Essay On Unstructured In Physical Education

Walking through the halls of an elementary school, I could only hear the sound of my footsteps. When I stepped outside to the playground, the leaves were flying in the wind and the birds were singing, not a child to be seen. I wondered where the children are and why is it so silent. Rhea believes that children were built to move and when they do not have the choice to have the unstructured play they need these children begin to shut down and perform poorly. She explains that when a child is sitting for several hours of the day their brain begins to loose necessary nutrients to perform academically. Children are becoming more likely to progress weaker vision and change sleep patterns due to the lack of movement during the day. Rhea has created a program in Texas known as “Innovation Strategies, Inspiring Students (ISIS)”, which consists of having a total of four, fifteen minute recess breaks. She states at the end of her article that physical education has decreased because of demands in the classroom, obesity has …show more content…
Without unstructured play a child may not be able to experience arguing and anger, laughing and happiness, or crying and sadness. These are just a few feelings that a child would experience with unstructured play. For example, a child learns that when someone cuts in front of the line for the slide that child may get mad at that person and may start a fight or an argument. After the experience and appropriate reinforcement the child who skipped the line probably won’t skip it again, and the child who got mad understands now what the reaction to getting mad or angry leads to. School commonly leads to a lot of stress, which is now beginning to start younger and younger due to the academic demand. Recess gives children the opportunity to let out steam and let go of stress in an appropriate way such as running, climbing, or an activity using gross motor