In addition, research shows teachers may not have support for play-based learning from some school \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.naeyc.org/resources/blog/academics-vs-play\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">principals\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who don’t understand that young children learn most readily through play, or teachers may get \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1350293X.2019.1678717?src=recsys\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">pushback from parents\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who fear children won’t be prepared for kindergarten. Play and free-choice time can be even more restricted in classrooms that serve \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200609000726?via%3Dihub\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">high rates of low-income, Black or Hispanic children\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, research shows. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Given the constraints many teachers are under when introducing or \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/04/playtime-for-preschoolers-essential-study-says/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">expanding play time\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, some experts try not to get consumed in debates over approach. Instead, they say, they advise educators to get going however they can. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Any amount of play someone brings, we should be celebrating it,” said Sally Haughey, a former early childhood educator who taught in public and private settings for nearly 20 years before founding an organization that trains educators in play-based learning. Teachers who want to include more play can start simply by adding some student-led play time in their day, she added. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Start with what’s freely chosen and just keep expanding it.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even if teachers have a strict curriculum to teach, it’s possible to infuse more play, said Temple’s Hirsh-Pasek. “It’s redoing the mindset of how you teach the curriculum,” she added, like swapping out a worksheet about numbers with a physical activity where kids can jump, run and compare distances to learn about counting, adding and subtracting. More training and support could help. “It’s imperative that we start putting it in teacher preparation right now,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amber Unger, a pre-K teacher in Milwaukee who has been teaching for 14 years, encourages teachers to look at their schedules to find a few minutes a day to add or expand free-choice play. If teachers typically start the day with desk work, for example, she suggests swapping that out with play time, even just once a week to start. Unger’s efforts are supported by her district, which has embraced a play-based approach to pre-K, but she knows other teachers who don’t have that support. “We all have different situations,” she said. “You just need to do the best you can with the knowledge and experience you have.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60262\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60262\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A 4-year-old child washes dishes as part of a classroom activity.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordyn, 4, washes dishes during a unit about the home in one of Impact Salish Sea’s transitional kindergarten, or TK, class. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unger, who also runs a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://creamcityteacher.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">website\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> which helps teachers incorporate play-based learning strategies, slots a “play workshop” into her longest, uninterrupted block of time each day. During that time, children are free to play at 17 different centers around her classroom. Over the past few years, she has increased the amount of play in her room by looking for opportunities to make moments “playful” during the day: encouraging students to pretend to be butterflies while walking down the hallway or using playful activities to reinforce skills taught during brief periods of direct instruction, like making patterns out of shells and corks. “Play is the vehicle to make that happen,” she said. “I 100 percent, confidently believe that play allows our students to practice what we are teaching them.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, Unger said it’s taken years of research and practice to nurture her approach to play-based learning, and she is still learning and finding what works best for her students. “I definitely see more opportunities for play than what I did five years ago,” she said. “I was so hung up on doing play ‘right’ … There isn’t a right way and a wrong way to do play.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story about \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/the-complex-world-of-pre-k-play/\">learning through play\u003c/a> was produced by \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://hechingerreport.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation. Sign up for \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/earlychildhood/\">Hechinger Report newsletters\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Correction: This article has been updated to reflect Lauren Ellis’ job title.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Young kids benefit from learning through play. But what should it look like?","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1668614122,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":32,"wordCount":2376},"headData":{"title":"Young kids benefit from play. But what should it look like? - MindShift","description":"Experts and educators agree that play should be central to pre-K. It should also involve choice and reinforcement of learning by adults.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Young kids benefit from play. But what should it look like?","datePublished":"2022-11-15T11:00:59.000Z","dateModified":"2022-11-16T15:55:22.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"60248 https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=60248","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2022/11/15/the-complex-world-of-pre-k-play-young-kids-benefit-from-play-but-what-should-it-look-like/","disqusTitle":"Young kids benefit from play. But what should it look like?","nprByline":"Jackie Mader, \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/a>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","path":"/mindshift/60248/the-complex-world-of-pre-k-play-young-kids-benefit-from-play-but-what-should-it-look-like","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">SEATTLE — On a bright October morning, two dozen 4- and 5-year-olds were scattered around a classroom at Impact Salish Sea Elementary in south Seattle, enthralled by plastic food, dolls, blocks and clay. In the center of the room, four children buzzed around a wooden play kitchen, mixing various pretend food items in pots and pans. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I’m making chocolate cupcakes,” proclaimed Rosa, age 5. A few feet away, Jordyn, 4, was carefully washing plastic dishes in a bright red sink filled with water, before drying them off with a blue towel. When their teacher, Shareece DeLeon, took a seat at a pint-sized table in the middle of the kitchen, the children paused and turned to look. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Our customer is here!” one student proclaimed. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">With challenging elementary standards and kindergarten readiness assessments looming, some may question whether educators should be spending so much time on play. But child development experts agree that this type of playful activity is exactly what young students should be doing every day — now more than ever since young children lost crucial opportunities to play and build social and pre-academic skills during the pandemic.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Play is uniquely imperative for young children given that the parts of the brain that are most developed in the earliest years are those that respond to play and activity, experts say. Young children have shown \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://parentingscience.com/benefits-of-play/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">improved language skills\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, math skills and problem-solving skills after playing. Certain types of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdev.12695\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">imaginative play\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> have been found to improve perseverance. When children play, their brains release \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.primalplay.com/blog/play-and-the-feel-good-hormones\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">chemicals\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that can impact memory, motivation, attention and mood, and help regulate emotions and support social skills. Play is so powerful, there is evidence that it can \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/twenty-six-studies-point-to-more-play-for-young-children/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">close achievement gaps\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> between children ages three to six.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We don’t have to see it as a choice between play or academics, play should be academics for preschoolers,” said \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alissa Mwenelupembe, the senior director for early learning program accreditation at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But what does that look like? Experts and educators \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">generally agree on \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/five-essentials-meaningful-play\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a few main principles\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> when it comes to quality play for young kids: It should be a defining feature of the day and not just a brief diversion, like recess; there should be some element of choice — allowing kids to pick an activity and decide how to pursue it; it should be enjoyable and spontaneous; and in most cases, a supportive adult should provide at least some guidance and help reinforce academic and social emotional concepts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond those tenets, what learning through play looks like on the ground — or playground, as the case may be — can vary greatly based on a program’s approach or philosophy. Play in early ed settings is more deliberate and nuanced — not to mention important — than the casual observer realizes. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> “When you’re actually really being intentional with how they’re going to play, they do pick up a lot more and they understand a lot more,” said DeLeon. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60263\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60263\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK2-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A teacher accepts plastic food items from one of her students.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shareece DeLeon, a teacher at Impact Public School’s Salish Sea Elementary, accepts plastic food items from one of her students during a 90-minute block of play time. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At Impact Salish Sea Elementary, one of three elementary charter schools in the Seattle area run by Impact Public Schools, educators focus on “imaginary play,” like pretending to run a restaurant or hospital, as a tool to teach young children self-regulation and cognitive skills. The approach is partially inspired by Russian developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky, who saw \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.child-encyclopedia.com/play-based-learning/according-experts/role-make-believe-play-development-self-regulation\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">imaginative play as a critical activity\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to support a child’s development. This differs from “immature play,” where children “don’t interact with each other and flit from thing to thing,” said Deborah Leong, co-founder and president of Tools of the Mind, the organization behind the curriculum used by Impact and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://toolsofthemind.org/learn/locations-alignments/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">dozens of other school\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> districts and charter schools nationwide.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Teachers act as “play mentors” to help children develop and create a scenario, build props, and plan out their play. Classrooms embrace themes — like grocery store or home — and transform their space accordingly. Children have around 90 minutes each day for this play time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This daily experience ultimately supports the development of “mature” play, where children are able to stay in pretend roles for a longer period of time, Leong said. “It’s the foundation for being able to imagine a world that’s different from what you’re living in,” she said.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60266\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60266\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK5-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"The front of a school building with bricks and windows. The school name, Impact, is written above the double door entrance.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Impact Salish Sea Elementary, in south Seattle, is one of three charter schools run by Impact Public Schools. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Just a few weeks into the school year, the students at Impact Salish Sea were still learning the routines of their transitional kindergarten classroom, a year meant to prepare 4- and 5-year-olds for kindergarten. Play period began one mid-October morning with students picking a colorful clothespin from a board and affixing it to their shirt. The different colors of the clothespins corresponded to various play centers in the classroom. As children fanned out across the room, the classroom’s two teachers circulated. They stopped to watch various students, asking questions about their play, and encouraging them to count as they used blocks to build rocket ships or problem solve when the water in the sink became too cold. When a young charge approached DeLeon after the doll she wanted was taken by another student, DeLeon encouraged her to go talk to her peer and try to work it out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While such classrooms can look different from traditional elementary classrooms, and even appear chaotic at times, students are indeed learning how to interact with their peers and solidifying early math, science and literacy skills. “It’s not just play for play’s sake,” said Lauren Ellis, senior director of programs at Impact Public Schools, though free play is also important, she added. Students at Impact also receive nearly an hour of recess a day, play games throughout the day and have a block of free play near the end of the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Having frequent opportunities to play is something experts with NAEYC look for when assessing the quality of preschools. Regardless of the school’s curriculum or approach, NAEYC evaluators want children to be engaged in play and have some choice about their activities for a “substantial” part of the day, said Mwenelupembe.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">One sign of quality play is when children are interacting with materials and peers, she added. Teachers should be asking questions that “stretch” emerging knowledge, and helping children navigate conflicts. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60264\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60264\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK3-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Two children play with blocks and other tools during a morning play session at Impact Salish Sea Elementary.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Impact Salish Sea Elementary play during a long, morning play session. The school uses a curriculum by Tools of the Mind that emphasizes imaginative play. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Play can be seen as a spectrum, ranging from direct, teacher-led instruction on one end, to free play on the other, said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. While there are benefits to other types of play, the sweet spot for classrooms is in the middle at “guided play,” she added, where children play with a learning goal in mind and educators provide gentle guidance. That does not, however, include activities that some teachers may view as play, she added, like making letters out of Play-Doh. “That is direct instruction in play clothes,” she said, since children are being told exactly what to do with their materials.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet some play advocates lean more toward a form of free play that includes no adult-directed learning goal or teacher direction. AnjiPlay, a philosophy that originated in the Zhejiang Province of China about 20 years ago and has pilot programs around the world, provides children with at least two hours of uninterrupted outdoor play each day using materials like \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.anjiplay.com/materials\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">ladders, barrels and climbing cubes\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Children have additional play time inside, read daily and spend time reflecting on their play through drawings and discussion.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The goal, as stated on the organization’s website, is to enable “\u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.anjiplay.com/rights\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">deep and uninterrupted engagement\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">” in a chosen play activity. While teachers are on hand, they do not steer or guide students at all. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Children make the distinction between play that belongs to them, and play that is coming from somebody else,” said Jesse Coffino, CEO of Anji Education, Inc. and chair of the True Play Foundation. “I don’t see guided play as play,” he said. “There’s specific learning outcomes that an adult has decided are important.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This type of child-led, free play is beneficial and all too often lacking, said Doris Bergen, a distinguished professor emeritus at Miami University of Ohio’s Department of Educational Psychology whose research has focused on child development and play. Bergen finds it worrisome when “children have too much structured time when they’re young,” adding that they should be permitted to make up their own rules and pursue their own interests at least part of the time. “They need to have some control, and some time where they are deciding what to do … and where to be, and what to use.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60261\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60261\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK6-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Experts say providing ample time for play is even more important now than ever, helping to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on young children, many of whom missed out on opportunities to play and build relationships with their peers. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The obstacles to introducing more play opportunities can be formidable: \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/11/teaching-pre-k-higher-standards-not-enough-training-and-the-importance-of-purposeful-play.