The CDC (2016) recommends children engage in 60 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily to achieve health benefits. Recess in school settings can provide opportunities for children to try and meet these guidelines. However, research suggests that recess alone does not increase physical activity levels. To combat this problem, antecedent manipulations (e.g., manipulating the physical environment or introducing planned activities) are commonly implemented as an intervention to increase physical activity. These interventions, however, do not provide salient consequences for physical activity to ensure the likelihood that these behaviors will occur again in the future. A more promising approach might be to develop interventions that assess the use of group contingencies in an effort to increase physical activity during recess time. The purpose of the current study was to implement the Step it UP! game (a modified version of the good behavior game) in three different classrooms during their recess periods and to evaluate the effect of group contingencies on physical activity levels in elementary school-aged children. The Step it UP! game was compared to traditional recess periods (i.e., without the game) in an alternating treatment design. The overall results of the study indicated that the Step it UP! game engendered higher mean step counts than traditional recess periods. These results suggest that schools should provide contingent reinforcement for children’s increased physical activity during recess.

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According to recent studies, the number of schools that have severely limited or eliminated recess and free-play opportunities is on the rise across the nation. School officials cite the increasing levels of state and federal pressure to perform on standardized tests as the primary reason for this shift away from the playground. The threat of lawsuits and safety concerns are also listed as factors in this change of policy. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the perceptions of directors of schools, supervisors, principals, assistant principals, teachers, and students regarding recess and free play in three East Tennessee school systems. Representative schools were chosen from each system and examined. In addition, results from standardized test scores as provided by the state of Tennessee were examined for the selected schools. The findings of this study revealed that directors, supervisors, principals, teachers, and students were in favor of recess and stated that offering recess and free-play opportunities provided some benefit to students. Even so, two schools in the study had chosen to limit recess and free-play opportunities to varying degrees whereas the third school maintained a policy of recess breaks. In examining the test data, the two schools that had limited recess were found to have lower test scores than the school that had maintained the integrity of recess. Other factors could attribute to the lower scores. The findings did reveal that limiting recess appeared to offer no significant gain in scores just as providing recess did not appear to cause any decrease in test scores. Stakeholders interviewed expressed the perception that the benefits of having recess outweighed any potential threat of time lost in the classroom. Recommendations for further research include repeating this study in other school settings on a larger scale to see if the same results are realized.

Bakgrunden till studien baseras på aktuell forskning om barns hälsa, sociala utveckling och samspel. Barndomen kan vara avgörande för en individs framtida hälsa. Skolan är under denna tidsperiod en viktig arena som når ut till större delen av landets barn. Tidigare forskning om barn har till stor del utgått från ett vuxet perspektiv, vilket inneburit att den verkliga målgruppens upplevelser kan ha gått förlorade. Den här studien avsåg därför att belysa barns perspektiv. Studiens syfte var att undersöka elevernas egen uppfattning av skolrasten med en inriktning på socialt samspel elever emellan samt med vuxna. För att besvara syftet valdes en metod med kvalitativ ansats och fokusgruppsintervjuer som insamlingsmetod. Totalt fyra fokusgruppsintervjuer sammansatta av totalt 17 elever genomfördes. Studiens resultat presenteras under huvudkategorierna Socialt samspel i relation till vuxna samt Lek och gemenskap elever emellan. Det visade elevernas upplevelser av skolrasten och de samspel som uppstår elever emellan och med vuxna. Det framkom att den här period i livet är en tid för träning och inlärning av metoder för kommunikation och sociala normer. Både vuxennärvaro och makt att kunna påverka sin situation beskrevs som viktig faktorer för elevernas välbefinnande. Utifrån resultatet sammanställdes en konklusion som motiverar vikten av elevernas möjlighet att påverka sin situation för att de ska uppleva god hälsa. Rasten är viktig för eleverna och deras välbefinnande. Genom att prioritera hälsa tidigt hos barn ger bra förutsättningar för god hälsa genom hela livet. / The background to this study is based on current research about the health of children, social development and interplay. Childhood may be crucial to an individual’s future health. During this period of time school is an important arena that reaches most of the country’s children.  Previous research about children is mainly formed out of an adult perspective, and due to this the experience of the actual primary group may have been lost. Therefore, this study intended to illustrate the perspective of the children. The purpose of the study was to investigate the students’ own experiences of the recess in school with focus on the interplay between the students and to the adults. To answer the purpose of the study a method of a qualitative approach and focus group interviews were selected. A total of four focus groups composed out of 17 students were completed. The results of the study are presented under the main categories Social interaction in relation to adults as well as Play and solidarity between students. It shows the students experience of the recess in school and the interplay between the students and in relations to the adults. It appears that this period in life is a time for practice and learning methods for communication and social norms. It turns out that the presents of adults and the power to be able to affect your own situation both are important factors for the well being of the students. Based on the result a conclusion is compiled that motivates the importance of students possibility to affect their own situation and experience good health. The recess is important for the students and their well being. By making a health early among children a priority better presumptions for good health all through life is given.

Pupils’ participation and influence in school by means of recess. We believe that recess and recess activities are an important arena for the leisure center'steaching. Therefore, in this study, we have investigated students' and teachers' perceptions of recess activities and its possibilities to offer students the right to democratic exercise from a leisure center perspective. Through interviews and surveys, students who do not feel involved within recess have been made visible.The thoughts and expressions of these students and educators have a joint contribution to insight into the possibility of recess activities as an arena for inclusive work, but also what obstacles exist. By having activated a relational perspective, a norm-critical perspective as well as children's perspective and child perspective in our analysis, our conclusion is that a broader intercultural approach, a distinct professional language and clearer consensus in the design of recess are needed. We hope that this study will contribute to a professional development of recess. A development where established terms and concepts regarding participation and influence become part of educators' daily work. We believe this would lead to more extensive democratic work where more students are enabled to participate and exercise influence.