Journal of Kinesiology and Wellness

A Publication of the Western Society for Kinesiology and Wellness

Volume 10, Number 1, Pages 98-105, 2021

ISSN# 2332-4503

Journal of Kinesiology and Wellness, Volume 10, Number 1, 2021

The John Massengale Paper

LET THE KIDS PLAY: THE IMPACT OF CHAOS ON

ACADEMIC SUCCESS

Deborah J. Rhea*

Department of Kinesiology, Texas Christian University

Submitted November 2021; Accepted in final form December 2021

INTRODUCTION

Recess, defined as unstructured play, is a

necessary break for children to reboot their brains,

regulate their emotions, socialize with their peers,

and enhance their motor skills. Over the past 40

years, this unstructured, outdoor break has been all

but removed in the school day and replaced with

longer school days focused on classroom content. The

aim of this article is to present a stark contrast

between the United States educational practices and

those of another country, Finland, on how to be

academically successful. This journey will highlight a

successful elementary school intervention, the LiiNK

Project, which implements four 15-minute

unstructured, outdoor recesses and a character

lesson daily as part of the school year schedule. Next,

challenges to implement such strategies will be

discussed, including the problems with standardized

testing. Curriculum shifts from the past to the

present, the lack of focus on developmental needs of

the child, and the benefits of recess and character

skills will be addressed. Finally, research-based school

strategies needed for whole child learning will be

outlined. If we as a nation are going to develop

healthier, more resilient children who become a

sustainable adult population, the strategies outlined

in this article are a good place to start.

Chaos. Ask a casual observer of an elementary

playground and that is likely the first word that comes

to mind. For a child, that chaos translates to

creativity, innovation, spontaneity, and imagination.

An unconfined recess environment affords children

opportunities to explore on their own terms and

those terms are not limited to the physical world.

Take one more look at that playground and you will

notice one common thread among the children, they

are happy and stress-free. You may see it as chaos,

but to a child, it’s a necessary break to reboot,

generate new brain cells, and optimize their social,

emotional, physical, and cognitive health.

U.S. education goals – lacking focus on child needs

As a nation, we have moved farther and farther

away from what the child needs and focused more

and more on what the adults want and expect from

children. From the mid-1950s through the present,

there has been a drastic decline in free play while

there has been a sharp increase in depression,

anxiety, suicide, and narcissism (Gray, 2017). Dr.

Gray, a psychology scholar, states, “At the expense of

play, the United States has placed significant pressure

on students and teachers alike with a driven pursuit

of standardized assessments and learning.”

The combination of emotional instability and high

stakes testing is leading to many more teacher

challenges in the classroom and a recognition that the

child/adolescent is struggling with less regard for self

and others (Gray, 2017). It is clear this strategy to

remove play from the school day and increase the

focus on classroom content and assessments is not

working to meet developmental whole child needs or

academic success. Many American researchers have

examined how top academically ranked countries

have been successful in their schools.

Rhea, Academic Success Through Play

Journal of Kinesiology and Wellness, Volume 10, Number 1, 2021

The Finnish School Model

Finland has been highlighted as one of the most

successful educational models since 2010 due to the

results posted every two years from the

OECD's Program for International Student

Assessment (PISA). In 2011, as a physical activity

researcher, I travelled to Helsinki, Finland to observe

and discuss challenging educational issues we have in

the U.S. with different Finnish educational cohorts,

e.g., Finland’s Secretary of Education, sport

federation, and grades 1-12 principals, teachers,

students, and parents. A distinguishing characteristic

of Finland’s educational goals focuses on the idea that

children’s best interests take precedence over

competitive rankings. This belief or mindset is why

the Finns have been highly successful over the past 40

years in not only turning around their own academic

achievement, but also in surpassing most other

countries in academic achievement rankings.

Furthermore, they do so by maintaining very basic

practices.

Finland school practices

Finland children rarely take assignments home

and they focus more on a balance between academics

and recess, crafts, the arts, music, drama, and

physical education throughout the week. From the

time children start school at 7 years of age, the

teachers emphasize active play as part of the

curriculum - not only as a content area (physical

education), but also with 15 minute unstructured,

outdoor breaks every hour throughout the school

day. They believe this not only helps the students stay

motivated and grasp different concepts, it also

develops a healthy child through different forms of

play. The end result: better test scores and more

productive learning across the students.