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rigorous\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> academic concepts are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307895775_Pulling_preK_1_into_a_K-12_orbit_the_evolution_of_preK_in_the_age_of_standards\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sliding down\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to the preschool years as kids are prepped for more challenging early elementary grades. In addition, research shows teachers may not have support for play-based learning from some school \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.naeyc.org/resources/blog/academics-vs-play\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">principals\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who don’t understand that young children learn most readily through play, or teachers may get \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1350293X.2019.1678717?src=recsys\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">pushback from parents\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> who fear children won’t be prepared for kindergarten. Play and free-choice time can be even more restricted in classrooms that serve \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200609000726?via%3Dihub\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">high rates of low-income, Black or Hispanic children\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, research shows. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Given the constraints many teachers are under when introducing or \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/04/playtime-for-preschoolers-essential-study-says/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">expanding play time\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, some experts try not to get consumed in debates over approach. Instead, they say, they advise educators to get going however they can. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Any amount of play someone brings, we should be celebrating it,” said Sally Haughey, a former early childhood educator who taught in public and private settings for nearly 20 years before founding an organization that trains educators in play-based learning. Teachers who want to include more play can start simply by adding some student-led play time in their day, she added. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Start with what’s freely chosen and just keep expanding it.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even if teachers have a strict curriculum to teach, it’s possible to infuse more play, said Temple’s Hirsh-Pasek. “It’s redoing the mindset of how you teach the curriculum,” she added, like swapping out a worksheet about numbers with a physical activity where kids can jump, run and compare distances to learn about counting, adding and subtracting. More training and support could help. “It’s imperative that we start putting it in teacher preparation right now,” she said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amber Unger, a pre-K teacher in Milwaukee who has been teaching for 14 years, encourages teachers to look at their schedules to find a few minutes a day to add or expand free-choice play. If teachers typically start the day with desk work, for example, she suggests swapping that out with play time, even just once a week to start. Unger’s efforts are supported by her district, which has embraced a play-based approach to pre-K, but she knows other teachers who don’t have that support. “We all have different situations,” she said. “You just need to do the best you can with the knowledge and experience you have.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60262\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60262\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-PreK1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A 4-year-old child washes dishes as part of a classroom activity.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordyn, 4, washes dishes during a unit about the home in one of Impact Salish Sea’s transitional kindergarten, or TK, class. \u003ccite>(Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unger, who also runs a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://creamcityteacher.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">website\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> which helps teachers incorporate play-based learning strategies, slots a “play workshop” into her longest, uninterrupted block of time each day. During that time, children are free to play at 17 different centers around her classroom. Over the past few years, she has increased the amount of play in her room by looking for opportunities to make moments “playful” during the day: encouraging students to pretend to be butterflies while walking down the hallway or using playful activities to reinforce skills taught during brief periods of direct instruction, like making patterns out of shells and corks. “Play is the vehicle to make that happen,” she said. “I 100 percent, confidently believe that play allows our students to practice what we are teaching them.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Still, Unger said it’s taken years of research and practice to nurture her approach to play-based learning, and she is still learning and finding what works best for her students. “I definitely see more opportunities for play than what I did five years ago,” she said. “I was so hung up on doing play ‘right’ … There isn’t a right way and a wrong way to do play.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story about \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/the-complex-world-of-pre-k-play/\">learning through play\u003c/a> was produced by \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://hechingerreport.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation. Sign up for \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/earlychildhood/\">Hechinger Report newsletters\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Correction: This article has been updated to reflect Lauren Ellis’ job title.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/60248/the-complex-world-of-pre-k-play-young-kids-benefit-from-play-but-what-should-it-look-like","authors":["byline_mindshift_60248"],"categories":["mindshift_192","mindshift_21345"],"tags":["mindshift_767","mindshift_21078","mindshift_20720","mindshift_21214","mindshift_21184","mindshift_46","mindshift_498","mindshift_164"],"featImg":"mindshift_60265","label":"mindshift"},"mindshift_60251":{"type":"posts","id":"mindshift_60251","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"mindshift","id":"60251","score":null,"sort":[1668423635000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play","title":"Want resilient and well-adjusted kids? Let them play","publishDate":1668423635,"format":"standard","headTitle":"MindShift | KQED News","labelTerm":{"site":"mindshift"},"content":"\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1966, when psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Brown was assigned to a commission to investigate what led University of Texas student Charles Whitman to kill 12 people in one of the country’s first mass shootings, Brown and his colleagues considered many different aspects of Whitman’s background. The student had access to firearms at home; he had witnessed abuse while growing up; and he had a difficult relationship with his father.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Brown was struck by one other factor that came up in the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.playcore.com/news/rough-and-tumble-play-is-it-necessary-part-2\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">commission’s discussions\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">: Whitman had experienced play deprivation, or an “almost complete suppression of normal play behavior,” as the commission put it, while growing up. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That finding motivated Brown to ask more questions about play and its role in healthy human development. In the years after the shooting, he and a team of researchers interviewed men who were incarcerated in the Texas Huntsville Prison for homicide. When the researchers compared information about the inmates’ childhoods with a population outside the prison, they found that the comparison group could provide abundant examples of free play in childhood, while the group inside prison largely \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.playcore.com/news/rough-and-tumble-play-is-it-necessary-part-2\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">could not\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “The parallelism between their play deficiencies, and the objective problems in forming trusting social bonds with others seems very significant,” concluded Brown in a 2018 article. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While such play deficiencies did not on their own cause the men to commit homicide, they significantly shaped their well-being and development, Brown said in an interview with The Hechinger Report this summer. “The adaptive tolerance and empathy toward others that is learned in early preschool through rough and tumble play is really a fundamental part of our having tolerance for people who are different than we are,” Brown said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now 89, Brown is the founder and past president of the National Institute for Play, and has spent much of his life studying play’s importance. While he cautions against drawing conclusions about outcomes for children who experience a lack of play, he said his findings in numerous studies since the Texas tragedy all underscore the fact that human beings – and, in fact, all mammals – have an innate need to engage in playful activities as a part of healthy development. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The presence or absence of play, particularly in child development, has a great deal to do with competency, resiliency, emotional health [and] brain size,” Brown said. Play is “not frivolous and not just for kids, but something that is an inherent part of human nature.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indeed, numerous researchers have found play is a natural and critical part of child development. This year, The Hechinger Report embarked on a reporting project to look at the often overlooked yet deeply consequential role of play in child development — and at the small but growing movement to bring play back into classrooms across the country. Our team of reporters found that although play is natural for children, opportunities to play in a school setting, and even outside of it, can be minimal and uneven and many obstacles stand in the way of increasing and improving play time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Experts say adults, including parents and educators, need more support and encouragement to maximize the benefits of play, but face many obstacles in doing so. At the school level, it can be challenging to get a buy-in for more play time from stressed-out administrators and educators who are dealing with state testing pressures. Adults working in classrooms with younger children find that it takes planning and careful thought to design play environments and experiences that allow children to reap the benefits of play. And parents must be convinced that free time to play can be as important as organized activities and lessons. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the country emerges from a pandemic during which children spent more time \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2785686\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in front of screens\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393419/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">missing crucial play opportunities\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the stakes are high. Thoughtful efforts to reintegrate play into daily routines can be crucial for children’s emotional, social, and academic health and progress. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60258\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60258\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-Research-2-800x534.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play at a Milwaukee child care center. Research shows when children play, there is also a release of chemicals in the brain that can support social skills and impact memory and attention. \u003ccite>(Camilla Forte/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Play should not be seen as tangential to learning, experts say, but should be viewed instead as the natural way young children learn. “The parts of the brain that are most developed in the early years are the ones that respond to active experiences,” said Dee Ray, a professor of early childhood education and director of the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas College of Education. In contrast, the parts of the brain that allow children to learn by listening to a lecture or watching a video are developed later, she added. “The brain is structured to learn from experience first, and then learn through all the other means that we usually use [to teach],” she said. “Play is essential to education. Play is education for children.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When children play with dolls, for example, they can test out different scenarios for responding to a crying baby, including holding the doll or feeding the doll, Dee added. They create new neural networks and gain new understanding. This “pretend play” is a critical way children explore their environment and learn about the world, said Doris Bergen, a professor at Miami University of Ohio’s Department of Educational Psychology whose research has focused on child development and play. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Research shows that when mammals play, their \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nifplay.org/what-is-play/biological-drive-to-play/#evolved\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">brains are activated\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in a way that can \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientists-say-childs-play-helps-build-a-better-brain\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">change neuron connections\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the prefrontal cortex, which impact emotional regulation and problem-solving. Play can also release \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.primalplay.com/blog/play-and-the-feel-good-hormones\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">chemicals\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the brain, including oxytocin (which helps regulate emotions and supports social skills) and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22581-dopamine\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">dopamine\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (a neurotransmitter that impacts memory, motivation, attention and mood). Kids are “flooded, a lot of times in play, with positive emotions,” Dee said. Play is so powerful that it is often used as a form of therapy for children who deal with anxiety or trauma.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even as children move up through the early grades, research shows play can continue to have an impact. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://childrenatrisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2018-CHILDREN-AT-RISK-Texas-Recess-Report.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elementary principals\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">have reported that recess, for example, has a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/is-recess-a-right-or-a-privilege/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">positive impact\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on academic performance and that students are more focused afterward. Play is considered to be integral to the academic environment for both social-emotional and academic development, according to the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/119/1/182/70699/The-Importance-of-Play-in-Promoting-Healthy-Child\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">American Academy of Pediatrics\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Researchers have largely relied on experiments with animals to hone in on play’s impact on the brain. A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://parentingscience.com/benefits-of-play/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">2003\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> study of rats’ brains found that rats raised in a playful, stimulating environment had higher levels of a protein that grows and maintains brain cells than rats raised in a solitary, boring environment. Other studies have shown that play in young rats impacts the parts of the brain associated with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientists-say-childs-play-helps-build-a-better-brain\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">social interactions and thinking\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Studies of children have also shown play’s benefits, including \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://parentingscience.com/benefits-of-play/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">improved language skills\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, problem solving skills and math skills. Certain types of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdev.12695\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">imaginative play\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> have been found to improve perseverance. Play can even be used to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/twenty-six-studies-point-to-more-play-for-young-children/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">close achievement gaps\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> between young children, some experts argue.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To truly benefit from play, children must be given ample, unstructured play time, said Bergen. That means they should receive at least an hour each day in a safe environment to “create their own enjoyment, their own rules, their own experiences,” she said. This child-led free play time can also help children internalize what they are taught about the world, she added. “Play is one of the main ways that children really consolidate their learning. The way we really make our skills permanent and enriched and highly developed, is often through our play experiences.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Experts say such play time should not just happen outside of school or at recess, but should be a necessary part of teaching and learning. Supporting the most beneficial play activities, however, can take training and planning. Play should be looked at as a way to learn within schools, said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Hirsh-Pasek sees play as a spectrum of activity, ranging from free play, where “adults should just get out of the way,” to direct instruction, where adults set the agenda.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60259\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60259\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-play-research-3-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play a game at a forest school. Experts say unstructured play time is critical for healthy child development. \u003ccite>(Adria Malcolm for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s the middle of this spectrum, where children experience “guided play” with a learning goal in mind, that has perhaps the most potential for young children, she added. For instance, to teach engineering concepts, adults might tell children to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/psychology/pdf/klahr/PDFs/Guided%20Play%202016.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">build a sturdy skyscraper\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, then ask the children open-ended questions about their efforts. To foster the development of mathematical concepts and skills, adults might draw a number line on the ground, ask children to jump, and then compare their distances. Some research shows children can learn just as much – if not more -- through guided play experiences like these than when they are taught in less active ways. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">An added benefit to increasing play-based learning in classrooms is that active and engaging learning experiences can lead to deeper, more permanent learning, Hirsh-Pasek said. “Where do you find these features: something being active, engaging, meaningful, iterative and joyful? They coalesce under this behavior we call play.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story about the \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play/\">benefits of play\u003c/a> was produced by \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://hechingerreport.