tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/school-playgrounds-18042/articlesSchool playgrounds – The Conversation2022-02-14T20:03:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1759862022-02-14T20:03:11Z2022-02-14T20:03:11ZHow recess helps students learn<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445989/original/file-20220211-15-l0twvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C4004&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Giving kids time outside for physical and social activity helps them get ready to learn.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/weaverville-elementary-school-students-play-during-recess-news-photo/1228186292">Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As parents and schools seek to support <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcv2.12005">students’ social and emotional needs</a> – and teach them what they need to learn – some education leaders are missing one particularly effective opportunity.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Education has offered guidance on <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/documents/coronavirus/lost-instructional-time.pdf">how to help students navigate the stress and trauma</a> of the pandemic and readjust to in-person schooling after long periods of closed schools. But as someone <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=73yFKNcAAAAJ">who studies recess</a> in connection with child development, I couldn’t help but notice recess was missing from the federal guidance and from many local efforts to support students as the pandemic continues to unfold.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1249%2FMSS.0000000000001936">physical activity</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2019.1633924">social connection</a> that take place at recess help children’s brains work and develop properly by lowering their levels of stress, regulating their nervous system and allowing them to be more engaged once back in the classroom. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Children play on a playground structure" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445756/original/file-20220210-13-zgmqri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many school playgrounds were closed during the pandemic. This one in Brentwood, Calif., reopened in May 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/school-board-member-nick-melvoin-and-local-district-west-news-photo/1316128584">Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG, MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stress and the brain</h2>
<p>The brain function of a person in a calm state is largely governed by the prefrontal cortex, which handles what are often called “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415622634">executive functions</a>” and the ability to regulate behavior and emotions. This makes it possible for people to follow instructions, use context clues to solve problems, pay attention and incorporate new information into existing knowledge. People with higher levels of executive function tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.01.014">perform better in school</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1076/chin.9.4.267.23513">feel better about themselves</a>. </p>
<p>The brain function of a person under high levels of distress shifts to less advanced areas of the brain that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2010.00145.x">handle more reactive behaviors</a>. This disrupts those executive functions and can make the person withdrawn, distractible or hyperactive. All of those can interfere with the person’s ability to learn.</p>
<p>This stress-related shift in brain function can also affect students’ motivation. Chronic, prolonged and unpredictable stress <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s12276-020-00532-4">inhibits the release of dopamine</a>, a brain chemical that helps people feel a sense of pleasure and reward during learning. In this state, learning challenges are likely to be perceived as threats, which will continue to activate more reactive brain regions and more deeply hurt the person’s ability to learn.</p>
<h2>3 ways recess helps learning</h2>
<p>The opportunity to spend time outdoors playing is so important that the <a href="https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/convention-text-childrens-version">United Nations has declared it a right of every child</a>. My research collaborators and I have found that when children have recess in a safe environment that includes positive interactions with adults and peers, students have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13065">fewer problems with executive functions and better classroom behavior</a>. Brain science research supports this by showing how three <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.03.001">different aspects of recess decrease stress</a> and improve executive function, helping children learn more successfully throughout the school day.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C5025%2C3335&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A child wearing a mask kicks a soccer ball in the air as other kids stand nearby" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C15%2C5025%2C3335&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445754/original/file-20220210-25-1925t95.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When students have time to play outside during school, their brains return to class more ready to learn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakCalifornia/a6276d557ed04e26b57b6baaa7f934c7/photo">AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ol>
<li><p>My research shows kids get a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.07.005">large proportion of their outdoor and movement time</a> at recess. We know that getting more physical activity at school is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021766">better for executive functions and can actually increase academic performance</a> </p></li>
<li><p>My research also shows that recess is full of repetitive and patterned movements – <a href="https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-018-3861-0/tables/2">running and chasing, swinging, playing ball games and jumping rope</a> – which <a href="https://www.childtrauma.org/_files/ugd/aa51c7_9f78028438d44cf7b5aac0ac8639de4f.pdf">restore students’ access to higher-level brain</a> functions. This is why multiple recess opportunities each day, at regular intervals, can improve students’ <a href="https://jkw.wskw.org/index.php/jkw/article/view/98/174">attention, learning and overall well-being</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Recess is a time when kids can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2014.932504">form meaningful relationships</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543063001051">practice social skills</a> – which can be critical to <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1037%2F0022-0663.100.1.67">success in school</a>.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Research clearly shows the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00537.x">benefits of recess for children</a>. Consistent, predictable recess time – even more than once a day – helps children reduce stress, form social connections at school and get their brains more ready to learn.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Massey has received funding from S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation; U.S. Play Coalition, Playworks. </span></em></p>The physical activity and social connection that take place at recess help children be more engaged once back in the classroom.William Massey, Assistant Professor of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1753202022-01-26T19:06:54Z2022-01-26T19:06:54ZOnce a form of ‘social camouflage’, school uniforms have become impractical and unfair. Why it’s time for a makeover<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442383/original/file-20220124-19-wn67w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C17%2C5982%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the start of a new school year looms, school uniforms are being dusted off or new ones bought. At the same time, age-old debates about the pros and cons of school uniforms are being dusted off, too. </p>
<p>But questions about practicality, cost or conformity tend to overshadow the bigger underlying issue of how uniforms – and rules about wearing them – actually affect educational outcomes. </p>
<p>In other words, does wearing (or not wearing) a uniform contribute to students being mentally well, physically comfortable, healthy and active – and therefore better equipped to learn?</p>
<p>After all, academic learning is a key reason children go to school in the first place. Given the heated arguments and the insistence on particular types of garments being worn, we might expect uniforms to directly enhance academic performance. </p>
<p>They don’t. There is no persuasive evidence that school uniforms are among the factors that <a href="https://visible-learning.org/2009/02/visible-learning-meta-study/">directly improve learning</a>. However, there is evidence uniforms might indirectly support <a href="https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/school-discipline-school-uniforms-and-academic-performance">classroom management</a> – for example, by helping remove distractions so students settle more quickly to their tasks. </p>
