How can play improve learning?
That is a question the Healthi Kids Coalition explored Wednesday at the Playful Learning Summit at the Memorial Art Gallery.
The theme of the event was “Joy in Motion,” and it focused on using play, creativity and recess to reimagine the learning process for students.
Sharon Peck, a play advocate with Common Ground Health’s Healthi Kids Coalition said aspects of play like movement and healthy risk-taking are essential for students’ development and cognitive functioning.
“Kids are more open to learning, more open to struggling with learning and that cognitive dissonance that happens, and more willing to participate and communicate and learn communication through play,” Peck said.
Rochester sixth grader Gina Vazquez Soto, one of the younger panelists at the event, said the way that teachers include play in lessons could be more thoughtful. For her, a big part of play is having outside time, which isn’t always an option during the school day.
“Play during class time, sometimes it's fun, but sometimes it's also boring, because you don't get to, like, go outside and enjoy the fresh air,” Vazquez Soto said.
Vazquez Soto described play as something that’s treated as a reward rather than a necessity. And her vision for this upcoming school year is one where daily recess is a guarantee.
"Where we don't get recess taken away from us, and that just because of kids' behaviors, that we still get recess, and that they also still get recess,” Vazquez Soto said.
Vazquez Soto, who turns 12 this week, said that sometimes recess is taken away from a class when students act out or don’t listen to instructions.
According to the city school district’s wellness policy, recess cannot be withheld as punishment.
“Physical activity and recess shall be made available to all students, including those with disabilities, special health care needs, and in alternative educational settings,” the 2022 policy reads. “Understanding that physical activity is critical for learning and development, school principals shall enforce the prohibition against opportunities for play and physical activity from any student as a form of punishment.”
However, Healthi Kids Coalition argues that not all classrooms have followed that policy. The coalition also notes that outside of school, access to outside play is unequal depending on a student’s zip code.
“Beyond the classroom, it is not a given for all students in our community that they have safe places to play outside of school,” the Coalition stated on its Rescue Recess webpage. “In fact, just 25% of families we surveyed within the city limits of Rochester believed their students had great places to play in their neighborhood, compared to 65% of suburban families in Monroe County.”
The Playful Learning Summit comes just weeks ahead of the new school year, and included the voices of teachers, parents and some students.