Although the Finns believe that all children and

adults should be physically active for two hours or

more daily, they believe that physical activity or play

is about more than health. It’s about meeting the

needs of the whole child. They do not believe

providing outdoor play opportunities for the children

should be determined by adults. They also believe the

body knows what it needs and will meet the demands

through different forms of play. As a result of my visit

to Finland, the LiiNK Project® (Let’s inspire innovation

‘N Kids) was created to address the academic

challenges U.S. teachers and children face today in K-

12 schools through two basic concepts: recess

(unstructured and outdoors) and character

development.

The LiiNK Project®

The LiiNK Project launched as a pilot program in

two Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area private schools

about eight years ago to address some of the

challenges through recess and character

implementation. Since then, the program has spread

across 50 Texas and Oklahoma public schools

reaching over 25,000 children, predominantly in

grades pre-K through grade 5. Some districts,

especially in rural areas, have implemented LiiNK in

pre-K through grade 8.

The project’s goal has never waivered: to

structure learning/academics around meeting the

needs of the whole child. The success of this program

is based on its innovative approach of aligning the

developmental needs of children with providing

teacher and administrator training to shift the

imbalance of content with other fundamental

strategies. The project focuses on delivering a 15-

minute character development curriculum lesson

daily called Positive Action® and most importantly,

implementing 15-minutes of unstructured, outdoor

play four times daily.

Character defined

Character is the way someone thinks, behaves,

and feels. Children need daily training to learn the

foundational character skills of empathy (listen to and

embrace what someone else is feeling), problem

solving, communication (how to use their words to

express what they want clearly), trust, honesty,

respect, self-confidence, and self-esteem (Farmer et

al., 2017). Taking a proactive, positive approach to

develop these skills is needed in order to negotiate

sharing on the playground, promote positive

social/emotional interactions, and reach their full

potential as children (Lewis et al., 2021). Research

shows that effective “character education” curricula

improves academics and reduces problem behaviors

simultaneously (Kendziora & Osher, 2016). Not only

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do character skills have far reaching benefits if

delivered effectively, so does recess.

Recess defined

Recess can take on many identities based on the

definition used. For many, the definition of recess can

be as abstract as play itself. Others feel that recess

should be unstructured and outdoors, but that

physical activity needs to be at the root of the time

scheduled. Others feel recess should be more

structured, with specific instructions oriented

towards physical activity to help children be more

active. Depending on the definition used for play will

determine the benefits children will exhibit.

The LiiNK Project defines recess as unstructured,

outdoor play where the experience is whatever the

child wants it to be (Gray, 2017; Rhea, 2016). It should

be 1) self-directed and self-controlled, 2) motivated

by means more than the end, 3) is guided by mental

rules, and 4) includes a strong element of imagination

(Gray, 2017). The focus can take on many forms:

exploration, physical activity, learning each other’s

languages, socializing, imagining, or just reflecting.

The unique aspect of this definition is that physical

activity is not the central role of play. There is no

active play expectation. Oddly enough, in this play

environment, more moderate to vigorous active play

takes place than when structured recess is

implemented or when less recess is offered daily

(Farbo & Rhea, 2021; Farbo et al., 2020).

Although recess has been practiced in the United

States for decades, it has been minimized in schools

around the country today in order to focus on more

content. The trend to reduce or eliminate recess in

schools began in 2002 as a result of “No child left

behind.” This was not the intention of the bill, but had

far reaching consequences since standardized tests

became the way we assessed whether children could

read, write, and do math. As many schools today try

to add recess back into the school day, at least for the

young children, they find many challenges facing

them.

Quantity vs Quality Education

Recess and character skills should be

fundamental strategies required in the schools, but

both have difficulty gaining traction because federal

and state education officials feel the number of

minutes in a classroom is a more productive

experience for learning than the quality of the child

experiences at play and in the classroom. These

officials don’t understand the powers of outdoor play

(Gray, 2017; Yogman et al., 2018) and socialization

through play to boost learning (Farmer et al., 2017;

Lewis et al., 2021). They believe that more time in the

desk is needed to meet district and state standards

and pass standardized tests for all age levels. A state

board of education’s approach is to present a

“quantity” daily schedule for academic success: 120

minutes of English/language arts, 90 minutes of math,

60 minutes of science, and 30 minutes of social

studies rather than a “quality” schedule of content

mixed with other necessary developmental child and

adolescent requirements. There is no research

showing that more minutes in the classroom and a

longer school day without breaks throughout the day

produces better learning. In fact, the research shows

many more negative results: a rise in teacher and

student burnout, higher high school dropout rates,

increased chronic diseases, decreased emotional

stability, and a lack of socialization skills (Morgan,

2017).