<p>Instead of arguing about whether uniforms are good or bad, then, let’s refocus our energy on making better garment designs and fairer school uniform rules, with an eye to supporting educational outcomes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442395/original/file-20220124-26263-1ue67r2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442395/original/file-20220124-26263-1ue67r2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442395/original/file-20220124-26263-1ue67r2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442395/original/file-20220124-26263-1ue67r2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442395/original/file-20220124-26263-1ue67r2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442395/original/file-20220124-26263-1ue67r2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442395/original/file-20220124-26263-1ue67r2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uniforms as a form of class disguise: an illustration of students in a classroom from The Illustrated London News in 1891.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>From equality to equity</h2>
<p>Since there’s no direct link between uniforms and academic achievement, why insist on dressing students the same? History provides some of the answer. </p>
<p>In the 19th century, when school uniforms became common alongside compulsory education, a kind of equality was achieved by treating all students the same. Uniforms provided “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16823206.2012.692211">social camouflage</a>” by removing outward signs of class differences. </p>
<p>One enduring benefit of school uniforms is that they reduce “competitive dressing” by students – the social pressure to wear certain clothes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-wearing-a-school-uniform-improve-student-behavior-51553">Does wearing a school uniform improve student behavior?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Nowadays, however, the debate about uniforms sidesteps the issue of how treating students the same is not necessarily the same as treating them fairly. In fact, the research highlights a need for equity: to achieve more equal outcomes can require treating students differently.</p>
<p>Logically, if equality and sameness were directly correlated, school uniforms and school uniform policies should have a neutral or positive impact on all students. But this <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34692181/">isn’t the case</a>. </p>
<p>Garment design or policies about which garments can be worn when and by whom disadvantage poorer students, girls, religious minorities and gender-diverse students. Together, these student groups make up over half the school population. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442396/original/file-20220124-27-1rlsj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442396/original/file-20220124-27-1rlsj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442396/original/file-20220124-27-1rlsj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442396/original/file-20220124-27-1rlsj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442396/original/file-20220124-27-1rlsj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442396/original/file-20220124-27-1rlsj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/442396/original/file-20220124-27-1rlsj5l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Studies have shown girls are more active when wearing a sports uniform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Students are not uniform</h2>
<p>We know uniforms are less expensive than non-uniform alternatives over a student’s total school career. But the high upfront cost of uniforms can be a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40841-016-0046-z">significant burden</a> for students from low-income families. </p>
<p>Some students even attend on alternate days because they <a href="https://www.schoolnews.co.nz/2020/02/four-siblings-sharing-one-uniform-new-survey-shines-light/">share a uniform with a sibling</a>, or skip school until they can buy a missing uniform item. It’s a sad irony that the very tool meant to encourage equal access to education has become a barrier for some even before they walk through the school gates.</p>
<p>But beyond the cost, uniform design and policy can directly affect girls’ ability to participate in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18377122.2012.666198">physical activity</a> or <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21940211/">lunchtime play</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-schools-want-all-students-to-look-the-same-75611">Why do schools want all students to look the same?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At a basic level, boys simply don’t risk flashing their underwear if they bike to school in regulation uniform. By contrast, girls’ uniforms often restrict a full range of movement and inhibit playtime sports or the ability to enjoy the jungle gym. </p>
<p>Studies have shown girls are more active when wearing a sports uniform (over and above timetabled sport) than on ordinary uniform days, and are more <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15568318.2016.1253803?journalCode=ujst20">willing to bike</a> or <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326191558_Transport_behaviours_among_older_teenagers_from_semi-rural_New_Zealand">choose active transport</a> if they have a sports-style uniform.</p>
<p>For older girls, feeling comfortable and not exposed is a key factor in participating in sports or games at break times. Yet some schools still offer no alternative choice to a skirt. For overweight children, unflattering clothing can create a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0017896919846182">disincentive</a> to participating in physical activity. </p>
<p>Religious minority groups, despite being members of the school community, are often not accommodated by school uniform design and policy. And inflexible school uniform policies routinely ignore the needs of transgender students. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/4-reasons-schools-should-let-students-wear-sports-uniforms-every-day-161653">4 reasons schools should let students wear sports uniforms every day</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Better uniforms for better learning</h2>
<p>Clearly, <em>same</em> treatment no longer means <em>fair</em> treatment. We should rethink our approach to equity and allow for flexibility to achieve similar outcomes.</p>
<p>Indeed, all students could benefit from a general rethink, from ensuring uniform garments are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29199473/">sun-safe</a> to allowing students to dress for the weather conditions. There’s no need to freeze during an unseasonable cold snap in November simply because it’s school policy that summer uniforms must be worn in summer months. </p>
<p>Ultimately, we should get beyond binary debates about whether school uniforms are good or bad, and focus on improving uniform garments and policies with equity, well-being and fairness in mind.</p>
<p>This means designing uniforms that are comfortable to wear, allow free movement, permit physical activity and encourage active transport choices to and from school. </p>
<p>Above all, uniform wearing should support mental and physical comfort and, most importantly, learning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175320/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johanna Reidy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Debating whether school uniforms are good or bad sidesteps a bigger issue: students – especially girls – need better designed garments that support their learning and well-being.Johanna Reidy, Lecturer, Department of Public Health, University of OtagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1175862019-05-23T20:00:14Z2019-05-23T20:00:14ZLet them play! Kids need freedom from play restrictions to develop<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276009/original/file-20190523-187147-18qxn70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Playing in nature improves children's learning, social and emotional skills.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/ZcA4ai3bRSk">MI PHAM/unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You may have heard of play. It’s that thing children do – the <a href="https://www.journalofplay.org/issues/8/3/article/2-active-play-exploring-influences-children%E2%80%99s-school-playground-activities">diverse range</a> of unstructured, spontaneous activities and behaviours. </p>
<p>Children play in many ways, including by exploring movements, constructing with equipment, creating games, using imagination and chasing others around a playground. </p>
