How can Arizona students get crucial recess time when it’s too hot to go outside?

PHOENIX – Arizona law requires schools to provide two recess breaks a day for K-5 students, but it’s not safe to send kids outside when temperatures reach over 100 degrees.

However, it can hinder students’ ability to learn if they don’t have a chance to blow off steam during the school day, according to Allison Poulos, an assistant health solutions professor at Arizona State University.

Poulos told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday that schools often will offer indoor breaks in the classroom when it’s too hot outside, but that doesn’t always replace the physical activity that comes with an outdoor recess.

“We worked with five elementary schools across the Valley over a period of six weeks that we measured children’s emotional state immediately after recess. … What we found is that children’s positive emotional state was significantly higher when the kids were outside during recess or when recess was held in gyms compared to when it took place inside classrooms,” she said.

Poulos added that when students spend recess in classrooms, they spend 71% of the time sitting.

Solving the problem of recess in Arizona’s heat

Poulos suggested two ways to get kids the space to run around without compromising their health while temperatures soar.

She said the first is using resources like the gym or hallway and encouraging physical activities like dancing or games during that time.

The Arizona Department of Health Services has a booklet providing suggestions for indoor recess activities that get kids moving.

The second suggestion from Poulos is to increase the schoolyard’s shade coverage.

The schools in Poulos’ study had shade over about 18-20% of their outdoor yards.

“Other researchers have done work in this space and found that across the U.S., schoolyards generally have about 30% of their outdoor areas covered in shade,” she said. “So, this is definitely an area that can be improved.”

There are grants for shade structures in schoolyards available through organizations like the American Academy of Dermatology Association.

Poulos said this not only provides a time and place for kids to run around, but it also improves their work in the classroom.

“We know that children’s emotional state is the key indicator and their ability to learn,” she said. “Those with more positive, stable emotions are better able to focus, learn and retain information. And we know that when kids are able to get outside to play, get physical activities (and) interact with friends, the emotional states improve.”

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

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