Standardized Testing

The underlying force preventing most school

districts from shifting to developmentally appropriate

quality practices children need such as recess breaks

throughout the day and a character lesson daily is

standardized testing. The United States’ educational

system is preoccupied with chasing a test score that

is not developmentally appropriate for all children

and has not shown that it measures what children

know. The teacher and child continually feel pressure

to perform on a test as the foundation of the school

setting instead of developing a school foundation

around the one mechanism that teaches children how

to learn and be socially/emotionally responsible:

regularly scheduled brain breaks in the form of

unstructured, outdoor play.

Many types of assessments can be given over

each school year for different purposes. State level

standardized tests, benchmark testing, and content

tests are used to determine academic success of

students at each grade level. The purpose of content

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tests is to determine content mastery. The purpose of

benchmark testing is to identify students’ academic

strengths and weaknesses to guide future instruction

and support success on other high stakes tests. The

purpose of state standardized tests is to provide an

objective, unbiased assessment of different content

areas. It allows for comparisons to be made among

schools in regards to student achievement,

accountability for teachers, and has the ability to

inform instruction for educators. Schools, on average,

implement 12 district benchmark and state

standardized tests a year, plus all of the content tests

given in each subject area (Lazarin, 2014; Strauss,

2015). What is more unclear and very hard to

measure effectively is how much time is spent on

practicing for all of these tests throughout the year.

Students in K-2 are tested three times as much on

district exams as state exams, and high school

students are tested twice as much on district exams

as state exams (Lazarin, 2014; Strauss, 2015).

Curriculum expectations have also shifted over the

past few decades without considering the

developmental appropriateness of those

expectations.

Past and Present Curriculum Expectations

If we take a look at the 1970s expectations vs

today’s expectations, this is what we would see

(Ames & Francis, 1979; Whitely, 2011):

Then: Half-Day kindergarten was the norm, it was

play-based, and did not include academic standards

or assessments throughout the year. By the end of

kindergarten, students should try to write or copy

letters (Ames & Francis, 1979; Whitely, 2011). By the

end of kindergarten, students should be able to count

as many as ten items and. travel alone for four to

eight blocks (Ames & Francis, 1979; Whitely, 2011).

Now: Full-Day kindergarten is the norm, it is

academics-focused, and benchmark and standardized

assessments are given throughout the year. By the

end of kindergarten, students should “read

emergent-reader texts with purpose and

understanding” (Common Core, 2021). By the end of

kindergarten, students should be able to count as

many as twenty items (Common Core Standard,

2021).

Then: Pre-Kindergarten was day care.

Now: Pre-kindergarten is full-day, academics-

focused on language arts, reading, math, science,

social studies, physical education, and fine arts and

includes benchmarks and assessments throughout

the year.

At some point over the past 40 years,

kindergarten became pre-Kindergarten, first grade

became kindergarten, second grade became first

grade and so on (Scholastic Teacher, 2021). We have

removed the teacher’s ability to assess

developmentally appropriate tasks and have focused

predominantly on content for which children are not

ready. Instead of asking why we are teaching to a test

that is not developmentally appropriate and hasn’t

shown productive results reflective of what children

should know in elementary school grades, politicians

and state/federal education officials want to know

where the results are to show that a model like LiiNK

works. LiiNK has been a research based project

focused on whole child and teacher data for the past

eight years. The results across rural, urban, and

suburban elementary and middle schools have shown

consistent results:

1) Classroom behaviors (Rhea & Rivchun, 2018;

Rhea et al., 2016), attentional focus (Lund et

al., 2017; Rhea & Bauml, 2018), and

happiness (Clark & Rhea, 2017) significantly

improve in the first year of implementation

and continue to improve as they advance

each school year;

2) Social and emotional development is greatly

improved as measured by improved

empathy, less anxiety/distress, improved

happiness with oneself, resiliency, true self-

esteem (belief in oneself even when

challenged), verbal and non-verbal

communication with others, learning each

other’s languages, and appreciation of

nature/outdoors, risky play, and learning

(Clark & Rhea, 2017; Rhea & Bauml, 2018);

3) Decision making skills, critical thinking,

creativity, and problem solving are improved

(Bauml et al., 2020);

4) Improved physical and health related

development, especially healthy body fat

percentages, agility, coordination, balance,

strength, and overall strong bodies are seen

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in the children (Farbo & Rhea, 2021; Farbo et

al. 2020; Rhea, 2016);

5) The teacher and administrator training is

effective. Teachers continue to verbalize that

they can shift their thinking and behaviors to

embrace the outdoors and the cognitive,

emotional, and physical benefits for

themselves and their students (Bauml et al.,

2020).