<p>The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child <a href="http://ipaworld.org/childs-right-to-play/uncrc-article-31/un-convention-on-the-rights-of-the-child-1/">recognises play</a> as every child’s basic right. But play is becoming extinct. Global <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281200820">studies</a>, <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ985541">across</a> <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-4446.12369">generations</a>, have confirmed outdoor children’s play has been declining, across all age groups, for decades.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276015/original/file-20190523-187189-17nwk76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276015/original/file-20190523-187189-17nwk76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276015/original/file-20190523-187189-17nwk76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276015/original/file-20190523-187189-17nwk76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276015/original/file-20190523-187189-17nwk76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276015/original/file-20190523-187189-17nwk76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276015/original/file-20190523-187189-17nwk76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276015/original/file-20190523-187189-17nwk76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Play is every child’s basic right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unstructured play improves <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14729679.2018.1436078">learning</a> and <a href="https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol39/iss1/6/">social</a> and <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811047374">physical</a> development. Providing a variety of play options, improved play access and fewer restrictions can encourage <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-4738-1_14">children to engage</a> in physical activity with peers in line with their imaginations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-suburban-parks-offer-an-antidote-to-helicopter-parenting-115155">Why suburban parks offer an antidote to helicopter parenting</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Play is becoming extinct</h2>
<p>Australian <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211335519300518">children’s active or independent</a> travel <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733285.2015.1082083">has been declining</a> over the past two decades, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140517306643">consistent with other</a> countries. </p>
<p>There are many reasons researchers are describing child’s play as “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733285.2016.1140126">endangered</a>” and “<a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.1225">extinct</a>”. These include more use of electronic devices and parents wanting to protect children from strangers, traffic, pollution and bullying. </p>
<p><a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.1225">Research also points to</a> a low awareness of the importance of play, more pressure on children to do well in class and more restrictions on play. Hectic schedules, such as parents’ jobs and children’s extra-curricular activities, may also contribute. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276013/original/file-20190523-187189-b6teoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276013/original/file-20190523-187189-b6teoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276013/original/file-20190523-187189-b6teoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276013/original/file-20190523-187189-b6teoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276013/original/file-20190523-187189-b6teoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276013/original/file-20190523-187189-b6teoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276013/original/file-20190523-187189-b6teoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276013/original/file-20190523-187189-b6teoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fewer children are cycling or walking to school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Parents <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2304/ciec.2004.5.1.10">have reported</a> their children are playing outdoors far less than they used to when they, themselves, were children. Parents are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14733285.2013.779839">noticing fewer children</a> walking and cycling to school or actively playing after school. </p>
<p>Modern parents are more likely to accompany children, by driving them to school, attending their excursions, supervising them on school grounds, or keeping them indoors altogether.</p>
<p>More than <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL">half</a> of the world’s population lives in cities. Urban environments are prone to decreasing play opportunities with less open, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042815000580">natural spaces</a> for outdoor play. </p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>Children have fewer <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042815000580">opportunities to engage</a> with nature. Providing more <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/497/htm">contact with nature</a> can enhance children’s creativity, boost their mood, lower stress, improve well-being, promote physical activity and improve attention spans.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/497/htm">Nature play</a> is also becoming more important as a counterbalance to children’s technological saturation. It is important for children to connect with nature early, as they are then likely to learn to appreciate nature into adulthood.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/children-are-our-future-and-the-planets-heres-how-you-can-teach-them-to-take-care-of-it-113759">Children are our future, and the planet's. Here's how you can teach them to take care of it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In primary school, children spend around 30 hours per week at the school and have more than <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811047374">4,000 recess periods</a>. If play opportunities are becoming limited around the home and community, <a href="https://www.journalofplay.org/issues/8/3/article/2-active-play-exploring-influences-children%E2%80%99s-school-playground-activities">schools</a> are the best place for children to meet their play requirements.</p>
<h2>How schools can help</h2>
<p>Research <a href="https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol39/iss1/6/">shows</a> introducing simple objects from around the home (such as milk crates, pipes and wooden planks) into school playgrounds may influence children to work cooperatively. They discover new ideas and solve problems by constructing, observing, designing and learning from each other.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/children-need-to-play-outdoors-but-were-not-letting-them-31295">Children need to play outdoors, but we're not letting them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Providing more options for children to play outdoors ensures they are <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-4738-1_2">intellectually challenged</a> and engaged to find new ways to use such spaces for discovery. If loose play equipment, such as balls, bats and blocks, isn’t available children can still use what nature provides, such as twigs, leaves, rocks, feathers, petals, mud and sand.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14729679.2018.1436078">diversity of outdoor objects</a> and features offers children a variety of shapes, sizes and locations they can use to discover, explore and invent games or designs. It’s better for play objects not to be fixed as this helps with exploration, discovery and creativity. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_pot8EhKUdI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">How three UK schools have improved playgrounds through natural play materials and landscapes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many Australian <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2013.807568">school playgrounds are fixed</a> in the same spot. But new and replenishing play opportunities are important for children. For schools and parents to maximise children’s play, play environments <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14729679.2018.1436078">should include</a>:</p>
<ul>
<li>spaces for thinking, so school children can make discoveries, learn and be intellectually engaged</li>
<li>spaces for doing, so school children can take moderate risks, undertake play challenges and extend themselves physically </li>
<li>spaces for being, so school children can be themselves away from the confines of classroom walls or overly restrictive rules, regulations and routines</li>
<li>spaces for feeling, so school children can explore and independently embrace their senses and play decisions with a diversity of colours and features. </li>
</ul>
