Therefore, this study investigated the effect of recess on students' time on task in a fifth grade classroom. The findings suggest that providing fifth grade students with at least a 25-minute period of recess can increase students' time on task in the classroom. While administrators in the United States are under pressure to reduce recess, educators in other parts of the world, such as Shanghai, China, are challenging this conventional wisdom.
Meanwhile, time devoted to physical activity among U.S. elementary schools is rapidly declining, leaving elementary school students less active during the school day than ever before. While time for physical activity is booming in other parts of the world, recess is declining for elementary school students in the United States. However, few studies examine the effect recess has on students' time on task in the classroom, before and after a recess period.
These anecdotal observations led the researcher to believe that studying the effects of recess on fifth grade students' time in the classroom was necessary and relevant for educators, administrators,.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Although research supports daily physical activity for youth, “scheduled time for daily recess in the United States has been in decline” (Springer et al., 2012, p. 318). However, it is important that educators, politicians and parents are aware of the invaluable opportunity that physical activity provides during the academic school day. Many children do not have the opportunity to participate in physical activity outside of school, and “most American children do not meet the recommendations for physical activity” (Ling et al., 2014, p. 248).
Ling, King, Speck, Kim, and Wu (2014), assessed the physical activity levels of 1,508 children from four rural elementary schools. The results of the study showed that 1.6% of women and 1.1% of men included in the study met the physical activity recommendations at baseline. A similar study by Robinson, Wadsworth, Webster, and Bassett (2014) examined the physical activity behaviors of elementary school children during the school day in the Black Belt region of Alabama.
Ridgers, Stratton, and Fairclough (2006) reported that recess can contribute between 5% and 40% of children's recommended daily physical activity. In Springer et al.'s (2013) study, all data were derived from measuring the physical activity levels of low-income third-grade students from predominantly Hispanic schools in central Texas. Therefore, the survey data are not representative of the physical activity levels of the demographics of all elementary schools.
The study by Erwin et al. (2014) examined the “effect of recess interventions on children's physical activity levels,” looking at. The study by Ling et al. (2014), exploring the effect of a healthy lifestyle intervention on students' physical activity, was only. As the weather improved, students may have had greater opportunities to engage in physical activity.
All the mentioned research investigated the relationship between the level of physical activity of students and the time allocated to breaks in primary schools. Energy balance can only be established through increased physical activity and a healthy diet (Ling et al., 2014, p. 248). A break during the school day provides students with an opportunity for physical activity.
Short, structured breaks throughout the school day have been shown to improve physical activity levels, academic performance, and concentration (Barr-Anderson et al., 2011).
METHODOLOGY
ON (on duty) – Behaviors on duty, such as answering questions asked by the teacher or the teacher's assistant, looking at or writing the learning materials used during the time interval, getting help from the teacher or the teacher's assistant, raising your hand. and. OFF – Off-task behavior, such as tapping a pencil or playing with materials, staring into space, playing with hair, laying head down, scribbling on paper, talking to a classmate when group work was not assigned , talking to the teacher when not asked a question about the assigned work, singing or talking aloud to herself, being out of place or walking around the classroom when not instructed to do so, working on unassigned tasks, lying down or looking around the classroom. Twelve observations of the on-task and off-task behaviors of six female and six male fifth-grade students were conducted by the researcher in a fifth-grade classroom before recess for 30 minutes and in the school library or with the regular art teacher. .
For each 5-minute interval, the researcher documented whether the student was on-task or off-task for the majority of the 5 minutes. Observations were documented in numerical format through an on-task and off-task frequency diagram. From the observations, specific numbers from the on-task and off-task frequency chart were used to interpret the data and create graphs representing the results of students' on-task or off-task behavior before and after a 25-minute break.
A task frequency chart was used by the researcher during each observation period, with each of the twelve participants noted as being on or off task. This was determined by analyzing the behavior exhibited for the majority of the 5-minute time interval. For example, if a participant spent the majority of the 5-minute time interval (more than 2.5 minutes) whispering with another student and then got up to sharpen a pencil, the code for “off-task” was set a circle around.
If a participant spent the majority of the 5-min time slot focused on completing assigned work, the code for “on-task” was circled. At the final data collection, the number of minutes each participant spent on and off-task was averaged, both before and after recess. Two double bar graphs were created to show the average number of minutes each participant spent on and off the task.
The average number of minutes each participant spent on task before and after the break was also converted to a percentage and used to create a table identifying each participant's average percentage of time on task before the break, average percentage of time on task after the break, and the average increase in time on duty from before to after the break. Double bar graphs and tables were then compared to determine the overall effect recess had on the fifth graders' on-task time in the classroom.
RESULTS
Student 1 spent an average of 21.25 minutes more on-task than off-task in the 30-minute observation period after recess. This participant spent 85.4% of the time on task after the recess which was a 37.5% increase in time on task from before the recess. This participant spent 56.2% of the time on task after the recess which was a 37.5% increase in time on task from before the recess.
This participant spent 75% of the time on task after the break, but this was only a 10.5% increase in time on task from before the break. This participant spent 60.4% of the time on task after the break, which was a 39.6% increase in time on task from before the break. This participant spent 70.8% of the time on task after the break, which was a 43.8% increase in time on task from before the break.
This participant spent 60.4% of time on task after the break, which was 35.4% more time on task than before the break. Student 6 spent an average of 7.5 minutes on the pre-break task and 18.125 minutes on the post-break task, a 10.625 minute increase in on-task time from pre-break to post-break time. This participant spent 66.6% of time on task after the break, which was 29.1% more time on task than before the break.
Student 7 spent an average of 11.25 minutes on the task before recess and 20 minutes on the task after recess, which is an 8.75 minute increase in time on task from before recess to after recess. This participant spent 77% of the time on task after the break, which was a 43.7% increase in time on task from before the break. This participant spent 81.2% of the time on task after the break, which was a 29.2% increase in time on task from before the break.
This participant spent 81.2% of time on task after the break, which was a 35.4% increase in time on task from before the break. This participant spent 66.6% of time on task after the break, which was a 31.2% increase in time on task from before the break.
DISCUSSION
After the break, the percentage of time each participant spent on task ranged from 56.2% to 85.4%. On average, participants' time on task increased by 33.7% when observed immediately before and immediately after a rest period. Similar to the results of previous research studies (Jarrett et al., 2002; Pellegrini & Bohn, 2005; Ramstetter et al., 2010), the results of this study support the theory that after a break period, students are able to stay in task for a longer period of time.
Contrary to many arguments used by schools to eliminate recess time, the findings of this study show that recess positively affects fifth grade students' homework time in the classroom. The findings of this study revealed a positive relationship between fifth graders' participation in recess and increased time on task in class. A third limitation of this study is the time of day that students participated in a rest period.
If recess had been offered earlier or later in the school day, the findings of this study might have been different. This study only examined the in- and out-of-school behaviors of twelve fifth graders, but the behaviors of other fifth graders may have varied based on academic ability, classroom management, personal interests, or health status. Minimal distraction was intended to ensure that participants' on- and off-task behavior truly reflected their typical classroom behavior and were not influenced by the observations.
The amount of rest time given to the participants is another limitation of this research study. Some tasks may be considered much more engaging and interactive, which may lead participants to demonstrate more behaviors during the task. The results of this research study show that recess participation increased fifth graders' time on task in the classroom.
This validates previous studies which suggest that recess has a positive effect on the time on task of primary school pupils. School reform: The role of physical education policy in physical activity of elementary school children in Alabama's black belt region.