Research support for LiiNK whole child strategies

In order to show the continual success of a

program like this, LiiNK begins in grades pre-K

through grade 1 in the first year of implementation

and then adds the next grade level each year after

that. Why roll it out this way? When collecting results,

the goal is to report the outcomes of the intervention.

Older children may not have similar outcomes of the

intervention that the younger children have due to

less focus on recess for their prior years in school. If

the results are less impactful for the older children,

education leaders will decide that the intervention is

good for young children, but shouldn’t continue for

older children. That would be a mistake, since the

LiiNK results now show 4th and 5th graders who have

had unstructured, outdoor play throughout the

school day for the last 3-4 years are happier, more

emotionally well-adjusted, more empathetic, are less

overweight and obese, are more physically active

without requirements to do so, and are not losing

ground on content scores compared to children who

don’t get these unstructured, outdoor play breaks

daily and character skills to help them learn more

about themselves and each other.

State and local leaders want to know how this

type of program can gain back the time missing from

the state content minutes required. The assumption

is that children and teachers are intentional and

focused on the number of minutes required every day

throughout the day without recess, specials (physical

education, music, and art), and time to socialize. We

found prior to the start of LiiNK that teachers were

spending approximately two hours daily on

redirecting their students to focus in the classroom.

The students were also more aggressive in the

classroom and on the playground than in years past.

Teachers may be able to cover material daily for the

number of required minutes, but it doesn’t mean the

students are connecting with the material.

Resting the mind is extremely important for

productivity and the ability to focus. Teachers need

regular breaks just as children do. Children will end up

being more productive and creative in their work

(Levitin, 2021), just as teachers will be more

productive and less stressed in their daily interactions

with their students. When a child’s brain is fatigued

and the child is not given time to go outside and

release energy, play, and socialize, the brain will

naturally take a break by daydreaming, fidgeting,

getting up and moving around the room, or causing

distractions with others (Levitin, 2021; Rhea &

Rivchun, 2018; Rhea et al., 2016). Outdoor play

(recess) allows the brain to refresh and release all

those neural circuits that get all bound up when the

child is fatigued. The experience of reading a book

and suddenly realizing the eyes have moved several

paragraphs ahead, but the mind hasn’t retained any

of the information, is the brain checking out for a

break. When children have to sit through a long day

with very few breaks, much of the research has shown

very little learning is taking place due to brain fatigue

(Levitin, 2021; Schwartz, 2014; Yogman et al., 2018).

Instead of placing more importance on recess and

free play time to relieve stress and promote brain

energy, state mandates continue to force schools to

emphasize in-class “learning” over a more nuanced

view of how and why kids learn – recess or free play.

Levitin (2021), a neuroscientist who studies the

brain and fatigue, has found children should not be

overly scheduled, i.e., 2-2.5 hours at a time of

multiple content activities prior to a break. He

believes they should have blocks of time to promote

spontaneity and creativity. Without that time, kids

don’t have the mental space to let new ideas and

ways of doing things arise. Daydreaming and playing

are crucial to develop the kind of creativity many say

should be a focal point of a modern education system

(Medina, 2014; Schwartz, 2014). For teachers and

children, multi-tasking is used quite often to check off

more tasks that have to be done during the school

day. An example of multi-tasking for a teacher may be

as simple as teaching children in the classroom while

handing back assignments. Multi-tasking for a child

could be doing an activity on the computer while

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talking with a peer and listening to music all at the

same time. Research has shown multi-tasking

increases the production of the stress hormone

cortisol as well as the fight or flight hormone

adrenaline which overstimulates the brain and causes

mental fog or scrambled thinking (Greenberg et al.,

2016; Levitin, 2021; Medina, 2014; Poldrack et al.,

2006). There are also metabolic costs when asking the

brain to shift attention from one activity to another.

The prefrontal cortex and striatum burn up

oxygenated glucose which is the same fuel they need

to stay on task. We literally deplete the nutrients in

our brain. This leads to compromises in both cognitive

and physical performance. All of these brain

compromises lead to aggressive and impulsive

behaviors.