<p>The <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/">Australian Curriculum</a> recognises the importance of play and outdoor <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/curriculum-connections/">learning</a>. Ensuring children can access quality outdoor play <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03004279.2016.1152282">can help align</a> with national curriculum objectives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117586/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendon Hyndman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children need to play and discover the world for themselves without too much restriction. Here are some ways we can enhance children’s opportunities to do this.Brendon Hyndman, Senior Lecturer and Course Director (Postgraduate Education courses), Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1019432018-09-17T12:51:55Z2018-09-17T12:51:55ZHow playing on swings can help children understand physics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232911/original/file-20180821-149463-i45ft6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Swings can be educational tools.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> KHONTHO8/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To children in Zimbabwe, they’re <em>mzeerere</em>. Kids in Eswatini call them <em>mjikeni</em>; their South African counterparts refer to the <em>mswinki</em>. The words may be different, but the experience is the same: children love to play on swings.</p>
<p>What they may not realise is that they’re learning while playing. The swing allows children to physically experience a wide range of physics concepts: <a href="https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/1DKin/Lesson-1/Speed-and-Velocity">velocity</a>, <a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/gpot.html">gravitational potential energy</a> – the sort of energy that allows a large swinging mass to be used to break down buildings – weightlessness, period of swing and the rush of wind resistance.</p>
<p>Many of these concepts, then, are known to children – in their vernacular languages. But in some cases, like acceleration or angular velocity or acceleration, there may be no equivalent term in their own language. This means that formal school physics comes with its own terms; language far removed from children’s out-of-school experiences on the playground.</p>
<p>Research and the sort of educational approach used in, for instance, Montessori and similar have shown that play is a valuable form of learning. Practical experience causes learning in more than just the mind; it develops skills.</p>
<p>I wanted to know whether trainee physics teachers at a South African university had ever understood the link between playground experiences and formal physics concepts during their own school days. This could imply they are likely to show the same link to their students. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18117295.2018.1479620">My study</a> showed that there was no deliberate explanation of the link between play and science. This is a shortcoming of teacher training programmes. Teachers must be able to analyse and explain the application of science principles in the games that children like to play and use this knowledge in the learning and teaching of science. </p>
<p>The way science is currently taught in southern African countries ignores the fact that the whole environment is a laboratory for learning.</p>
<h2>Teachers’ experiences</h2>
<p>The integration of out-of-school experiences with formal school science is one of the missing links in the teaching of science. Science is all around us in our out-of-school experiences. Play is a major activity that occupies the minds, time and energies of people at school age. </p>
<p>My study focused on the experiences of pre-service teachers at the University of Limpopo in South Africa. Eight student teachers were interviewed after I’d established that they grew up playing on swings. They were also able remember how they learned about the concepts in formal physics. I wanted to know if there was a link between these two things for them.</p>
<p>The student teachers told me that their own physics teachers never referred to pupils’ playground experiences when discussing concepts like the pendulum. This meant the pupils didn’t easily connect swing play with the idea of the pendulum.</p>
<p>It’s not just swings that provide valuable Physics lessons. Several other playground games directly apply Physics principles that children struggle to understand in school. For instance, the see-saw directly applies the moments of forces. The bicycle has many physics principles of motion, balance, forces, velocity ratios and mechanical advantage. </p>
<p>When it comes to the swings, children often create their own games. They’ll twist the swing, then allow it to unwind. They’re experiencing angular momentum; the idea of masses in circular motion. Players make themselves dizzy on the swing, then stagger and fall – the winner is whoever remains standing. In this way they relate physical balance of the body to its rotation.</p>
<p>Jumping from the swing to land as far away as possible from its resting position allows players to experience projectile motion, range, height and wind friction. The farthest jump wins the game. This implies that the concept of distance measurement is tacit in children’s playfield experiences.</p>
<h2>Finding different words</h2>
<p>In all these experiences, children develop words in their languages to communicate various aspects of the game. While the words may differ from the terms used in physics as a school subject, the concepts are the same. For example, <em>“nako”</em> is time in the Sepedi language and it is used to mean the time for the swing to go from one extreme to the other. In physics, this concept is known as period of swing and relates to the frequency of a swinging object. </p>
<p>The “lessons” learned on a swing mean that a Pedi child, for instance, will carry a deeper understanding of the pendulum (“<em>nako</em>”) into their school lessons. That same child will understand the physics of <em>mswinki</em> better, too. School and play become a continuum.</p>
<p>But this is only true if teachers are able to identify the value of swing play to learning, and to explicitly draw links between the two. My research suggests this isn’t happening very often.</p>
<h2>Teaching the teachers</h2>
<p>My research suggests that it’s important to rethink science education so that it becomes more relevant to children’s lived experiences in play, work and around the house.</p>
<p>Teacher training needs to go beyond the content of science to include applications in learners’ everyday experiences. This enables science to enrich the lives of learners.</p>
<p>Out-of-school experiences are also practical problem-solving opportunities where the systematic scientific method is constantly applicable. Schools without laboratories can benefit by changing teachers’ and learners’ mindsets to recognise the world as one big laboratory and science as an unending systematic engagement with the real world. </p>
<p><em>Author’s note: Professor Israel Kibirige co-authored the research study on which this article is based.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work was supported by the Department of Higher Education (grant number R792).</span></em></p>The way science is currently taught in southern African countries ignores the fact that the whole environment is a laboratory for learning.Francis Mavhunga, Lecturer, Physics Education, University of EswatiniLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/805882017-07-09T23:46:34Z2017-07-09T23:46:34ZThe Supreme Court, religion and the future of school choice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177157/original/file-20170706-10491-1qzlnvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=588%2C109%2C4472%2C3110&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Supreme Court's decision in the Trinity Lutheran case is blurring the lines between church and state.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chiangmai-thailand-march-222015-two-boys-262562096?src=V_7R_iqvQZsrSIcdYp1ZIA-1-3">aradaphotography/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Supreme Court <a href="https://apnews.com/a494b90c0244404183483df6a8618a66">recently decided</a> that Trinity Lutheran Church should be eligible for a Missouri state grant covering the cost of recycled playground surfaces. Though the state originally rejected the church’s application on grounds of separation of church and state, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2016/15-577">the Supreme Court ruled</a> that this rejection was, in fact, religious discrimination.</p>
<p>The case’s impact will probably reach well beyond playgrounds.</p>
<p>As a scholar of education law, I’ve been following the Trinity Lutheran case and what it could mean for the hottest issue in education: school choice. Where in the past states have decided for themselves whether religious schools are eligible for <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/voucher-law-comparison.aspx">school vouchers</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/tax-credits-school-choice-and-neovouchers-what-you-need-to-know-74808">scholarship tax credits</a>, the Trinity Lutheran decision likely signals that the Supreme Court will soon require states to include religious private schools in their programs.</p>
<p>This would be a huge win for school choice advocates and would complete a revolution in the Supreme Court’s understanding of the law on government funding of religious institutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177159/original/file-20170706-10491-10ce14v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177159/original/file-20170706-10491-10ce14v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177159/original/file-20170706-10491-10ce14v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177159/original/file-20170706-10491-10ce14v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177159/original/file-20170706-10491-10ce14v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177159/original/file-20170706-10491-10ce14v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177159/original/file-20170706-10491-10ce14v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activist group Concerned Women for America shows support for Trinity Luthern Church in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Of church playgrounds and discrimination</h2>