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation. Sign up for \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/earlychildhood/\">Hechinger Report newsletters\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"The benefits of play are immense across all ages, research shows.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1668432414,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":21,"wordCount":1646},"headData":{"title":"Want resilient and well-adjusted kids? Let them play - MindShift","description":"The benefits of play are immense across all ages, research shows.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Want resilient and well-adjusted kids? Let them play","datePublished":"2022-11-14T11:00:35.000Z","dateModified":"2022-11-14T13:26:54.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"60251 https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=60251","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2022/11/14/want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play/","disqusTitle":"Want resilient and well-adjusted kids? Let them play","nprByline":"Jackie Mader, \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/a>","excludeFromSiteSearch":"Include","showOnAuthorArchivePages":"No","path":"/mindshift/60251/want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 1966, when psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Brown was assigned to a commission to investigate what led University of Texas student Charles Whitman to kill 12 people in one of the country’s first mass shootings, Brown and his colleagues considered many different aspects of Whitman’s background. The student had access to firearms at home; he had witnessed abuse while growing up; and he had a difficult relationship with his father.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But Brown was struck by one other factor that came up in the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.playcore.com/news/rough-and-tumble-play-is-it-necessary-part-2\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">commission’s discussions\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">: Whitman had experienced play deprivation, or an “almost complete suppression of normal play behavior,” as the commission put it, while growing up. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">That finding motivated Brown to ask more questions about play and its role in healthy human development. In the years after the shooting, he and a team of researchers interviewed men who were incarcerated in the Texas Huntsville Prison for homicide. When the researchers compared information about the inmates’ childhoods with a population outside the prison, they found that the comparison group could provide abundant examples of free play in childhood, while the group inside prison largely \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.playcore.com/news/rough-and-tumble-play-is-it-necessary-part-2\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">could not\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. “The parallelism between their play deficiencies, and the objective problems in forming trusting social bonds with others seems very significant,” concluded Brown in a 2018 article. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">While such play deficiencies did not on their own cause the men to commit homicide, they significantly shaped their well-being and development, Brown said in an interview with The Hechinger Report this summer. “The adaptive tolerance and empathy toward others that is learned in early preschool through rough and tumble play is really a fundamental part of our having tolerance for people who are different than we are,” Brown said. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Now 89, Brown is the founder and past president of the National Institute for Play, and has spent much of his life studying play’s importance. While he cautions against drawing conclusions about outcomes for children who experience a lack of play, he said his findings in numerous studies since the Texas tragedy all underscore the fact that human beings – and, in fact, all mammals – have an innate need to engage in playful activities as a part of healthy development. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The presence or absence of play, particularly in child development, has a great deal to do with competency, resiliency, emotional health [and] brain size,” Brown said. Play is “not frivolous and not just for kids, but something that is an inherent part of human nature.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Indeed, numerous researchers have found play is a natural and critical part of child development. This year, The Hechinger Report embarked on a reporting project to look at the often overlooked yet deeply consequential role of play in child development — and at the small but growing movement to bring play back into classrooms across the country. Our team of reporters found that although play is natural for children, opportunities to play in a school setting, and even outside of it, can be minimal and uneven and many obstacles stand in the way of increasing and improving play time.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Experts say adults, including parents and educators, need more support and encouragement to maximize the benefits of play, but face many obstacles in doing so. At the school level, it can be challenging to get a buy-in for more play time from stressed-out administrators and educators who are dealing with state testing pressures. Adults working in classrooms with younger children find that it takes planning and careful thought to design play environments and experiences that allow children to reap the benefits of play. And parents must be convinced that free time to play can be as important as organized activities and lessons. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the country emerges from a pandemic during which children spent more time \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2785686\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">in front of screens\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8393419/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">missing crucial play opportunities\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the stakes are high. Thoughtful efforts to reintegrate play into daily routines can be crucial for children’s emotional, social, and academic health and progress. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60258\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60258\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-Play-Research-2-800x534.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play at a Milwaukee child care center. Research shows when children play, there is also a release of chemicals in the brain that can support social skills and impact memory and attention. \u003ccite>(Camilla Forte/The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Play should not be seen as tangential to learning, experts say, but should be viewed instead as the natural way young children learn. “The parts of the brain that are most developed in the early years are the ones that respond to active experiences,” said Dee Ray, a professor of early childhood education and director of the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas College of Education. In contrast, the parts of the brain that allow children to learn by listening to a lecture or watching a video are developed later, she added. “The brain is structured to learn from experience first, and then learn through all the other means that we usually use [to teach],” she said. “Play is essential to education. Play is education for children.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When children play with dolls, for example, they can test out different scenarios for responding to a crying baby, including holding the doll or feeding the doll, Dee added. They create new neural networks and gain new understanding. This “pretend play” is a critical way children explore their environment and learn about the world, said Doris Bergen, a professor at Miami University of Ohio’s Department of Educational Psychology whose research has focused on child development and play. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Research shows that when mammals play, their \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nifplay.org/what-is-play/biological-drive-to-play/#evolved\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">brains are activated\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in a way that can \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientists-say-childs-play-helps-build-a-better-brain\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">change neuron connections\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the prefrontal cortex, which impact emotional regulation and problem-solving. Play can also release \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.primalplay.com/blog/play-and-the-feel-good-hormones\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">chemicals\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in the brain, including oxytocin (which helps regulate emotions and supports social skills) and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22581-dopamine\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">dopamine\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (a neurotransmitter that impacts memory, motivation, attention and mood). Kids are “flooded, a lot of times in play, with positive emotions,” Dee said. Play is so powerful that it is often used as a form of therapy for children who deal with anxiety or trauma.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even as children move up through the early grades, research shows play can continue to have an impact. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://childrenatrisk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2018-CHILDREN-AT-RISK-Texas-Recess-Report.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Elementary principals\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">have reported that recess, for example, has a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/is-recess-a-right-or-a-privilege/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">positive impact\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on academic performance and that students are more focused afterward. Play is considered to be integral to the academic environment for both social-emotional and academic development, according to the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/119/1/182/70699/The-Importance-of-Play-in-Promoting-Healthy-Child\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">American Academy of Pediatrics\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Researchers have largely relied on experiments with animals to hone in on play’s impact on the brain. A \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://parentingscience.com/benefits-of-play/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">2003\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> study of rats’ brains found that rats raised in a playful, stimulating environment had higher levels of a protein that grows and maintains brain cells than rats raised in a solitary, boring environment. Other studies have shown that play in young rats impacts the parts of the brain associated with \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/08/06/336361277/scientists-say-childs-play-helps-build-a-better-brain\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">social interactions and thinking\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Studies of children have also shown play’s benefits, including \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://parentingscience.com/benefits-of-play/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">improved language skills\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, problem solving skills and math skills. Certain types of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cdev.12695\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">imaginative play\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> have been found to improve perseverance. Play can even be used to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/twenty-six-studies-point-to-more-play-for-young-children/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">close achievement gaps\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> between young children, some experts argue.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">To truly benefit from play, children must be given ample, unstructured play time, said Bergen. That means they should receive at least an hour each day in a safe environment to “create their own enjoyment, their own rules, their own experiences,” she said. This child-led free play time can also help children internalize what they are taught about the world, she added. “Play is one of the main ways that children really consolidate their learning. The way we really make our skills permanent and enriched and highly developed, is often through our play experiences.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Experts say such play time should not just happen outside of school or at recess, but should be a necessary part of teaching and learning. Supporting the most beneficial play activities, however, can take training and planning. Play should be looked at as a way to learn within schools, said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Hirsh-Pasek sees play as a spectrum of activity, ranging from free play, where “adults should just get out of the way,” to direct instruction, where adults set the agenda.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_60259\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-60259\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/23/2022/11/Mader-play-research-3-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Children play a game at a forest school. Experts say unstructured play time is critical for healthy child development. \u003ccite>(Adria Malcolm for The Hechinger Report)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s the middle of this spectrum, where children experience “guided play” with a learning goal in mind, that has perhaps the most potential for young children, she added. For instance, to teach engineering concepts, adults might tell children to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/psychology/pdf/klahr/PDFs/Guided%20Play%202016.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">build a sturdy skyscraper\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, then ask the children open-ended questions about their efforts. To foster the development of mathematical concepts and skills, adults might draw a number line on the ground, ask children to jump, and then compare their distances. Some research shows children can learn just as much – if not more -- through guided play experiences like these than when they are taught in less active ways. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">An added benefit to increasing play-based learning in classrooms is that active and engaging learning experiences can lead to deeper, more permanent learning, Hirsh-Pasek said. “Where do you find these features: something being active, engaging, meaningful, iterative and joyful? They coalesce under this behavior we call play.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">This story about the \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play/\">benefits of play\u003c/a> was produced by \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"http://hechingerreport.org/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Hechinger Report\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation. Sign up for \u003ca href=\"https://hechingerreport.org/earlychildhood/\">Hechinger Report newsletters\u003c/a>.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/60251/want-resilient-and-well-adjusted-kids-let-them-play","authors":["byline_mindshift_60251"],"categories":["mindshift_192","mindshift_21345"],"tags":["mindshift_767","mindshift_21078","mindshift_20720","mindshift_21214","mindshift_21184","mindshift_46","mindshift_498"],"featImg":"mindshift_60260","label":"mindshift"},"mindshift_58053":{"type":"posts","id":"mindshift_58053","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"mindshift","id":"58053","score":null,"sort":[1628148703000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"42-ways-to-boost-learning-by-applying-our-bodies-surroundings-and-relationships","title":"42 Ways to Boost Learning by Applying Our Bodies, Surroundings and Relationships","publishDate":1628148703,"format":"standard","headTitle":"MindShift | KQED News","labelTerm":{"site":"mindshift"},"content":"\u003cp>Our education system is dominated by a \u003cem>neurocentric\u003c/em> model of thinking: we assume that students’ mental activity is contained inside their heads. But we open up a world of new possibilities when we encourage students to think \u003cem>outside\u003c/em> the brain: that is, to use external resources to enhance their mental processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such outside-the-head resources include the sensations and movements of students’ bodies; the physical spaces in which students learn and play; and the social interactions students engage in with others. My new book, \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Outside-Brain-Annie-Murphy/dp/0544947665/\">The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain\u003c/a>\u003cem>,\"\u003c/em> offers an array of practical strategies for engaging these mental “extensions”; here, is a selection especially for teachers and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Gesture\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Gesture isn’t mere hand-waving; it’s an essential part of a cognitive loop in which our hand motions influence our thoughts and vice versa. Becoming more aware of gesture, and using it more intentionally, can help teachers and students think more cogently, speak more fluently, and understand others more deeply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Explicitly encourage gesture:\u003c/strong> When you see a student struggling to generate an explanation or solve a problem, offer a simple suggestion: “Could you try \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5182093/\">moving your hands\u003c/a> as you say that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Listen to gesture:\u003c/strong> Pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0010027786900533\">close attention\u003c/a> to the hand motions of learners, especially at moments when what their hands are “saying” is different from the message conveyed by their words. This mismatched state indicates they are ready to learn and receptive to instruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Supply “visual artifacts”:\u003c/strong> Students are more likely to gesture (and in so doing acquire a deeper understanding) when there are \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00346543071003365\">relevant objects\u003c/a> nearby to gesture \u003cem>at\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Put students on the spot:\u003c/strong> Improvising a description or an explanation is hard mental work, so students \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871187115300134\">automatically offload\u003c/a> some of it onto their hands. The increased rate of gesture prompted by the act of improvisation can help them develop a deeper understanding of the material they’re talking about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For every word, a gesture:\u003c/strong> Pair each new vocabulary word to be learned with a gesture in order to reinforce memory. When students \u003ca href=\"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01467/full\">add a hand motion\u003c/a> to the actions of reading or speaking aloud a word, they’re sinking another “hook” into the material that will allow them to reel it in later.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Natural Spaces\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Over eons of evolution, our perceptual faculties were “tuned” to the kind of sensory information present in nature. While spending time in built interiors and urban settings drains students’ attentional resources, spending time outside refills the tank, restoring their ability to focus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Think in terms of “environmental self-regulation”:\u003c/strong> Instead of asking students to get a grip on their thoughts and feelings from the inside, use exposure to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494489800386\">outside world\u003c/a>—especially nature—to help them restore their equilibrium and refresh their attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students practice “soft gazing”:\u003c/strong> When in nature, encourage students to relinquish the sharp-edged focus that is required by schoolwork. This involves allowing their gaze to become \u003ca href=\"https://edrl.