Children's brains need active, unstructured,

outdoor time throughout the day to allow for

increased oxygen and glucose to fuel the brain and

continue building neurological highways where the

retention of knowledge exists (Greenberg et al., 2016;

Medina, 2014). The LiiNK recess implementation

shows that students and teachers are focused in the

classroom and accomplish much more in a shorter

period of time than they did prior to the schedule

changes. The school day does not have to be

extended to incorporate this type of model. What has

to shift is the belief that a test score reflects what a

child knows, that all children are developmentally at

the same place by age, and that the classroom is the

sole answer for learning. Allowing teachers to

determine what their children need and focusing on

meeting the developmental needs of the children

would go a long way in changing student outcomes.

Research based school strategies needed for whole

child learning:

1. Every school district should adopt a recess

policy that includes at least four components: 1)

recess should be offered at least twice daily for 15

minutes each – one in the morning and one in the

afternoon; 2) recess should not be removed for

tutoring or punishment; and 3) recess should be

unstructured and outdoors; 4) electronic devices nor

any other reading materials should be used during

this time.

2. Recess should be included in instructional time

requirements daily as mandated by state laws. Recess

is where children learn how to learn, be creative,

critically think, and problem solve. In fact, many

experts argue the most important 21st century skills

aren’t related to specific technologies or subject

matter (school content), but to creativity,

imagination, problem solving, teamwork, optimism,

patience, and the ability to experiment and take risks.

These skills are acquired when kids tinker. Research

shows that given 15 minutes of free play, four and five

year olds will spend a third of this time engaged in

spatial, mathematical, and architectural activities

(Ferrara et al., 2016 ; Ness & Farenga, 2016). This type

of play, especially with building things, helps children

discover and develop key principles in math and

geometry (Ness & Farenga, 2016). As a result of what

they learn on the playground, this knowledge is

transferred into the classroom through writing, math,

and science skills (Ferrara et al., 2016).

3. Change the mindset of teaching to a test at the

district level. With high-stakes testing impacting

every decision teachers make, they are often forced

to teach to the tests rather than to their students. The

quality of the day is lost in practice tests throughout

the year. How much more time could be used for

actual skill development if the tests were removed

from the curriculum objectives?

4. Introduce a strong character development

curriculum that can be taught daily. It needs to focus

on empathy, trust, respect, and a shift to internal

locus of control over external locus of control.

Internal locus of control is when the person makes

things happen. External locus of control is when

things happen to the person. The external control is

more of a victim mindset whereas the internal control

is much more of self-confident, self-driven mindset.

The internal control mindset doesn’t mean a person

won’t fail. It just means that when they do, they will

get back up and try again. Children today have more

of an externally driven motivation rather than

intrinsically driven. Developing good character skills

paired with unstructured, outdoor play can shift

children back to driving their own destiny.

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5. Intentional strategies are a must. An increase

in recess will promote a much more responsible and

focused child. The off-task behaviors will decrease by

20-30% when offered 30 minutes daily which means

the children can come in and get back to work very

quickly. Teachers need to tighten up their student

expectations and realize they can teach in a more

structured way in the classroom with at least two 15-

minute breaks daily and remove the activities they

truly don't need to be doing. Teachers have been

using these activities that don’t meet content

standards over the past couple of decades to keep

children on-task, so transitioning back to meaningful

standards driven lessons without the fluff throughout

the day will take some strategic planning.

Parents, teachers, and administrators have

experienced first-hand the positive impact the

additional recesses have had on their children. The

quality of the school day needs to be the primary

focus for learning. We must get back to basics,

recognizing that we are not focused on

developmental needs of children. Standardized tests

are not a good representation of what children know.

We can’t approach education as a year by year

journey, fighting to meet standardized requirements,

but instead by having an end goal that is truly

representing the child’s best interests. Using the five

strategies above is a good start to a quality education

and healthy, productive, and resilient children.

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intervention pilot in elementary schools. Texas

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Rhea, D.J., & Bauml, M. (2018). An Innovative Whole Child

Approach to Learning: The LiiNK Project®. Childhood

Education, 94(2), 56-63.

DOI:10.1080/00094056.2018.145169.

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Effects of multiple recesses and character curriculum

on classroom behaviors and listening skills in grades

K-2 children. Frontiers in Education, 3(9).

doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.000.

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*Address correspondence to:

Deborah J. Rhea, Ed.D.

Department of Kinesiology

Texas Christian University

Fort Worth, TX 76129

Email: d.rhea@tcu.edu

BY-NC-ND 4.0