<p>In 1995, Missouri established <a href="https://dnr.mo.gov/env/swmp/tires/tirefinassistance.htm">a program offering reimbursement grants</a> to qualifying nonprofits that installed playground surfaces made from recycled tires. Trinity Lutheran Church, which runs a preschool and daycare center, applied for a grant in 2012, but the state rejected the church’s application. Why? The <a href="http://www.moga.mo.gov/mostatutes/ConstArticles/Art01.html">Missouri Constitution</a> states that “no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect or denomination of religion.”</p>
<p>Trinity Lutheran challenged the state’s decision as a violation of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/free_exercise_clause">the Free Exercise Clause</a>, and in June the U.S. Supreme Court <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-577/opinion3.html">agreed</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177217/original/file-20170706-23390-q29erx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177217/original/file-20170706-23390-q29erx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177217/original/file-20170706-23390-q29erx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177217/original/file-20170706-23390-q29erx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177217/original/file-20170706-23390-q29erx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177217/original/file-20170706-23390-q29erx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177217/original/file-20170706-23390-q29erx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Scrap Tire Surface Material Grant was awarded to two applicants in the 2017 fiscal year.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ssedro/384644450/in/photolist-5afdGE-aMshTP-6bUGGs-7qgcDn-6cdYdp-68FByJ-kFYcYp-6ci7wL-kFYe6z-6uUeDY-kGZtwT-6uUeFo-kFYeti-7Yn2fJ-6uUeFY-6uUeRu-6uUeZo-6uQ4w2-6uQ4r2-kFZMmq-6uQ4gv-6uUeN5-6uQ4qF-6uUeKE-6uUeYu-zZpoS-6uQ4k4-6uUeUW">ssedro</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This result will strike many as <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/26/opinions/religious-liberty-battle-shapiro-opinion/index.html">intuitively correct</a>. A playground is a playground whether or not it’s run by a church, so the threat to separation of church and state seems slim, and the cry of religious discrimination seems plausible.</p>
<p>The case’s reasoning, however, may signal a significant shift in how the law views the separation of church and state. To understand why, we need to review some history.</p>
<h2>1784: Three pence to religious education</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177225/original/file-20170706-18401-1n6qfpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177225/original/file-20170706-18401-1n6qfpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177225/original/file-20170706-18401-1n6qfpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177225/original/file-20170706-18401-1n6qfpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177225/original/file-20170706-18401-1n6qfpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177225/original/file-20170706-18401-1n6qfpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177225/original/file-20170706-18401-1n6qfpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177225/original/file-20170706-18401-1n6qfpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=933&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1785, James Madison wrote his ‘Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,’ asserting that religion should be kept separate from government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96522271/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1784, <a href="https://classroom.monticello.org/media-item/a-bill-establishing-a-provision-for-teachers-of-the-christian-religion/">Patrick Henry proposed a bill</a> in the Virginia legislature that would have levied a tax to support “teachers of the Christian religion” (i.e., ministers). James Madison, however, <a href="https://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/primary-source-documents/memorial-and-remonstrance/">successfully opposed the bill</a>.</p>
<p>On the question of funding religion with tax money, Madison asked: “Who does not see that the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?”</p>
<p>More than 150 years later, in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/330us1">Everson v. Board of Education</a> (1947), this controversy played a prominent role in the Supreme Court’s interpretation of <a href="http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/first-amendment-and-religion">the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177151/original/file-20170706-26461-13r9rs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177151/original/file-20170706-26461-13r9rs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177151/original/file-20170706-26461-13r9rs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177151/original/file-20170706-26461-13r9rs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=749&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177151/original/file-20170706-26461-13r9rs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177151/original/file-20170706-26461-13r9rs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177151/original/file-20170706-26461-13r9rs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Justice Hugo Black in 1937.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b00098/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In applying the Establishment Clause to states for the first time, the justices in the Everson case emphasized Madison’s objections to the Virginia tax in concluding that the framers of the Constitution had intended to establish “a wall of separation between Church and State.”</p>
<p>In <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/330/1/case.html">the Everson decision</a>, Justice Hugo Black interpreted this “wall” to mean:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The Supreme Court changes its tune</h2>
<p>Until the mid-1980s, the Supreme Court <a href="http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1335&context=ijgls#page=20">mostly adhered</a> to the no-funding mantra announced in the Everson case. Gradually, however, the court’s commitment to such hard-line separation waned.</p>
<p>Much of this came down to a shift in perception: The 21st century is very different from the world of the 1780s, where government was small and taxes relatively rare. Today, government is pervasive, and government money flows to a wide range of institutions. Increasingly, the Supreme Court recognized that allowing some money to flow to religious institutions via general government grant programs was <a href="http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1335&context=ijgls#page=19">quite different</a> from the Virginia tax Madison had opposed.</p>
<p>By <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2001/00-1751">2002</a>, the court had settled on its current approach to the Establishment Clause – an approach <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2009/05/14/shifting-boundaries-the-establishment-clause-and-government-funding-of-religious-schools-and-other-faith-based-organizations/">much more permissive</a> than what was laid out in the 1947 Everson case.</p>
<p>Fast-forward to 2017, and seven justices agreed that giving Trinity Lutheran Church its playground grant would not violate the federal Establishment Clause. (Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-577/dissent7.html">dissented</a> on this point.)</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177179/original/file-20170706-18989-16xcvlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177179/original/file-20170706-18989-16xcvlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177179/original/file-20170706-18989-16xcvlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177179/original/file-20170706-18989-16xcvlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177179/original/file-20170706-18989-16xcvlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177179/original/file-20170706-18989-16xcvlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177179/original/file-20170706-18989-16xcvlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=580&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ralph Reed, chairman, Faith & Freedom Coalition, pictured at an event in 2014, has spoken in favor of Trinity Lutheran Church.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Molly Riley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>State bans on funding religion</h2>
<p>So, the Supreme Court now holds a more forgiving position when it comes to separation of church and state. But what about individual states?</p>
