The topic I decided to research is the value of play time as a scheduled component of the school day in public school systems. My interest in this topic is both personal and professional. I live in Gloucester, Ma, the oldest fishing community in the United States. People here depend on making a sustainable living from the ocean. Due to serious government over-regulation and fishing quotas, my town is suffering financially. As more and more budget cuts become necessary, our city leaders begin looking at what can be eliminated from school programs. Sadly (but predictably), our local public school administrators seem to feel that play time takes up valuable teaching time.
I broke this general topic up into three subtopics:
I'd like to see if I can find studies that show the benefit of play in the school day.
I broke this general topic up into three subtopics:
I'd like to see if I can find studies that show the benefit of play in the school day.
· What areas of development are enhanced by daily play?
· Are children who experience daily play better students?
· Does daily childhood play decrease the incidence of adult obesity?
I am a little bit confused about a final topic for research because I think all three sub-topics combined are relevant to the question re: benefit of playtime at school. However, at this time I believe I will concentrate on "children who experience daily play are better students" .Would love to get any advice/input from fellow students on this! Thanks!
Anyway, right off the bat I can see that I am going to have trouble sifting through the scads of stuff on the internet to find relevant information for my research. In chapter 2 of our textbook, the authors pointed out that this tends to be an area of difficulty for many beginning researchers. Whew!
Hi Ellen, I agree there is so much information out there it is very hard to narrow it down. I can see your concerns about finincial cuts and losing playtime. In previous courses we learned how important play is. We are social beings and learn through social interactions. EDUC 6161 offered some good articles related to play. You could refer back to some of them for information. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteEllen, I like your topic and like you I think play is important. As far as relevant information goes, my best advice for you is taking advantage of the Walden library. EBSCOT is a good search engine and can help you quickly sift through relevant information. Most articles come with abstracts that can provide you with a general idea on how relevant the article might be for your research. As an appraoch on your topic you may be able to show how play can help students explore different academic concept in a safe manner without being judged. This can show how children's self-esteem builds which in essence effects their school proformance.
ReplyDeleteI love your topic, Ellen and I think you made a great choice with your subtopic but I do understand how difficult it would be to choose. It sounds like you are off to a good start and I wish you the best of luck!
ReplyDeleteEllen,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great subject to research. In our last course, Trends and Issues, we had articles on the importance of play. Or was that the class before? Anyways, if you are like me you should have those articles in your toolbox. That will help you some.
As a school teacher it is sad to say that administration always starts with taking recess. Now that it is testing time, my students have already lost their resource classes (gym, music, art, and band). I will fight to the end for the recess. Students are children and they need a mental break during the day to get all the wigglies and jigglies off of them. I remember having recess and resource everyday as a child. I do not understand the purpose of taking recess. It doesnt cost administration one dime. The teachers supervise, the playground is already provided. So if they are looking to make cuts, they need to look at those positions that are free most of the day to run errands and sit in offices and do nothing! Leave the children and teachers alone.
Good luck with your research, it should be interesting. There is research to support play during the school day.
Jennifer
I know there is a lot of research out there for you to find on "Play". The Zero to Three website (http://www.zerotothree.org/) might be a good place to go for resources. I know that under their behavior and development section there is a section with regards to play.
ReplyDelete