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Morgan.Abrahamson.2018JOCI.workshop-report.pdf?utm_source=Brilliant%3A+The+New+Science+of+Smart+Newsletter&utm_campaign=adefa6f6e5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_6-7-2021&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9c734401c1-adefa6f6e5-311867093\">relaxed and diffuse\u003c/a>, drawn here and there by whatever attracts it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Direct students to seek out “micro-restorative opportunities”:\u003c/strong> Research shows that looking at a scene of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494415000328\">natural greenery\u003c/a>—even through a window—for as little as 40 seconds offers mental benefits, including improved concentration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bring nature inside:\u003c/strong> Natural light, potted plants, and even images and motifs borrowed from nature help students enter a state of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494410001027\">relaxed alertness\u003c/a>. During a break in learning, try showing students a nature video.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with the Space of Ideas\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We all tend to do too much “in our heads.” Students can think more effectively and more efficiently when they find ways to offload their mental contents onto physical space—whether it be the space of a whiteboard, a physical model, or a bunch of Post-It Notes. They can then interact with their ideas as if they were physical objects or a 3-D landscape, applying the spatial and navigational capacities that come so naturally to human beings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students create a “concept map”:\u003c/strong> The brain treats abstract ideas like a landscape through which it must navigate. A \u003ca href=\"https://ctl.byu.edu/tip/concept-mapping\">concept map\u003c/a> makes this mental terrain visible, allowing us to recognize patterns and make new connections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Direct students to write it down:\u003c/strong> Our culture values “doing things in your head,” but research shows that writing down our thoughts carries benefits for memory, problem-solving, and creativity. Ask students to keep a \u003ca href=\"https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057579\">field notebook\u003c/a>, for example, in which they regularly record and review their observations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Instruct students to sketch it out:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-016-0031-6\">Drawing the concept\u003c/a> they’re thinking about has benefits for students above and beyond writing about it in words. It doesn’t matter if students say they “can’t draw”—simply attempting to capture a concept in visual terms will deepen their understanding and reinforce your memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Make it physical:\u003c/strong> The human brain evolved to manipulate physical objects, not to contemplate abstract ideas. Whenever possible, have students create a concrete model or representation of the concept they’re thinking about, and then encourage them to use their whole bodies to \u003ca href=\"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2442106.2442109\">interact with it\u003c/a>—moving around it so that they see it from different perspectives, manipulating its elements and trying out new combinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Interoception \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Interoception” is the capacity to sense our internal signals. Students who learn how to tune into these inner cues can use them to make better decisions, to muster more mental resilience, and to exhibit greater emotional intelligence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lead students through a body scan:\u003c/strong> The \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28955213/\">body scan\u003c/a> is meditative exercise in which non-judgmental attention is directed to each part of the body in turn. Practicing this exercise regularly will improve students’ ability to perceive interoceptive sensations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Suggest that students label their internal sensations:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21534661/\">Affect labeling\u003c/a> is an activity in which each interoceptive sensation is noted and named as it is experienced. Research shows that engaging in affective labeling immediately reduces anxiety and distress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Encourage students to engage in “cognitive reappraisal”:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20161454/\">Cognitive reappraisal\u003c/a> is an exercise in which the basic building blocks of interoceptive sensations are re-appraised as representing a \u003cem>positive\u003c/em> emotion—for example, excitement instead of nervousness. Engaging in cognitive appraisal reduces negative affect and improves performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ask students to fill in a body map:\u003c/strong> A \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/111/2/646\">body map\u003c/a> is an outline of the human body on which users note what they’re feeling and where in the body the feeling makes itself known. Completing a body map can help students become more aware of their internal signals and where in the body they are arising.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Movement\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Humans didn’t evolve to think while sitting still. Moving the body in specific ways while engaging in mental work can help students to think more effectively, more efficiently, and more creatively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Allow students to play with fidget objects:\u003c/strong> Playing with \u003ca href=\"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2971485.2971557\">fidget objects\u003c/a> can help students sharpen their focus, improve their mood, and boost their creativity. Different kinds of objects may generate usefully different mental states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students sweat before they sit:\u003c/strong> Trying asking students to take a periodic “\u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16376711/\">movement break\u003c/a>\u003cu>.\u003c/u>” Engaging in brisk physical activity just before sitting down to think will boost students’ mental acuity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Direct students to act out the abstract:\u003c/strong> In order to commit knowledge more firmly to memory, ask students to \u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2000-00111-009\">act it out\u003c/a> with whole-body movements. Research on the “enactment effect” shows that we remember what we \u003cem>do\u003c/em> much better than what we read or hear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Teach to students’ bodies:\u003c/strong> When learning about abstract concepts (say, “vector” or “torque” in physics), provide students with a \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797615569355\">physical experience\u003c/a> of the concept that can be drawn upon when thinking about it later. The brain apprehends the abstract much more readily when it is “grounded” in bodily experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Instruct students to move as if \u003cem>they\u003c/em> are \u003cem>it\u003c/em>:\u003c/strong> In order to understand an entity from the inside, or to make discoveries about that entity, students benefit from \u003ca href=\"https://ccl.northwestern.edu/2012/youre-it.pdf\">embodying it\u003c/a>—moving as if they themselves are the thing they are learning and thinking about.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Built Spaces\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We spend more than 90 percent of our time indoors, yet many of the spaces we occupy are not well-designed for extending the mind. We can take intentional steps to rearrange learning spaces so that they support intelligent thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Use space to implement “sensory reduction”:\u003c/strong> Allow students to work on challenging tasks in a quiet room free of distractions. Imposing such \u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09658211.2017.1282519?journalCode=pmem20\">sensory reduction\u003c/a> generates a state of “stimuli hunger”, in which weakly-activated internal knowledge (barely-remembered facts, elusive imaginative notions) becomes more readily accessible. (Students can achieve a similar effect by briefly closing their eyes.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Give students a space of their own:\u003c/strong> Thinking and learning in a space over which students feel \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20191407/\">ownership and control\u003c/a> gives them a feeling of empowerment, which in turn enhances their performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Offer students some privacy:\u003c/strong> Feeling “on display” all the time consumes mental bandwidth that could otherwise be applied to thinking. When students are able to \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839212453028\">shield themselves\u003c/a> from the gaze of others, their cognitive load is reduced and they feel more free to experiment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fill learning spaces with “evocative objects”:\u003c/strong> Visual reminders of students’ \u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-18500-005\">academic identity\u003c/a>—who they are, and what they’re doing in that space—can put them in an optimal frame of mind for thinking. Objects representing their deepest values and ideals may be especially effective when hidden from others and visible only to the students themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Appoint learning spaces with cues of belonging:\u003c/strong> Inspect your learning space for cues that signal exclusion; these should be removed and replaced with cues that \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19968418/\">signal belonging\u003c/a>. Students think and work best in a space in which they feel that they are welcomed and included.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Experts\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Our system of education is based on experts teaching novices—but we experts often fail to convey all that we know, because our knowledge is so well-practiced as to become “automatized.” Research is revealing more effective ways of transferring expertise from one mind to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Let students know that imitation is acceptable:\u003c/strong> Our culture values innovation and originality, but often the most \u003ca href=\"https://hbr.org/2010/04/defend-your-research-imitation-is-more-valuable-than-innovation\">efficient and effective\u003c/a> approach to solving a problem is to copy what someone else has already done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Encourage close observation:\u003c/strong> Children in other cultures commonly learn by observing and imitating their elders. Research has found that American children are not so adept at this practice—but that these capacities can be \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19413421/\">deliberately cultivated\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Exhibit model work:\u003c/strong> We expect students to produce excellent work without first showing them what excellence looks like. Displaying \u003ca href=\"https://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learning-student-work-ron-berger\">model examples\u003c/a> need not threaten students’ self-esteem or quash their creativity; it can inspire them to do their own best work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Break it down:\u003c/strong> Experts tend to organize their knowledge into “chunks”—agglomerated masses of information that can seem impenetrable to novices. We can help learners begin to acquire mastery by \u003ca href=\"https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/a-better-way-to-teach-math/\">breaking down\u003c/a> our knowledge into smaller steps, and then smaller steps still—even “micro-steps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Employ the “caricature advantage”:\u003c/strong> For experts like us, the most important aspects of a given scenario “pop out” at first glance. For novices, that same scenario is an undifferentiated mass of information. We can help by deliberately \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0010028587900168\">exaggerating and distorting\u003c/a>—caricaturing—the aspects of a scenario that we want novices to notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Peers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Our notion of how to engage in challenging academic work usually involves sitting alone and thinking hard—but in fact, students think best when they think \u003cem>socially\u003c/em>. Social activities they engage in with peers, like storytelling, debating, and teaching, activate cognitive processes that remain dormant when students think by themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Take advantage of the “protégé effect”:\u003c/strong> The act of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0361476X13000209\">teaching someone else\u003c/a> leads the \u003cem>teacher\u003c/em> to learn—even more than the student. As highly social creatures, we’re more motivated by the goal of conveying information to others than by the goal of simply studying for its own sake. Even struggling learners can benefit, by teaching younger students or by teaching their family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ask students to create an instructional video:\u003c/strong> Teaching-for-learning can produce benefits for the teacher even when there are no “students” present. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959475219301161\">Recording a video\u003c/a> generates feelings of “social presence”—the feeling that others are watching—leading many of the same factors involved in face-to-face teaching to kick in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Promote students’ sense of “productive agency”:\u003c/strong> Create opportunities for student-teachers to enjoy the \u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-27120-003\">fruits of their labors\u003c/a>: it’s motivating for people to see their pupils exhibiting and applying the knowledge they have been taught.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Set up a “cascading mentorship”:\u003c/strong> A senior group can teach a more junior group, who can in turn instruct a still-less-experienced group, thereby \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23887013/\">multiplying the benefits\u003c/a> of teaching-to-learn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Find the underlying dispute:\u003c/strong> Much of what we learn in educational settings is boring and forgettable because it’s been drained of all conflict, presented as settled wisdom. But almost every topic can be reinvigorated by casting it in terms of a “\u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00091380009602706\">constructive controversy\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Groups\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The days of the lone genius are over; in our era, the sheer abundance of information and the increasing specialization of knowledge mean that we and our students have to trade our habits of individual thinking for new practices that activate the powerful “group mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students move in sync:\u003c/strong> Engaging in \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2012.00450.x\">coordinated physical movement\u003c/a> leads people to like others more, identify with them more closely, and cooperate with them more effectively. This can even take the form of a shared stroll: Research shows that when people walk together, they automatically and unconsciously match up their bodily movements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Engage in group rituals:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53485734e4b0fffc0dcc64c2/t/54735002e4b087a17999499e/1416843266236/legare-wen-ISSBD-2014.pdf?utm_source=Brilliant%3A+The+New+Science+of+Smart+Newsletter&utm_campaign=adefa6f6e5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_6-7-2021&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9c734401c1-adefa6f6e5-311867093\">Ritual activities\u003c/a> in which people do the same thing at the same time—even if it’s simply sharing a meal together—promote a sense of belonging and mutual trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Create “shared artifacts”:\u003c/strong> Group work is facilitated by the production of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ics.uci.edu/~corps/phaseii/OlsonOlson-DistanceMatters-HCIJ.pdf\">such artifacts\u003c/a>, which should be \u003cem>large\u003c/em>, \u003cem>complex\u003c/em>, \u003cem>persistent\u003c/em>, and \u003cem>revisable\u003c/em>. Bonus: when such artifacts are available, people tend to gesture at them—enhancing their own understanding and that of their team members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Implement the “jigsaw classroom”:\u003c/strong> This \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/014616727900500405\">instructional technique\u003c/a>, invented in the midst of the desegregation battles of the early 1970s, has been shown to increase cooperation and teamwork even as it boosts learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Generate a sense of “shared fate”:\u003c/strong> A sense of \u003ca href=\"https://hbr.org/2015/06/get-rid-of-unhealthy-competition-on-your-team\">group motivation\u003c/a> arises when the fates of each individual are bound up with one another—when they rise or fall together. Adjust the incentives and rewards offered to group members such that the outcome, good or bad, is experienced the same way by all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Annie Murphy Paul is a science writer and author of \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Outside-Brain-Annie-Murphy/dp/0544947665/\">The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain\u003c/a>,\" and \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Months-Before-Birth-Shape/dp/074329663X\">Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives.\u003c/a>\"\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"So much of thinking is expected to happen sitting at a desk with just our brains, but we can learn a lot more by using our bodies, depending on our peers and seeking environments conducive to learning. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1628148704,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":56,"wordCount":2561},"headData":{"title":"42 Ways to Boost Learning by Applying Our Bodies, Surroundings and Relationships - MindShift","description":"So much of thinking is expected to happen sitting at a desk with just our brains, but we can learn a lot more by using our bodies, depending on our peers and seeking environments conducive to learning.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"42 Ways to Boost Learning by Applying Our Bodies, Surroundings and Relationships","datePublished":"2021-08-05T07:31:43.000Z","dateModified":"2021-08-05T07:31:44.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"58053 https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=58053","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2021/08/05/42-ways-to-boost-learning-by-applying-our-bodies-surroundings-and-relationships/","disqusTitle":"42 Ways to Boost Learning by Applying Our Bodies, Surroundings and Relationships","path":"/mindshift/58053/42-ways-to-boost-learning-by-applying-our-bodies-surroundings-and-relationships","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Our education system is dominated by a \u003cem>neurocentric\u003c/em> model of thinking: we assume that students’ mental activity is contained inside their heads. But we open up a world of new possibilities when we encourage students to think \u003cem>outside\u003c/em> the brain: that is, to use external resources to enhance their mental processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such outside-the-head resources include the sensations and movements of students’ bodies; the physical spaces in which students learn and play; and the social interactions students engage in with others. My new book, \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Outside-Brain-Annie-Murphy/dp/0544947665/\">The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain\u003c/a>\u003cem>,\"\u003c/em> offers an array of practical strategies for engaging these mental “extensions”; here, is a selection especially for teachers and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Gesture\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Gesture isn’t mere hand-waving; it’s an essential part of a cognitive loop in which our hand motions influence our thoughts and vice versa. Becoming more aware of gesture, and using it more intentionally, can help teachers and students think more cogently, speak more fluently, and understand others more deeply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Explicitly encourage gesture:\u003c/strong> When you see a student struggling to generate an explanation or solve a problem, offer a simple suggestion: “Could you try \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5182093/\">moving your hands\u003c/a> as you say that?