<p>Nearly every state has provisions in its constitution that address state support for religion, and many of these provisions (like Missouri’s) are more stringently worded than the federal Establishment Clause. Such a provision is exactly why students in <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/vt-supreme-court/1396322.html">Vermont</a> can’t use state funds to attend religious schools. It’s also, perhaps, why some states have not yet adopted voucher policies: Voucher advocates tend to want religious schools to be eligible, but <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2017/01/why_michigan_doesnt_have_school_vouchers_and_probably_never_will.html">state constitutions often stand in the way</a>.</p>
<p>So, what happens if state constitutional law is more separationist than the Supreme Court’s current reading of the Establishment Clause?</p>
<p>The Supreme Court faced this question once before in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2003/02-1315">Locke v. Davey</a> (2004). The state of Washington offered “Promise Scholarships” to students meeting certain academic and income criteria, and college student Joshua Davey met those criteria. He lost the scholarship, however, when he declared a major in “pastoral ministries” because Washington understood its state constitution to ban the use of public money to support the pursuit of any degree in “devotional theology.” In other words, Washington was taking a stringent view on separation of church and state.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177165/original/file-20170706-13395-1qn3hn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177165/original/file-20170706-13395-1qn3hn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177165/original/file-20170706-13395-1qn3hn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177165/original/file-20170706-13395-1qn3hn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177165/original/file-20170706-13395-1qn3hn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177165/original/file-20170706-13395-1qn3hn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177165/original/file-20170706-13395-1qn3hn5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joshua Davey speaks to reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. in 2003.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Dennis Cook</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Davey argued that excluding ministry students from the scholarship opportunity was a kind of religious discrimination, violating his right to freely exercise his religion. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 against Davey. <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/540/712/opinion.html">Chief Justice William Rehnquist explained</a> that in a federal system, states should have the right to insist on greater separation of church and state than the federal Establishment Clause requires.</p>
<p>While federal law would not prevent Washington from giving Davey a scholarship, the state could also choose to uphold its stricter separation – without violating the Free Exercise Clause. In other words, just because Washington could fund Davey didn’t mean that it had to.</p>
<h2>Does separationism equal discrimination?</h2>
<p>Since 2004, lower courts have generally interpreted Locke v. Davey to say that states <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-1st-circuit/1459164.html">may choose</a> to exclude religious applicants from public funding programs. Trinity Lutheran will change that.</p>
<p>At least six justices agreed that Missouri’s exclusion of the church from its grant program was religious discrimination, pure and simple – and that this trumps the state’s desire to enforce a strict separation of church and state. <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-577/opinion3.html">Justice Roberts</a> determined that the judgment in Locke did not apply here, as the discrimination alleged in the two cases was different. Justices <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-577/concur4.html">Thomas</a> and <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/582/15-577/concur5.html">Gorsuch</a> suggested that there was improper religious discrimination in both cases. </p>
<p>Despite their different views of Locke, these justices agreed that the court was required to analyze Missouri’s grant denial under “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/strict_scrutiny">strict scrutiny</a>.” This is the same level of review the court would give to, for instance, an express ban on Muslims entering the country.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177166/original/file-20170706-26461-1j76yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177166/original/file-20170706-26461-1j76yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177166/original/file-20170706-26461-1j76yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177166/original/file-20170706-26461-1j76yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177166/original/file-20170706-26461-1j76yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177166/original/file-20170706-26461-1j76yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177166/original/file-20170706-26461-1j76yqi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In his opinion in the case, Justice Roberts stressed the differences between Locke v. Davey and Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Stephan Savoia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is remarkable. Though Joshua Davey had asked the court to review Washington’s scholarship policy under strict scrutiny, the court declined to do so. In that decision, the justices determined that separation of church and state and religious discrimination were horses of a different color. The Trinity Lutheran decision suggests that, at least in the context of general funding programs, the court will now view separation of church and state – a position the court once wholeheartedly embraced – as a kind of religious discrimination.</p>
<h2>What happens next?</h2>
<p>Standing against this reading of the Trinity Lutheran decision is… well, a footnote. Footnote 3 in Justice Roberts’ opinion reads:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“This case involves express discrimination based on religious identity with respect to playground resurfacing. We do not address religious uses of funding or other forms of discrimination.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The footnote suggests that the implications of the decision are narrow and shouldn’t be applied to, say, school vouchers. But it’s hard to reconcile the footnote with the seemingly widespread ramifications of the opinion’s text.</p>
<p>Indeed, the day after deciding the Trinity Lutheran case, the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/062717zr_6537.pdf">vacated</a> four lower court decisions in <a href="https://www.courts.state.co.us/userfiles/file/Court...Court/Opinions/.../13SC233.pdf">Colorado</a> and <a href="http://www.nmcompcomm.us/nmcases/nmsc/slips/SC34,974.pdf">New Mexico</a> that allowed the exclusion of religious schools from general aid programs. The state courts had based their rulings on separationist language in their state constitutions, but the Supreme Court asked the states to reexamine those decisions in light of Trinity Lutheran. Given the Supreme Court’s treatment of these cases, Footnote 3 may not be much of a limitation after all.</p>
<p>The Colorado and New Mexico courts will have the first shot at deciding what Trinity Lutheran means for school choice. In my view, though, the Trinity Lutheran case signals that the Supreme Court will now generally treat separationist exclusions of religious institutions from government funding as religious discrimination.</p>
<p>If that’s right, we’ll soon have completely flipped the law on government funding of religious schools. Where it had once seemed fairly clear that government money could not be used to support religious instruction at all, it may be only a matter of time before the Supreme Court requires voucher programs to treat religious schools the same as their secular peers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John E. Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Trinity Lutheran case signals the Supreme Court’s willingness to interpret separation of church and state as religious discrimination. What will this mean for the future of vouchers and school choice?John E. Taylor, Professor of Law, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/435782015-07-03T09:59:44Z2015-07-03T09:59:44ZAt Kidzania, kids get real life lessons in work, money, consumerism – and debt<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87145/original/image-20150702-11323-52vl4y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As the doors open, children rush to spend their Kidzos. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kidzania</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You pass through immigration to reach <a href="http://london.kidzania.com/en-uk/">Kidzania</a> – the 75,000 sqft “edutainment” venue for children that has just opened at Westfield shopping centre in London’s Shepherd’s Bush. And when I say immigration, I mean immigration – Heathrow-style – in perfect miniature. </p>
<p>Everything about this sprawling city, built to a child’s scale and designed to offer kids aged four to 14 the opportunity to experience the world of work through role play, is meticulously attentive to detail. </p>
<p>There is no attempt to soften the language that accompanies a transit through Britain’s borders in the 21st century. We pass the same Enhanced Security sign, advising that body scans and screening may be required, and a Kidzania employee in full border force garb attends the immigration desk. </p>
<p>It is an irony that in the current political climate accompanying the world of work and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uk-tumbles-out-of-top-ten-in-key-immigration-ranking-44091">migration</a> in the UK, children must pass through immigration in order to access the opportunity to participate in the employment role play offered by Kidzania. But once they do, they can try any one of 60 occupations, from working a news desk to being a paramedic. </p>
<p>This is London, a city which Xavier Lopez, Kidzania’s Mexican founder, admits is one of the toughest in the world to crack for kids’ entertainment and his biggest challenge to date. </p>
<h2>Getting down to work</h2>
<p>British Airways provide a slick check-in desk, exactly like a real airport. Here, entry tickets purchased online or in advance – which cost up to £22 per head – are exchanged for a boarding pass, a handful of Kidzos, the currency used in the mini-city, a Bank of Kidzania debit card and an electronic tag that is affixed to every child’s arm. </p>
<p>Work experiences are advertised at a job centre, where a personality test suggests suitable occupations. “Artists” are encouraged to try out the radio station (a Capital FM in miniature); “inventors” are sent to the power plant, while “communicators” are directed to the H&M store to become stylists. University courses can be taken to boost earning power. </p>
<p>Supply and demand of jobs means that more popular occupations decrease in value. You can earn 12 Kidzos playing receptionist in a hotel, but must pay ten Kidzos to be a pilot on a real plane, complete with flight simulator. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87146/original/image-20150702-11331-oc5mih.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87146/original/image-20150702-11331-oc5mih.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87146/original/image-20150702-11331-oc5mih.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87146/original/image-20150702-11331-oc5mih.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87146/original/image-20150702-11331-oc5mih.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87146/original/image-20150702-11331-oc5mih.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87146/original/image-20150702-11331-oc5mih.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Using the bank.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kidzania.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Collectives form as children pool their currency to make bigger purchases in the gift shop, or make larger groups to unlock work experiences that require a number of bodies to get started. There is a nod to the dark side of consumer economies in a mock advertising hoarding offering ToothfairyKidzo Loans. These cash advances on your milk teeth come complete with an eye-watering APR of 688%. However, children can’t actually take out any loans. </p>
<p>This is a world where “Kids Rule”, but safety is paramount to how the attraction is promoted to parents as a secure and educational space to leave children while they take themselves off into the real mall to shop and relax for a few hours. </p>
<p>This combination of education, safety and a child-centred approach is clearly a winning one. Kidzania has 19 outlets in five continents and has had 42m visitors through its doors. With its Mexican origins, it also heralds a refreshing shift in the flow of children’s entertainment brands from the hegemony of dominant western players to one that has its origins in the global south. </p>
<h2>Playing at consumerism</h2>
<p>The educational value of Kidzania is rooted in the idea of <a href="http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/experience.htm">experiential learning</a>, whereby children learn through first-hand activities and practical experiences, contextualising knowledge and applying skills developed. </p>
<p>The ethos of making a space in which children are encouraged to make their own decisions and take their experiences into their own future deploys the approach of education and play movements such as <a href="http://www.reggiokids.com/the_reggio_approach.html">Reggio</a>, and open-access adventure playgrounds, run along child-centred “<a href="https://playeverything.wordpress.com/play-and-playwork/playwork-principles/">playwork principles</a>”. </p>
<p>But in Kidzania, there is much that diverges from the risky and nature-based ethos of these approaches, not least the total absence of green space. This is a city without parks or nature of any kind. </p>
<p>In many respects, Kidzania is the kind of play performance that play <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674005815">theorist Brian Sutton-Smith</a> has described as flow experience: preparation for adult lives whose central purpose is individualistic consumer subjectivity. There is no critical engagement with the less palatable consequences of market economies, such as unemployment, debt and inequality. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87143/original/image-20150702-11327-jzuwx6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87143/original/image-20150702-11327-jzuwx6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87143/original/image-20150702-11327-jzuwx6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87143/original/image-20150702-11327-jzuwx6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87143/original/image-20150702-11327-jzuwx6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87143/original/image-20150702-11327-jzuwx6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87143/original/image-20150702-11327-jzuwx6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Getting taught how to fight fires.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kidzania</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also glaringly absent is any consideration of the positioning of advanced consumer societies within wider global systems of resource and labour extraction. Yes, there are notices from NGO partner Water Aid on the doors of toilet stalls with messages about children dying from a lack of access to clean water, but these seem to be connected to a world “out there” that is somehow separate from this one. </p>
<h2>Privatised play spaces</h2>
<p>Mick Waters, president of the Curriculum Foundation, has given Kidzania a glowing endorsement, saying that it: “offers an opportunity for young people to start to understand the way in which the economy works in society”. As a privatised play space, in which participation is predicated on one’s ability to muster the resources to enter, an unintentional lesson is imparted about how the economy works in society to exclude certain people, or include them on an unequal footing. </p>
<p>Ironically, the open-access model of the adventure playground, whose child-centred ethos shares much with Kidzania’s, is deeply at risk from funding cuts and the privatisation of play. Elsewhere in London, the playground in Battersea was <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/the-council-playground-in-london-that-costs-20-a-time-9071437.html">recently closed down</a>, and its play workers made redundant. It re-opened divided into an unstaffed playground and a private adventure attraction, replete with hefty entrance fee. </p>
<p>Yet despite these caveats, there is an energy to Kidzania that indicates it offers something that is lacking in the way in which society engages children. KidZania is a truly extraordinary opportunity to play adult roles with real equipment in a gloriously detailed city in miniature. The children here are obviously relishing the chance to be agents in an adult world with which they are deeply familiar – but from which they are largely excluded. They queue up patiently to open bank accounts, and wait their turn to work on the tills in the replica supermarket. </p>
<p>As anthropologist Maurice Bloch’s <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Anthropology_and_the_Cognitive_Challenge.html?id=JgBULwEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">classic work </a> on cognition and learning demonstrated, it is in the practice of everyday life itself that learning how to operate in a society occurs. But what is the everyday life that Kidzania presents as the real world? As a glossy market utopia, complete with border controls, perhaps the true message of Kidzania is that the world can be your oyster – provided you have the money, or the contacts, to get through the gates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43578/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominique Santos is affiliated with Hummingbird Play Association, a South African voluntary association that runs pop up playgrounds in inner city Johannesburg, and advocates for child-friendly planning policy.</span></em></p>Inside the theme park where kids have to play at real jobs to earn a living.Dominique Santos, Lecturer in Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/435412015-06-25T20:22:13Z2015-06-25T20:22:13ZAre our school playgrounds being wrapped in cotton wool?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85871/original/image-20150622-17765-1rd6oh7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For fear of injury and lack of space, playgrounds are becoming unimaginative and uninspiring.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/themickeyd/3897908555/">Ron McDonald/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol40/iss6/4/">New research</a> has found that fears of playground accidents such as falls has led to considerable changes in school playgrounds, reflecting a climate of over-policing and surplus rules and regulations. This month it <a href="http://www.3aw.com.au/news/dad-chases-money-after-chasey-crash-at-brighton-east-school-20150604-ghh6s6.html">was reported</a> that a father is suing his son’s school for a playground accident in which his son ran into a wall.</p>