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Listen to gesture:\u003c/strong> Pay \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0010027786900533\">close attention\u003c/a> to the hand motions of learners, especially at moments when what their hands are “saying” is different from the message conveyed by their words. This mismatched state indicates they are ready to learn and receptive to instruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Supply “visual artifacts”:\u003c/strong> Students are more likely to gesture (and in so doing acquire a deeper understanding) when there are \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00346543071003365\">relevant objects\u003c/a> nearby to gesture \u003cem>at\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Put students on the spot:\u003c/strong> Improvising a description or an explanation is hard mental work, so students \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871187115300134\">automatically offload\u003c/a> some of it onto their hands. The increased rate of gesture prompted by the act of improvisation can help them develop a deeper understanding of the material they’re talking about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For every word, a gesture:\u003c/strong> Pair each new vocabulary word to be learned with a gesture in order to reinforce memory. When students \u003ca href=\"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01467/full\">add a hand motion\u003c/a> to the actions of reading or speaking aloud a word, they’re sinking another “hook” into the material that will allow them to reel it in later.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Natural Spaces\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Over eons of evolution, our perceptual faculties were “tuned” to the kind of sensory information present in nature. While spending time in built interiors and urban settings drains students’ attentional resources, spending time outside refills the tank, restoring their ability to focus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Think in terms of “environmental self-regulation”:\u003c/strong> Instead of asking students to get a grip on their thoughts and feelings from the inside, use exposure to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494489800386\">outside world\u003c/a>—especially nature—to help them restore their equilibrium and refresh their attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students practice “soft gazing”:\u003c/strong> When in nature, encourage students to relinquish the sharp-edged focus that is required by schoolwork. This involves allowing their gaze to become \u003ca href=\"https://edrl.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Morgan.Abrahamson.2018JOCI.workshop-report.pdf?utm_source=Brilliant%3A+The+New+Science+of+Smart+Newsletter&utm_campaign=adefa6f6e5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_6-7-2021&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9c734401c1-adefa6f6e5-311867093\">relaxed and diffuse\u003c/a>, drawn here and there by whatever attracts it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Direct students to seek out “micro-restorative opportunities”:\u003c/strong> Research shows that looking at a scene of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494415000328\">natural greenery\u003c/a>—even through a window—for as little as 40 seconds offers mental benefits, including improved concentration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bring nature inside:\u003c/strong> Natural light, potted plants, and even images and motifs borrowed from nature help students enter a state of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494410001027\">relaxed alertness\u003c/a>. During a break in learning, try showing students a nature video.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with the Space of Ideas\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We all tend to do too much “in our heads.” Students can think more effectively and more efficiently when they find ways to offload their mental contents onto physical space—whether it be the space of a whiteboard, a physical model, or a bunch of Post-It Notes. They can then interact with their ideas as if they were physical objects or a 3-D landscape, applying the spatial and navigational capacities that come so naturally to human beings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students create a “concept map”:\u003c/strong> The brain treats abstract ideas like a landscape through which it must navigate. A \u003ca href=\"https://ctl.byu.edu/tip/concept-mapping\">concept map\u003c/a> makes this mental terrain visible, allowing us to recognize patterns and make new connections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Direct students to write it down:\u003c/strong> Our culture values “doing things in your head,” but research shows that writing down our thoughts carries benefits for memory, problem-solving, and creativity. Ask students to keep a \u003ca href=\"https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057579\">field notebook\u003c/a>, for example, in which they regularly record and review their observations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Instruct students to sketch it out:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-016-0031-6\">Drawing the concept\u003c/a> they’re thinking about has benefits for students above and beyond writing about it in words. It doesn’t matter if students say they “can’t draw”—simply attempting to capture a concept in visual terms will deepen their understanding and reinforce your memory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Make it physical:\u003c/strong> The human brain evolved to manipulate physical objects, not to contemplate abstract ideas. Whenever possible, have students create a concrete model or representation of the concept they’re thinking about, and then encourage them to use their whole bodies to \u003ca href=\"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2442106.2442109\">interact with it\u003c/a>—moving around it so that they see it from different perspectives, manipulating its elements and trying out new combinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Interoception \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Interoception” is the capacity to sense our internal signals. Students who learn how to tune into these inner cues can use them to make better decisions, to muster more mental resilience, and to exhibit greater emotional intelligence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lead students through a body scan:\u003c/strong> The \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28955213/\">body scan\u003c/a> is meditative exercise in which non-judgmental attention is directed to each part of the body in turn. Practicing this exercise regularly will improve students’ ability to perceive interoceptive sensations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Suggest that students label their internal sensations:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21534661/\">Affect labeling\u003c/a> is an activity in which each interoceptive sensation is noted and named as it is experienced. Research shows that engaging in affective labeling immediately reduces anxiety and distress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Encourage students to engage in “cognitive reappraisal”:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20161454/\">Cognitive reappraisal\u003c/a> is an exercise in which the basic building blocks of interoceptive sensations are re-appraised as representing a \u003cem>positive\u003c/em> emotion—for example, excitement instead of nervousness. Engaging in cognitive appraisal reduces negative affect and improves performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ask students to fill in a body map:\u003c/strong> A \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/111/2/646\">body map\u003c/a> is an outline of the human body on which users note what they’re feeling and where in the body the feeling makes itself known. Completing a body map can help students become more aware of their internal signals and where in the body they are arising.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Movement\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Humans didn’t evolve to think while sitting still. Moving the body in specific ways while engaging in mental work can help students to think more effectively, more efficiently, and more creatively.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Allow students to play with fidget objects:\u003c/strong> Playing with \u003ca href=\"https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2971485.2971557\">fidget objects\u003c/a> can help students sharpen their focus, improve their mood, and boost their creativity. Different kinds of objects may generate usefully different mental states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students sweat before they sit:\u003c/strong> Trying asking students to take a periodic “\u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16376711/\">movement break\u003c/a>\u003cu>.\u003c/u>” Engaging in brisk physical activity just before sitting down to think will boost students’ mental acuity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Direct students to act out the abstract:\u003c/strong> In order to commit knowledge more firmly to memory, ask students to \u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2000-00111-009\">act it out\u003c/a> with whole-body movements. Research on the “enactment effect” shows that we remember what we \u003cem>do\u003c/em> much better than what we read or hear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Teach to students’ bodies:\u003c/strong> When learning about abstract concepts (say, “vector” or “torque” in physics), provide students with a \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797615569355\">physical experience\u003c/a> of the concept that can be drawn upon when thinking about it later. The brain apprehends the abstract much more readily when it is “grounded” in bodily experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Instruct students to move as if \u003cem>they\u003c/em> are \u003cem>it\u003c/em>:\u003c/strong> In order to understand an entity from the inside, or to make discoveries about that entity, students benefit from \u003ca href=\"https://ccl.northwestern.edu/2012/youre-it.pdf\">embodying it\u003c/a>—moving as if they themselves are the thing they are learning and thinking about.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Built Spaces\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>We spend more than 90 percent of our time indoors, yet many of the spaces we occupy are not well-designed for extending the mind. We can take intentional steps to rearrange learning spaces so that they support intelligent thought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Use space to implement “sensory reduction”:\u003c/strong> Allow students to work on challenging tasks in a quiet room free of distractions. Imposing such \u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09658211.2017.1282519?journalCode=pmem20\">sensory reduction\u003c/a> generates a state of “stimuli hunger”, in which weakly-activated internal knowledge (barely-remembered facts, elusive imaginative notions) becomes more readily accessible. (Students can achieve a similar effect by briefly closing their eyes.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Give students a space of their own:\u003c/strong> Thinking and learning in a space over which students feel \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20191407/\">ownership and control\u003c/a> gives them a feeling of empowerment, which in turn enhances their performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Offer students some privacy:\u003c/strong> Feeling “on display” all the time consumes mental bandwidth that could otherwise be applied to thinking. When students are able to \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0001839212453028\">shield themselves\u003c/a> from the gaze of others, their cognitive load is reduced and they feel more free to experiment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Fill learning spaces with “evocative objects”:\u003c/strong> Visual reminders of students’ \u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-18500-005\">academic identity\u003c/a>—who they are, and what they’re doing in that space—can put them in an optimal frame of mind for thinking. Objects representing their deepest values and ideals may be especially effective when hidden from others and visible only to the students themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Appoint learning spaces with cues of belonging:\u003c/strong> Inspect your learning space for cues that signal exclusion; these should be removed and replaced with cues that \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19968418/\">signal belonging\u003c/a>. Students think and work best in a space in which they feel that they are welcomed and included.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Experts\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Our system of education is based on experts teaching novices—but we experts often fail to convey all that we know, because our knowledge is so well-practiced as to become “automatized.” Research is revealing more effective ways of transferring expertise from one mind to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Let students know that imitation is acceptable:\u003c/strong> Our culture values innovation and originality, but often the most \u003ca href=\"https://hbr.org/2010/04/defend-your-research-imitation-is-more-valuable-than-innovation\">efficient and effective\u003c/a> approach to solving a problem is to copy what someone else has already done.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Encourage close observation:\u003c/strong> Children in other cultures commonly learn by observing and imitating their elders. Research has found that American children are not so adept at this practice—but that these capacities can be \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19413421/\">deliberately cultivated\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Exhibit model work:\u003c/strong> We expect students to produce excellent work without first showing them what excellence looks like. Displaying \u003ca href=\"https://www.edutopia.org/blog/deeper-learning-student-work-ron-berger\">model examples\u003c/a> need not threaten students’ self-esteem or quash their creativity; it can inspire them to do their own best work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Break it down:\u003c/strong> Experts tend to organize their knowledge into “chunks”—agglomerated masses of information that can seem impenetrable to novices. We can help learners begin to acquire mastery by \u003ca href=\"https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/a-better-way-to-teach-math/\">breaking down\u003c/a> our knowledge into smaller steps, and then smaller steps still—even “micro-steps.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Employ the “caricature advantage”:\u003c/strong> For experts like us, the most important aspects of a given scenario “pop out” at first glance. For novices, that same scenario is an undifferentiated mass of information. We can help by deliberately \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0010028587900168\">exaggerating and distorting\u003c/a>—caricaturing—the aspects of a scenario that we want novices to notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Peers\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Our notion of how to engage in challenging academic work usually involves sitting alone and thinking hard—but in fact, students think best when they think \u003cem>socially\u003c/em>. Social activities they engage in with peers, like storytelling, debating, and teaching, activate cognitive processes that remain dormant when students think by themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Take advantage of the “protégé effect”:\u003c/strong> The act of \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0361476X13000209\">teaching someone else\u003c/a> leads the \u003cem>teacher\u003c/em> to learn—even more than the student. As highly social creatures, we’re more motivated by the goal of conveying information to others than by the goal of simply studying for its own sake. Even struggling learners can benefit, by teaching younger students or by teaching their family members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ask students to create an instructional video:\u003c/strong> Teaching-for-learning can produce benefits for the teacher even when there are no “students” present. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959475219301161\">Recording a video\u003c/a> generates feelings of “social presence”—the feeling that others are watching—leading many of the same factors involved in face-to-face teaching to kick in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Promote students’ sense of “productive agency”:\u003c/strong> Create opportunities for student-teachers to enjoy the \u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-27120-003\">fruits of their labors\u003c/a>: it’s motivating for people to see their pupils exhibiting and applying the knowledge they have been taught.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Set up a “cascading mentorship”:\u003c/strong> A senior group can teach a more junior group, who can in turn instruct a still-less-experienced group, thereby \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23887013/\">multiplying the benefits\u003c/a> of teaching-to-learn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Find the underlying dispute:\u003c/strong> Much of what we learn in educational settings is boring and forgettable because it’s been drained of all conflict, presented as settled wisdom. But almost every topic can be reinvigorated by casting it in terms of a “\u003ca href=\"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00091380009602706\">constructive controversy\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Thinking with Groups\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The days of the lone genius are over; in our era, the sheer abundance of information and the increasing specialization of knowledge mean that we and our students have to trade our habits of individual thinking for new practices that activate the powerful “group mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Have students move in sync:\u003c/strong> Engaging in \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2012.00450.x\">coordinated physical movement\u003c/a> leads people to like others more, identify with them more closely, and cooperate with them more effectively. This can even take the form of a shared stroll: Research shows that when people walk together, they automatically and unconsciously match up their bodily movements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Engage in group rituals:\u003c/strong> \u003ca href=\"https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53485734e4b0fffc0dcc64c2/t/54735002e4b087a17999499e/1416843266236/legare-wen-ISSBD-2014.pdf?utm_source=Brilliant%3A+The+New+Science+of+Smart+Newsletter&utm_campaign=adefa6f6e5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_6-7-2021&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9c734401c1-adefa6f6e5-311867093\">Ritual activities\u003c/a> in which people do the same thing at the same time—even if it’s simply sharing a meal together—promote a sense of belonging and mutual trust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Create “shared artifacts”:\u003c/strong> Group work is facilitated by the production of \u003ca href=\"https://www.ics.uci.edu/~corps/phaseii/OlsonOlson-DistanceMatters-HCIJ.pdf\">such artifacts\u003c/a>, which should be \u003cem>large\u003c/em>, \u003cem>complex\u003c/em>, \u003cem>persistent\u003c/em>, and \u003cem>revisable\u003c/em>. Bonus: when such artifacts are available, people tend to gesture at them—enhancing their own understanding and that of their team members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Implement the “jigsaw classroom”:\u003c/strong> This \u003ca href=\"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/014616727900500405\">instructional technique\u003c/a>, invented in the midst of the desegregation battles of the early 1970s, has been shown to increase cooperation and teamwork even as it boosts learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Generate a sense of “shared fate”:\u003c/strong> A sense of \u003ca href=\"https://hbr.org/2015/06/get-rid-of-unhealthy-competition-on-your-team\">group motivation\u003c/a> arises when the fates of each individual are bound up with one another—when they rise or fall together. Adjust the incentives and rewards offered to group members such that the outcome, good or bad, is experienced the same way by all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Annie Murphy Paul is a science writer and author of \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Outside-Brain-Annie-Murphy/dp/0544947665/\">The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain\u003c/a>,\" and \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Months-Before-Birth-Shape/dp/074329663X\">Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives.\u003c/a>\"\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/58053/42-ways-to-boost-learning-by-applying-our-bodies-surroundings-and-relationships","authors":["4355"],"categories":["mindshift_193"],"tags":["mindshift_21078","mindshift_21148","mindshift_20711","mindshift_20520","mindshift_21444","mindshift_20865","mindshift_20783"],"featImg":"mindshift_58255","label":"mindshift"},"mindshift_54064":{"type":"posts","id":"mindshift_54064","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"mindshift","id":"54064","score":null,"sort":[1565185102000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"how-parents-can-help-middle-schoolers-build-confidence-and-character","title":"How Parents Can Help Middle Schoolers Build Confidence and Character","publishDate":1565185102,"format":"standard","headTitle":"MindShift | KQED News","labelTerm":{"site":"mindshift"},"content":"\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For many adults, the words “middle school,” evoke a negative, gut-level response. These reactions are grounded in our own potent memories from that time, says Phyllis Fagell, a school counselor, psychotherapist and author of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/phyllis-l-fagell/middle-school-matters/9780738235097/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle School Matters: The 10 Key Skills Kids Need to Thrive in Middle School and Beyond – and How Parents Can Help.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Middle schoolers experience every feeling as a polarity,” says Fagell, “and we are wired to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/44408/how-to-get-past-negativity-bias-and-hardwire-positive-experiences\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">remember the negative\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.” So our own memories of being rejected by a friend or embarrassed by a teacher have an outsized place in our long-term memory. “And you are bringing all of that to the table as your child approaches middle school.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When it comes to how we talk about and interact with middle schoolers, we need a new mindset, says Fagell. “Rather than looking at this phase with dread, see it as an opportunity to share your values and solidify your relationship with your children.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Magic of Middle School\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagel, who has spent much of her career working with middle school students, describes these years as a magical time in child development. “These kids are such a mix of intellectual capacity, malleability, and passion. They have an interest in taking moral action and fixing everything wrong with the world, and yet they are complicated and can create major drama in their own social lives that’s inconsistent with their heightened sense of justice.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is the inherent messiness of this stage that gives parents an opportunity to “get in there and make a difference,” says Fagell. “Middle schoolers are impressionable, curious and raring to go. That makes middle school the perfect time to build their character and confidence.” Rather than stepping back, she encourages parents to lean in and provide vital coaching as children navigate the waters of early adolescence. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Strengthening the Parent-Child Connection\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At this age, children are like young anthropologists: They are remarkably attuned to the actions and reactions of the people around them, and they are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50556/being-popular-why-it-consumes-teens-and-continues-to-affect-adults\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">hardwired to seek\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> peer approval. But middle schoolers are also hyperaware of the adults in their lives and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/40845/as-teens-push-away-what-can-parents-do-to-support-success\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">hungry for their love and attention.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Kids have a Ph.D. in you,” says Fagell. “They are watching everything you do. As a role model, you can transmit messages about your values through what you say and what you do. And they are capable of absorbing those messages. Developmentally, it is imperative for them to pull away from you, but they still care about what you think, and they are not as set in their ways as high schoolers.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most middle schoolers are insecure, says Fagell. After all, they are undergoing a profound \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/43020/harnessing-the-incredible-learning-potential-of-the-adolescent-brain\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">physical and neurological growth spurt,\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and “no one gets out unchanged.” Because of that, they constantly question whether they are good enough, smart enough, attractive enough or athletic enough. “They are so hungry for reassurance that says ‘You are OK just the way you are.’ ”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The fastest way to shut down parent-child communication is to express disapproval, says Fagell. Instead, middle schoolers need parents to be an anchor – “a consistent, unwavering source of love and support” as they go through ups and downs of this stage. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Expect that they will make mistakes,” says Fagell. “Your job is to help them recover from mistakes, not prevent mistakes, because you can’t.” And that’s a good thing, she argues, because, by and large, middle school is a safe time to stumble, develop better strategies through trial and error, build good habits and strengthen resilience.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Keep the Lines of Communication Open\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle schoolers need adult mentors who can help them make responsible, healthy and ethical decisions. They need to talk through social dilemmas, social media and scary events in the news. They need guidance on how to handle gossip and sexting, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/52180/how-to-help-kids-manage-sleep-schoolwork-and-screens\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sleep and homework\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, peer pressure and difficult emotions. And they need coaching on how to treat themselves and others with compassion. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet just when the problems seem bigger, many parents discover that their child is less inclined to want to talk. Be patient, says Fagell. “With a middle schooler, you often have to sit there and just be present before they disclose to you. This may require restraint. Give them a long runway to talk to you without having to overextend themselves.” You might discover that they are most open during rides in the car, walks around the block, after lights out at night, or while shooting some hoops.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In an attempt to be empathetic, parents sometimes make the mistake of “interviewing for pain or mining for misery,” says Fagell. “This means asking a leading question: Were the kids mean to you again today? Is that kid still poking you with a pencil? Are people still saying nasty things on group chats?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every day is filled with multiple events and emotions. If parents constantly zero in on the negative, it doesn’t honor children’s full experience – and it encourages them to focus on pain points that might be out of their control. Instead, says Fagell, try asking open questions such as, “Who did you have an interesting conversation with today? or Did your teachers do anything silly?’” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are tempted to offer a lecture, stop yourself and try sharing a story from your own life, says Fagell, such as a moment when you felt brave, discouraged, or confused. “You will not reach kids this age unless the information is relevant and pertains to their life. Otherwise, it will not go into long-term memory.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagell also recommends watching a movie or show together, talking about a story in the news, or reading a book in common. “This provides emotional distance, and you can zero in on something that has relevance to their life.” In her own parenting, Fagell once capitalized on her child’s interest in a matchmaking reality TV show to talk about healthy relationships – even though Fagell herself didn’t particularly enjoy the show. “It got the job done!” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>An Attitude of Curiosity\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When adults rein in their own emotional reactivity, they can offer children something better: authentic curiosity about their lives. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When you approach middle schoolers with an attitude of curiosity, that means you are putting judgment aside and treating them as the expert of their life. You are asking them to help you understand their reality. If you approach them that way, you are much more likely to get to the root of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">why\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> they are cutting class or vaping in the bathroom.” In contrast, if you start with the behavior -- and shutting down that behavior -- “you shut down the lines of communication.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Curiosity supports the development of honesty. Instead of telling overt lies, most middle schoolers choose to conceal information that they suspect will get them in trouble. While they know honesty is important, “they are also motivated to protect their privacy, social life or privileges,” says Fagell. “So if they sense they will get drama from you, they will conceal the information.” Parents can remind children that telling the truth can feel hard and takes courage – and express gratitude for their honesty when they share difficult information. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle schoolers are less likely to lie if they feel like adults care about their perspective. If they skip a class, talk about their experiences in that class and what motivated their choice. If they cheat on a test, explore how they prepared for it and what they could do differently the next time. And if you catch them in a lie, instead of shaming them, try asking, “What did you fear would happen if you told me the truth?” When parents have a full understanding of what motivates a child’s behavior, they can help them examine their choices and develop strategies for making better ones. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Coach Through the Interference\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagell recommends that parents head into the middle school years with a coach’s mentality: “Tell yourself, they are going to make lots of mistakes, and this is an opportunity to give them the skills they need for life.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Capitalize on your child’s growing sense of justice to articulate an attractive vision of who they can be. “Vocalize your family’s values, such as ‘In this family, we value kindness, and we treat each other well,” says Fagell. “Help them understand the impact they are having on others. When they hurt someone’s feelings – and they will – ask ‘How would you feel if someone did this to you or your sister or brother? How can you make it better? Instead of just saying sorry, how can you make amends?’ ” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagell offers this image to help parents reconcile why middle schoolers make poor choices: “Your child is an inherently good kid, but there will be all kinds of interference in middle school.” That interference might be fear – e.g., “If I stand up for this person, will I be targeted?” That interference might also be jealousy or insecurity. Remind children that these emotions are normal. While we cannot always control our feelings, we do have a lot of control over how we respond to them. As psychologist Susan David \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/47616/emotional-agility-as-a-tool-to-help-teens-manage-their-feelings\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">notes\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, “Emotions are data, not directions.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagell hopes her work will help parents reframe their perception of these critical developmental years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“In middle school, you are involved enough in your child’s life -- and they are open enough to your intervention -- that you can get your hands dirty and help them navigate. This is the best time in childhood development to really focus on turning out a good human being,” she says. “If you can take a child at an age when they are the most insecure and help them accept themselves – that they are wonderful, idiosyncrasies and all – you will help them create an authentic life where their choices are consistent with their values.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Adults can pass on their own negative feels about middle school onto their own adolescent children. However, the incredible brain development that happens during adolescence can provide parents a unique opportunity to share their values and solidify their relationship with their children.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1565194800,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":32,"wordCount":1762},"headData":{"title":"How Parents Can Help Middle Schoolers Build Confidence and Character | KQED","description":"Adults can pass on their own negative feels about middle school onto their own adolescent children. However, the incredible brain development that happens during adolescence can provide parents a unique opportunity to share their values and solidify their relationship with their children.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"How Parents Can Help Middle Schoolers Build Confidence and Character","datePublished":"2019-08-07T13:38:22.000Z","dateModified":"2019-08-07T16:20:00.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"54064 https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=54064","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2019/08/07/how-parents-can-help-middle-schoolers-build-confidence-and-character/","disqusTitle":"How Parents Can Help Middle Schoolers Build Confidence and Character","path":"/mindshift/54064/how-parents-can-help-middle-schoolers-build-confidence-and-character","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For many adults, the words “middle school,” evoke a negative, gut-level response. These reactions are grounded in our own potent memories from that time, says Phyllis Fagell, a school counselor, psychotherapist and author of \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/phyllis-l-fagell/middle-school-matters/9780738235097/\">\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle School Matters: The 10 Key Skills Kids Need to Thrive in Middle School and Beyond – and How Parents Can Help.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Middle schoolers experience every feeling as a polarity,” says Fagell, “and we are wired to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/44408/how-to-get-past-negativity-bias-and-hardwire-positive-experiences\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">remember the negative\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">.” So our own memories of being rejected by a friend or embarrassed by a teacher have an outsized place in our long-term memory. “And you are bringing all of that to the table as your child approaches middle school.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When it comes to how we talk about and interact with middle schoolers, we need a new mindset, says Fagell. “Rather than looking at this phase with dread, see it as an opportunity to share your values and solidify your relationship with your children.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>The Magic of Middle School\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagel, who has spent much of her career working with middle school students, describes these years as a magical time in child development. “These kids are such a mix of intellectual capacity, malleability, and passion. They have an interest in taking moral action and fixing everything wrong with the world, and yet they are complicated and can create major drama in their own social lives that’s inconsistent with their heightened sense of justice.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">It is the inherent messiness of this stage that gives parents an opportunity to “get in there and make a difference,” says Fagell. “Middle schoolers are impressionable, curious and raring to go. That makes middle school the perfect time to build their character and confidence.” Rather than stepping back, she encourages parents to lean in and provide vital coaching as children navigate the waters of early adolescence. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Strengthening the Parent-Child Connection\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">At this age, children are like young anthropologists: They are remarkably attuned to the actions and reactions of the people around them, and they are \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50556/being-popular-why-it-consumes-teens-and-continues-to-affect-adults\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">hardwired to seek\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> peer approval. But middle schoolers are also hyperaware of the adults in their lives and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/40845/as-teens-push-away-what-can-parents-do-to-support-success\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">hungry for their love and attention.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Kids have a Ph.D. in you,” says Fagell. “They are watching everything you do. As a role model, you can transmit messages about your values through what you say and what you do. And they are capable of absorbing those messages. Developmentally, it is imperative for them to pull away from you, but they still care about what you think, and they are not as set in their ways as high schoolers.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most middle schoolers are insecure, says Fagell. After all, they are undergoing a profound \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/43020/harnessing-the-incredible-learning-potential-of-the-adolescent-brain\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">physical and neurological growth spurt,\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and “no one gets out unchanged.” Because of that, they constantly question whether they are good enough, smart enough, attractive enough or athletic enough. “They are so hungry for reassurance that says ‘You are OK just the way you are.’ ”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The fastest way to shut down parent-child communication is to express disapproval, says Fagell. Instead, middle schoolers need parents to be an anchor – “a consistent, unwavering source of love and support” as they go through ups and downs of this stage. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Expect that they will make mistakes,” says Fagell. “Your job is to help them recover from mistakes, not prevent mistakes, because you can’t.” And that’s a good thing, she argues, because, by and large, middle school is a safe time to stumble, develop better strategies through trial and error, build good habits and strengthen resilience.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Keep the Lines of Communication Open\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle schoolers need adult mentors who can help them make responsible, healthy and ethical decisions. They need to talk through social dilemmas, social media and scary events in the news. They need guidance on how to handle gossip and sexting, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/52180/how-to-help-kids-manage-sleep-schoolwork-and-screens\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">sleep and homework\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, peer pressure and difficult emotions. And they need coaching on how to treat themselves and others with compassion. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet just when the problems seem bigger, many parents discover that their child is less inclined to want to talk. Be patient, says Fagell. “With a middle schooler, you often have to sit there and just be present before they disclose to you. This may require restraint. Give them a long runway to talk to you without having to overextend themselves.” You might discover that they are most open during rides in the car, walks around the block, after lights out at night, or while shooting some hoops.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In an attempt to be empathetic, parents sometimes make the mistake of “interviewing for pain or mining for misery,” says Fagell. “This means asking a leading question: Were the kids mean to you again today? Is that kid still poking you with a pencil? Are people still saying nasty things on group chats?”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Every day is filled with multiple events and emotions. If parents constantly zero in on the negative, it doesn’t honor children’s full experience – and it encourages them to focus on pain points that might be out of their control. Instead, says Fagell, try asking open questions such as, “Who did you have an interesting conversation with today? or Did your teachers do anything silly?’” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you are tempted to offer a lecture, stop yourself and try sharing a story from your own life, says Fagell, such as a moment when you felt brave, discouraged, or confused. “You will not reach kids this age unless the information is relevant and pertains to their life. Otherwise, it will not go into long-term memory.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagell also recommends watching a movie or show together, talking about a story in the news, or reading a book in common. “This provides emotional distance, and you can zero in on something that has relevance to their life.” In her own parenting, Fagell once capitalized on her child’s interest in a matchmaking reality TV show to talk about healthy relationships – even though Fagell herself didn’t particularly enjoy the show. “It got the job done!” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>An Attitude of Curiosity\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When adults rein in their own emotional reactivity, they can offer children something better: authentic curiosity about their lives. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“When you approach middle schoolers with an attitude of curiosity, that means you are putting judgment aside and treating them as the expert of their life. You are asking them to help you understand their reality. If you approach them that way, you are much more likely to get to the root of \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">why\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> they are cutting class or vaping in the bathroom.” In contrast, if you start with the behavior -- and shutting down that behavior -- “you shut down the lines of communication.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Curiosity supports the development of honesty. Instead of telling overt lies, most middle schoolers choose to conceal information that they suspect will get them in trouble. While they know honesty is important, “they are also motivated to protect their privacy, social life or privileges,” says Fagell. “So if they sense they will get drama from you, they will conceal the information.” Parents can remind children that telling the truth can feel hard and takes courage – and express gratitude for their honesty when they share difficult information. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Middle schoolers are less likely to lie if they feel like adults care about their perspective. If they skip a class, talk about their experiences in that class and what motivated their choice. If they cheat on a test, explore how they prepared for it and what they could do differently the next time. And if you catch them in a lie, instead of shaming them, try asking, “What did you fear would happen if you told me the truth?” When parents have a full understanding of what motivates a child’s behavior, they can help them examine their choices and develop strategies for making better ones. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Coach Through the Interference\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagell recommends that parents head into the middle school years with a coach’s mentality: “Tell yourself, they are going to make lots of mistakes, and this is an opportunity to give them the skills they need for life.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Capitalize on your child’s growing sense of justice to articulate an attractive vision of who they can be. “Vocalize your family’s values, such as ‘In this family, we value kindness, and we treat each other well,” says Fagell. “Help them understand the impact they are having on others. When they hurt someone’s feelings – and they will – ask ‘How would you feel if someone did this to you or your sister or brother? How can you make it better? Instead of just saying sorry, how can you make amends?’ ” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagell offers this image to help parents reconcile why middle schoolers make poor choices: “Your child is an inherently good kid, but there will be all kinds of interference in middle school.” That interference might be fear – e.g., “If I stand up for this person, will I be targeted?” That interference might also be jealousy or insecurity. Remind children that these emotions are normal. While we cannot always control our feelings, we do have a lot of control over how we respond to them. As psychologist Susan David \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/47616/emotional-agility-as-a-tool-to-help-teens-manage-their-feelings\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">notes\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, “Emotions are data, not directions.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Fagell hopes her work will help parents reframe their perception of these critical developmental years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“In middle school, you are involved enough in your child’s life -- and they are open enough to your intervention -- that you can get your hands dirty and help them navigate. This is the best time in childhood development to really focus on turning out a good human being,” she says. “If you can take a child at an age when they are the most insecure and help them accept themselves – that they are wonderful, idiosyncrasies and all – you will help them create an authentic life where their choices are consistent with their values.” \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/54064/how-parents-can-help-middle-schoolers-build-confidence-and-character","authors":["11087"],"categories":["mindshift_192"],"tags":["mindshift_21093","mindshift_20811","mindshift_21078","mindshift_20784","mindshift_1040","mindshift_145","mindshift_20568","mindshift_21159","mindshift_1038"],"featImg":"mindshift_54067","label":"mindshift"},"mindshift_53149":{"type":"posts","id":"mindshift_53149","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"mindshift","id":"53149","score":null,"sort":[1551251560000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"more-green-spaces-in-childhood-associated-with-happier-adulthood","title":"More Green Spaces in Childhood Associated With Happier Adulthood","publishDate":1551251560,"format":"standard","headTitle":"MindShift | KQED News","labelTerm":{"site":"mindshift"},"content":"\u003cp>The experience of natural spaces, brimming with greenish light, the smells of soil and the quiet fluttering of leaves in the breeze can calm our frenetic modern lives. It's as though our very cells can exhale when surrounded by nature, relaxing our bodies and minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some people seek to maximize the purported therapeutic effects of contact with the unbuilt environment by embarking on sessions of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/17/536676954/forest-bathing-a-retreat-to-nature-can-boost-immunity-and-mood\">forest bathing\u003c/a>, slowing down and becoming mindfully immersed in nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a rapidly urbanizing world, green spaces are shrinking as our cities grow out and up. Scientists are working to understand how green spaces, or lack of them, can affect our mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A study \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/02/19/1807504116\">published \u003c/a>Monday in the journal \u003cem>PNAS\u003c/em> details what the scientists say is the largest investigation of the association between green spaces and mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark found that growing up near vegetation is associated with an up to 55 percent lower risk of mental health disorders in adulthood. \u003ca href=\"http://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/kristine-engemann(3dbd45ee-ff79-42bb-b2f7-5f2d2a3caa62).html\">Kristine Engemann\u003c/a>, the biologist who led the study, combined decades of satellite imagery with extensive health and demographic data of the Danish population to investigate the mental health effects of growing up near greenery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The scale of this study is quite something,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kellylambertlab.com/about\">Kelly Lambert\u003c/a>, a neuroscientist at the University of Richmond who studies the psychological effects of natural spaces. Smaller studies have hinted that lack of green space increases the risk of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28551\">mood disorders\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29573946\">schizophrenia\u003c/a> and can even affect \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/112/26/7937\">cognitive development\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more practical factors, like socioeconomic status, family history of mental illness, and urbanization can also have large effects on mental health. Wealthier families, for instance, might be able to afford to live in neighborhoods with more access to nature and also have access to other wealth-related resources that could enhance childhood development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To isolate the effects of nature from so many potential confounding factors requires a large and rich data set. The Danish Civil Registration System is just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Created in 1968, the system assigns a personal identification number to every Danish citizen and records gender, place of birth and parents' PINs. A PIN links individuals across multiple databases, including mental health records, and is updated with changes of residence. \"It's an incredibly rich source of data,\" says Engemann. The researchers' final data set comprised nearly 1 million Danes who were born between 1985 and 2003 and for whom they had longitudinal records of mental health, socioeconomic status and place of residence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Satellite data extending back to 1985 allowed the researchers to calculate vegetation density around each residence. Unfortunately these data can't distinguish an old-growth forest from an overgrown field, but in general the more greenery that is packed into a plot of land, the higher the vegetation density.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armed with these data, the researchers compared the risk of developing 16 different mental health disorders in adulthood with how much green space surrounded each child's residence. And because they had yearly income, work history and education level, they could weigh the relative contribution of green space against socioeconomics of the parents and neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After accounting for those potential confounding factors, the researchers found that growing up near green space was associated with a lower risk of developing psychiatric illness in adulthood by anywhere from 15 percent to 55 percent, depending on the specific illness. For example, alcoholism was most strongly associated with lack of green space growing up, and risk of developing an intellectual disability was not associated with green space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strength of the association between green space and risk of psychiatric disorder was similar to other factors known to influence mental health, like socioeconomic status. According to Engemann, it is estimated that about 20 percent of the adult Danish population will suffer from poor psychiatric health within any given year, making these slight changes in risk potentially important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Green space seemed to have an association that was similar in strength to other known influences on mental health, like history of mental health disorders in the family, or socioeconomic status,\" says Engemann. What's more, the effect of green space was \"dosage dependent\" — the more of one's childhood spent close to greenery, the lower the risk of mental health problems in adulthood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Engemann cautions that the study does have limitations: \"It's purely correlational, so we can't definitively say that growing up near green space reduces risk of mental illness.\" Establishing cause and effect for variables like these is incredibly difficult, according to Engemann.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the breadth and depth of data used for this analysis add to the circumstantial evidence linking green space and mental health. \"The effect is remarkable,\" says Lambert. \"If we were talking about a new medicine that had this kind of effect the buzz would be huge, but these results suggest that being able to go for a walk in the park as a kid is just as impactful.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The greenery association with better mental health held across both rural and urban areas of Denmark. \"You could grow up in very urban areas but still have reduced risk if you're surrounded by green spaces,\" says Engemann.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study also can't address how different kinds of green space — and how people use it — affect mental health. Are forests more impactful than sparer park spaces? Do you need to actively use these spaces, or is simply growing up near greenery enough? These are questions Engemann hopes future studies can answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One large question remains: Why? What is it about growing up near trees, shrubs and grass that seems to boost resilience against developing mental health problems?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lambert suggests the explanation might run deep, evolutionarily speaking. She says we evolved surrounded by green space, and something about being exposed to our \"native\" environment might have powerful physiological and psychological effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, more green space might simply encourage more social interaction, exercise, or decrease air and noise pollution, all of which are known to impact mental health. Even exposure to a wider diversity of microbes in childhood could play a role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There are a lot of potential mechanisms to follow up on, but generally I think this study is tremendously important,\" says Lambert. \"It suggests that something as simple as better city planning could have profound impacts on the mental health and well-being of all of us.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jonathan Lambert is an intern on NPR's Science Desk. You can follow him on Twitter: \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/evolambert\">@evolambert\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Greener+Childhood+Associated+With+Happier+Adulthood&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Research suggests the more of your childhood that is spent surrounded by green spaces, the lower your risk of developing mental illness in adulthood, whether in the city or the country. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1551252056,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":25,"wordCount":1091},"headData":{"title":"More Green Spaces in Childhood Associated With Happier Adulthood | KQED","description":"Research suggests the more of your childhood that is spent surrounded by green spaces, the lower your risk of developing mental illness in adulthood, whether in the city or the country. ","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"More Green Spaces in Childhood Associated With Happier Adulthood","datePublished":"2019-02-27T07:12:40.000Z","dateModified":"2019-02-27T07:20:56.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"53149 https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=53149","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2019/02/26/more-green-spaces-in-childhood-associated-with-happier-adulthood/","disqusTitle":"More Green Spaces in Childhood Associated With Happier Adulthood","nprByline":"Jonathan Lambert","path":"/mindshift/53149/more-green-spaces-in-childhood-associated-with-happier-adulthood","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The experience of natural spaces, brimming with greenish light, the smells of soil and the quiet fluttering of leaves in the breeze can calm our frenetic modern lives. It's as though our very cells can exhale when surrounded by nature, relaxing our bodies and minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some people seek to maximize the purported therapeutic effects of contact with the unbuilt environment by embarking on sessions of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/17/536676954/forest-bathing-a-retreat-to-nature-can-boost-immunity-and-mood\">forest bathing\u003c/a>, slowing down and becoming mindfully immersed in nature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a rapidly urbanizing world, green spaces are shrinking as our cities grow out and up. Scientists are working to understand how green spaces, or lack of them, can affect our mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A study \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/02/19/1807504116\">published \u003c/a>Monday in the journal \u003cem>PNAS\u003c/em> details what the scientists say is the largest investigation of the association between green spaces and mental health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark found that growing up near vegetation is associated with an up to 55 percent lower risk of mental health disorders in adulthood. \u003ca href=\"http://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/kristine-engemann(3dbd45ee-ff79-42bb-b2f7-5f2d2a3caa62).html\">Kristine Engemann\u003c/a>, the biologist who led the study, combined decades of satellite imagery with extensive health and demographic data of the Danish population to investigate the mental health effects of growing up near greenery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"The scale of this study is quite something,\" says \u003ca href=\"https://www.kellylambertlab.com/about\">Kelly Lambert\u003c/a>, a neuroscientist at the University of Richmond who studies the psychological effects of natural spaces. Smaller studies have hinted that lack of green space increases the risk of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28551\">mood disorders\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29573946\">schizophrenia\u003c/a> and can even affect \u003ca href=\"https://www.pnas.org/content/112/26/7937\">cognitive development\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But more practical factors, like socioeconomic status, family history of mental illness, and urbanization can also have large effects on mental health. Wealthier families, for instance, might be able to afford to live in neighborhoods with more access to nature and also have access to other wealth-related resources that could enhance childhood development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To isolate the effects of nature from so many potential confounding factors requires a large and rich data set. The Danish Civil Registration System is just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Created in 1968, the system assigns a personal identification number to every Danish citizen and records gender, place of birth and parents' PINs. A PIN links individuals across multiple databases, including mental health records, and is updated with changes of residence. \"It's an incredibly rich source of data,\" says Engemann. The researchers' final data set comprised nearly 1 million Danes who were born between 1985 and 2003 and for whom they had longitudinal records of mental health, socioeconomic status and place of residence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Satellite data extending back to 1985 allowed the researchers to calculate vegetation density around each residence. Unfortunately these data can't distinguish an old-growth forest from an overgrown field, but in general the more greenery that is packed into a plot of land, the higher the vegetation density.