<p>With schools increasingly facing litigation for accidents on their playgrounds, protecting students from physical dangers is becoming paramount. The leading cause of children being hospitalised – <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129549323">38% of child hospitalisations in 2011/2012</a> – is physical play injuries.</p>
<p>However, wrapping kids in cotton wool does not allow them to develop the essential skills of risk-taking, learning from mistakes, problem-solving and facing challenges and failures. Such trial and error can be fundamental to negotiating life’s challenges and overcoming them.</p>
<h2>How playgrounds are changing</h2>
<p>Schools across Australia are changing their play rules to shorten play times (such as lunch and recess breaks), eliminating play spaces (such as trees, fixed equipment, tyres) to make room for classroom space, merging facilities to severely reduce play space, and implementing rules that restrict creative, diverse and active play (such as running, cartwheels, kicking and throwing balls).</p>
<p><a href="http://cie.sagepub.com/content/11/3/263.refs">Playground activities in many schools</a> have become more policed, organised, structured and adult-directed. The age at which children are permitted to play unsupervised has been increasing; there is an increased likelihood children will be driven or accompanied during their play activities; and play activities are becoming more adult-organised and indoors.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85869/original/image-20150622-17715-1ay8ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85869/original/image-20150622-17715-1ay8ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85869/original/image-20150622-17715-1ay8ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85869/original/image-20150622-17715-1ay8ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85869/original/image-20150622-17715-1ay8ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85869/original/image-20150622-17715-1ay8ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85869/original/image-20150622-17715-1ay8ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85869/original/image-20150622-17715-1ay8ci8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most school play areas these days look something like this: not much room for games or equipment to get injured on. And nothing fun to play with.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/82887550@N00/2539775770/">Carl Spencer/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why restricted play is a bad thing</h2>
<p>Students can lose their confidence in physical activity if there is a growing culture of adult overprotection. Many Australian <a href="http://cie.sagepub.com/content/11/3/263.refs">studies</a> and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1473328032000168813">reports</a> describe the harmful influences on students from a culture of “surplus safety”. </p>
<p>School playgrounds that are more student-directed, encourage unstructured play freedom and possess less rules <a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2135&context=ajte">have resulted</a> in <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669760802699878#.VYPJyPmqqko">improved playground behaviours</a> and <a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/53398/play_and_folklore_no61_april_2014.pdf">reduced occurrence of injury</a>. </p>
<p>Students I interviewed for my research reported boredom can lead to frustration and anger, which can lead to injuries in the school playground. Restricting student opportunities to overcome school playground risks can have the opposite effect for teachers who seek to create an environment protected from danger. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14729679.2013.798588">Some research out of Sydney</a> reported that parents are often unaware that restricting child’s play could have <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669760802699878#.VYdPGFWqpHw">negative effects</a> on a child’s [cognitive health (such as mental health impairment) and social development (such as bullying).</p>
<h2>Let kids play free</h2>
<p>Playgrounds that are less restrictive <a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2135&context=ajte">can enhance student engagement</a> with and learning of a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09669760802699878#.VYPJyPmqqko">range of physical, cognitive and social skills</a>. </p>
<p>Students often perceive that overcoming elements of danger is an important aspect of school playground activities. By students taking risks, they enhance engagement, decrease boredom and provide movement opportunities to confidently improve physical activity habits. </p>
<p>The introduction of loose parts within a school playground is an emerging student-directed strategy to provide a variety of play options and choices for students to ensure playground boredom is prevented.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85864/original/image-20150622-17721-1v5x0im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85864/original/image-20150622-17721-1v5x0im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85864/original/image-20150622-17721-1v5x0im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85864/original/image-20150622-17721-1v5x0im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85864/original/image-20150622-17721-1v5x0im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85864/original/image-20150622-17721-1v5x0im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85864/original/image-20150622-17721-1v5x0im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85864/original/image-20150622-17721-1v5x0im.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Introducing moving parts to playgrounds means kids can be creative and don’t get bored.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author Provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Loose parts materials such as milk crates, hay bales and tyre tubes (such as via the <a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2135&context=ajte">LEAP program in regional Victoria</a>, a whole-school playground of loose parts materials) allow students to develop their own school playground areas and activities, using low-risk, movable obstacles to creatively engage in an imaginative and diverse range of activities. </p>
<p>Teachers originally perceived there would be increased safety risks associated with using loose parts materials, yet <a href="http://sydney.edu.au/health-sciences/sydney-playground-project/">decreased injuries and misbehaviour</a> were reported within both the LEAP intervention and Sydney playground project.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85865/original/image-20150622-17721-o2zw3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85865/original/image-20150622-17721-o2zw3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85865/original/image-20150622-17721-o2zw3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85865/original/image-20150622-17721-o2zw3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85865/original/image-20150622-17721-o2zw3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85865/original/image-20150622-17721-o2zw3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85865/original/image-20150622-17721-o2zw3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85865/original/image-20150622-17721-o2zw3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Loose play items like crates and hay bales are positive for improving injury rates and misbehaviour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A school in New Zealand trialled reducing school playground rules that related to risks of children getting hurt or making a mess. This included rules banning the building of huts, riding skateboards and scooters, climbing trees, play fighting, sliding down mudslides, using stair rails as monkey bars and restricting students to certain areas. They found <a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/pages/53398/play_and_folklore_no61_april_2014.pdf">positive effects including</a> reduced injuries and misbehaviour.</p>
<p>Reducing this increasing focus on safety rules and restrictions could be vital to ensuring the health, learning and development of our next generation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendon Hyndman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research has found that fears of playground accidents such as falls have led to considerable changes in school playgrounds, reflecting a climate of over-policing and surplus rules and regulations.Brendon Hyndman, Lecturer in Education (Primary Teaching & Learning), Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.