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armed with these data, the researchers compared the risk of developing 16 different mental health disorders in adulthood with how much green space surrounded each child's residence. And because they had yearly income, work history and education level, they could weigh the relative contribution of green space against socioeconomics of the parents and neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After accounting for those potential confounding factors, the researchers found that growing up near green space was associated with a lower risk of developing psychiatric illness in adulthood by anywhere from 15 percent to 55 percent, depending on the specific illness. For example, alcoholism was most strongly associated with lack of green space growing up, and risk of developing an intellectual disability was not associated with green space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The strength of the association between green space and risk of psychiatric disorder was similar to other factors known to influence mental health, like socioeconomic status. According to Engemann, it is estimated that about 20 percent of the adult Danish population will suffer from poor psychiatric health within any given year, making these slight changes in risk potentially important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Green space seemed to have an association that was similar in strength to other known influences on mental health, like history of mental health disorders in the family, or socioeconomic status,\" says Engemann. What's more, the effect of green space was \"dosage dependent\" — the more of one's childhood spent close to greenery, the lower the risk of mental health problems in adulthood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Engemann cautions that the study does have limitations: \"It's purely correlational, so we can't definitively say that growing up near green space reduces risk of mental illness.\" Establishing cause and effect for variables like these is incredibly difficult, according to Engemann.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the breadth and depth of data used for this analysis add to the circumstantial evidence linking green space and mental health. \"The effect is remarkable,\" says Lambert. \"If we were talking about a new medicine that had this kind of effect the buzz would be huge, but these results suggest that being able to go for a walk in the park as a kid is just as impactful.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The greenery association with better mental health held across both rural and urban areas of Denmark. \"You could grow up in very urban areas but still have reduced risk if you're surrounded by green spaces,\" says Engemann.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study also can't address how different kinds of green space — and how people use it — affect mental health. Are forests more impactful than sparer park spaces? Do you need to actively use these spaces, or is simply growing up near greenery enough? These are questions Engemann hopes future studies can answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One large question remains: Why? What is it about growing up near trees, shrubs and grass that seems to boost resilience against developing mental health problems?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lambert suggests the explanation might run deep, evolutionarily speaking. She says we evolved surrounded by green space, and something about being exposed to our \"native\" environment might have powerful physiological and psychological effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Additionally, more green space might simply encourage more social interaction, exercise, or decrease air and noise pollution, all of which are known to impact mental health. Even exposure to a wider diversity of microbes in childhood could play a role.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There are a lot of potential mechanisms to follow up on, but generally I think this study is tremendously important,\" says Lambert. \"It suggests that something as simple as better city planning could have profound impacts on the mental health and well-being of all of us.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Jonathan Lambert is an intern on NPR's Science Desk. You can follow him on Twitter: \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/evolambert\">@evolambert\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.\u003cimg src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Greener+Childhood+Associated+With+Happier+Adulthood&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/53149/more-green-spaces-in-childhood-associated-with-happier-adulthood","authors":["byline_mindshift_53149"],"categories":["mindshift_192"],"tags":["mindshift_21078","mindshift_20720","mindshift_20784","mindshift_1040","mindshift_20865","mindshift_21117"],"featImg":"mindshift_53159","label":"mindshift"},"mindshift_52980":{"type":"posts","id":"mindshift_52980","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"mindshift","id":"52980","score":null,"sort":[1549314400000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"six-ways-to-teach-social-and-emotional-skills-all-day","title":"Six Ways to Teach Social and Emotional Skills All Day","publishDate":1549314400,"format":"standard","headTitle":"MindShift | KQED News","labelTerm":{"site":"mindshift"},"content":"\u003cp>The types of skills required to care for and advocate for oneself and others — self-regulation, responsibility, empathy, and discipline, among others — are becoming increasingly central to the work of schools and teachers, and increasingly relevant to the lifelong success of students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More and more, educators are recognizing that these skills — often called “social and emotional” skills — are inextricably intertwined with the academic skills. Nine out of 10 teachers believe that social emotional skills \u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/stream/ERIC_ED558068/ERIC_ED558068_djvu.txt\" rel=\"nofollow\">can and should be taught\u003c/a>. But four out of five want more support to address their students’ social emotional development. How do teachers catch up their practices with what they know is possible?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"http://nationathope.org/report-from-the-nation/executive-summary/\" rel=\"nofollow\">new report\u003c/a> from the Aspen Institute’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/national-commission-on-social-emotional-and-academic-development/\" rel=\"nofollow\">National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development\u003c/a> draws on a large volume of research on social-emotional learning, three new research reports written over the last two years, as well as surveys with parents, students, and teachers — all generating new recommendations for teaching the whole child and for supporting the academic, social, and emotional wellbeing of students. It will take significant system-wide and school-wide changes to make sure every child gets this kind of holistic education; teachers cannot do that work alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with the following considerations and actions, teachers can begin to break the silos that stuff social-emotional learning into a specific unit or class, and instead embed it throughout the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Be intentional.\u003c/strong> Social and emotional skills come up all the time — at recess, in group work, in math class. Be intentional about identifying opportunities to practice the skills with your students. Role play conflicts that might arise on the playground or talk to students about listening and collaboration before group work. Before math class, talk about “mathematical courage,” or the idea that students should ask questions when they don’t understand something, be unafraid to make mistakes, explain their thinking, listen to how other people thought about a problem, and be open to suggestions. Don't worry about taking time away from academic material. Taking time to focus on how students interact with each other, how they're feeling, and how they're behaving, will help create conditions conducive for overcoming academic challenges. Being more intentional and taking the time to name and practice these skills, can help them stick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Create a warm classroom culture. \u003c/strong>Students learn best when they feel safe and cared for. Let each student know that you respect and care for her as an individual. Provide leadership opportunities for students, and show them that you trust them, too, but letting them lead parent conferences and letting them make their own decisions, when appropriate, about how to spend their time and pursue their interests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Focus on relationships. \u003c/strong>Meaningful relationships — both between students and adults, and between students and other students — help improve attitudes and achievement. To the extent that you can, create structures that facilitate the formation of long-term relationships, like identifying mentors for students or holding class meetings. On a school-wide basis, having teachers follow students to the next grade level or creating advisories, in which the same teacher mentors the same group of students over several years, can create the type of relationships that make students feel cared for and help them to learn to care for others. These smaller group settings also are perfect opportunities to intentionally teach social-emotional skills, like listening and expressing feelings through words.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Make discipline more inclusive. \u003c/strong>Discipline, too, can be more focused on healing relationships than punishment. When a child misbehaves, frame it as a poor choice — not evidence that he is a bad kid. Discuss behavior with students by working with them to set classroom norms and having regular meetings about how those norms are working. Help students resolve conflict with one another; there's much more to be learned from conflict resolution than a suspension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Broaden your definition of student success.\u003c/strong> Broadening the definition of student success is ultimately a community-wide goal, but even in your classroom, you can emphasize to students that test scores aren’t the only things that matter. Recognize and celebrate when students are persistent in the faces of challenges, when they are caring to their peers, and when they are good listeners. By emphasizing social emotional development, students have a clearer idea of what to work toward and why it’s important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Advocate for change on the school and system level.\u003c/strong> The best social emotional instruction is borne out of collaboration. Advocate to your principal and school board for social-emotional training. Convene meetings with other personnel in the school so you can talk about students’ needs, and make sure that no student is falling through the cracks. Ask for the time and resources you need to emphasize social emotional learning classroom, and help students develop all the skills they need to succeed.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Social-emotional learning shouldn’t be relegated to a distinct unit or stand-alone curriculum. Here’s how to infuse it throughout the day.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1549319480,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":12,"wordCount":845},"headData":{"title":"Six Ways to Teach Social and Emotional Skills All Day | KQED","description":"Social-emotional learning shouldn’t be relegated to a distinct unit or stand-alone curriculum. Here’s how to infuse it throughout the day.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Six Ways to Teach Social and Emotional Skills All Day","datePublished":"2019-02-04T21:06:40.000Z","dateModified":"2019-02-04T22:31:20.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"disqusIdentifier":"52980 https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=52980","disqusUrl":"https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2019/02/04/six-ways-to-teach-social-and-emotional-skills-all-day/","disqusTitle":"Six Ways to Teach Social and Emotional Skills All Day","nprByline":"\u003ca href=\"https://www.gse.harvard.edu/uk/author/grace-tatter/556191\">Grace Tatter, Usable Knowledge\u003c/a>","path":"/mindshift/52980/six-ways-to-teach-social-and-emotional-skills-all-day","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The types of skills required to care for and advocate for oneself and others — self-regulation, responsibility, empathy, and discipline, among others — are becoming increasingly central to the work of schools and teachers, and increasingly relevant to the lifelong success of students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More and more, educators are recognizing that these skills — often called “social and emotional” skills — are inextricably intertwined with the academic skills. Nine out of 10 teachers believe that social emotional skills \u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/stream/ERIC_ED558068/ERIC_ED558068_djvu.txt\" rel=\"nofollow\">can and should be taught\u003c/a>. But four out of five want more support to address their students’ social emotional development. How do teachers catch up their practices with what they know is possible?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"http://nationathope.org/report-from-the-nation/executive-summary/\" rel=\"nofollow\">new report\u003c/a> from the Aspen Institute’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/national-commission-on-social-emotional-and-academic-development/\" rel=\"nofollow\">National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development\u003c/a> draws on a large volume of research on social-emotional learning, three new research reports written over the last two years, as well as surveys with parents, students, and teachers — all generating new recommendations for teaching the whole child and for supporting the academic, social, and emotional wellbeing of students. It will take significant system-wide and school-wide changes to make sure every child gets this kind of holistic education; teachers cannot do that work alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with the following considerations and actions, teachers can begin to break the silos that stuff social-emotional learning into a specific unit or class, and instead embed it throughout the day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Be intentional.\u003c/strong> Social and emotional skills come up all the time — at recess, in group work, in math class. Be intentional about identifying opportunities to practice the skills with your students. Role play conflicts that might arise on the playground or talk to students about listening and collaboration before group work. Before math class, talk about “mathematical courage,” or the idea that students should ask questions when they don’t understand something, be unafraid to make mistakes, explain their thinking, listen to how other people thought about a problem, and be open to suggestions. Don't worry about taking time away from academic material. Taking time to focus on how students interact with each other, how they're feeling, and how they're behaving, will help create conditions conducive for overcoming academic challenges. Being more intentional and taking the time to name and practice these skills, can help them stick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Create a warm classroom culture. \u003c/strong>Students learn best when they feel safe and cared for. Let each student know that you respect and care for her as an individual. Provide leadership opportunities for students, and show them that you trust them, too, but letting them lead parent conferences and letting them make their own decisions, when appropriate, about how to spend their time and pursue their interests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Focus on relationships. \u003c/strong>Meaningful relationships — both between students and adults, and between students and other students — help improve attitudes and achievement. To the extent that you can, create structures that facilitate the formation of long-term relationships, like identifying mentors for students or holding class meetings. On a school-wide basis, having teachers follow students to the next grade level or creating advisories, in which the same teacher mentors the same group of students over several years, can create the type of relationships that make students feel cared for and help them to learn to care for others. These smaller group settings also are perfect opportunities to intentionally teach social-emotional skills, like listening and expressing feelings through words.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Make discipline more inclusive. \u003c/strong>Discipline, too, can be more focused on healing relationships than punishment. When a child misbehaves, frame it as a poor choice — not evidence that he is a bad kid. Discuss behavior with students by working with them to set classroom norms and having regular meetings about how those norms are working. Help students resolve conflict with one another; there's much more to be learned from conflict resolution than a suspension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Broaden your definition of student success.\u003c/strong> Broadening the definition of student success is ultimately a community-wide goal, but even in your classroom, you can emphasize to students that test scores aren’t the only things that matter. Recognize and celebrate when students are persistent in the faces of challenges, when they are caring to their peers, and when they are good listeners. By emphasizing social emotional development, students have a clearer idea of what to work toward and why it’s important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Advocate for change on the school and system level.\u003c/strong> The best social emotional instruction is borne out of collaboration. Advocate to your principal and school board for social-emotional training. Convene meetings with other personnel in the school so you can talk about students’ needs, and make sure that no student is falling through the cracks. Ask for the time and resources you need to emphasize social emotional learning classroom, and help students develop all the skills they need to succeed.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/mindshift/52980/six-ways-to-teach-social-and-emotional-skills-all-day","authors":["byline_mindshift_52980"],"categories":["mindshift_1"],"tags":["mindshift_21078","mindshift_20699","mindshift_20784","mindshift_1040","mindshift_21244","mindshift_943"],"featImg":"mindshift_52983","label":"mindshift"}},"programsReducer":{"possible":{"id":"possible","title":"Possible","info":"Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. 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