Abstract
It has been revealed that the design of school playground facilities often results from parent/teacher collaboration and from principal decisions . Reliance on adults in the design and planning of students’ playground activity environments can lead to undesired settings that can have long-term consequences for students’ social and emotional development. In addition, students may believe they have little influence on the set-up of their school playground for desired activities . Students’ perceptions are an important consideration for researchers , teachers and schools when planning school playground environments for activities. Despite students generally being the main consumers of such environments during sport , health , physical education and non-curricular periods, adults are often the decision makers when planning school physical activity environments. This chapter will outline a range of recommendations put forward by both primary and secondary school students.
‘It is important that students perceive they have an influence on the set-up or school playgrounds to engage in desired activities ’
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Chancellor, B. (2013). Primary school playgrounds: Features and management in Victoria, Australia. International Journal of Play, 2(2), 63–75.
Dyment, J. E., & Bell, A. C. (2007). Active by design: Promoting physical activity through school ground greening. Children’s Geographies, 5(4), 463–477.
Dyment, J. E., Bell, A. C., & Lucas, A. J. (2009). The relationship between school ground design and intensity of physical activity. Children’s Geographies, 7(3), 261–276.
Hyndman, B. (2016). A qualitative investigation of Australian youth perceptions to enhance school physical activity: The Environmental Perceptions Investigation of Children’s Physical Activity (EPIC-PA) study. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 13(5), 543–550.
Hyndman, B., Telford, A., Finch, C., & Benson, A. (2012). Moving physical activity beyond the school classroom: A social-ecological insight for teachers of the facilitators and barriers to students’ non-curricular physical activity. Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online), 37(2). doi:10.14221/ajte.2012v37n2.2.
Hyndman, B., Telford, A., Finch, C., Ullah, S., & Benson, A. C. (2013). The development of the lunchtime enjoyment of activity and play questionnaire. Journal of School Health, 83(4), 256–264.
Malone, K., & Tranter, P. J. (2003). School grounds as sites for learning: Making the most of environmental opportunities. Environmental Education Research, 9(3), 283–303.
Ozdemir, A., & Yilmaz, O. (2008). Assessment of outdoor school environments and physical activity in Ankara’s primary schools. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28(3), 287–300.
Rayner, J., Rayner, M., & Laidlaw, A. (2013) Children’s participation in designing landscapes–examples from Melbourne, Australia
Ridgers, N. D., Salmon, J., Parrish, A.-M., Stanley, R. M., & Okely, A. D. (2012a). Physical activity during school recess: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 43(3), 320–328.
Ridgers, N. D., Knowles, Z. R., & Sayers, J. (2012b). Encouraging play in the natural environment: A child-focused case study of Forest School. Children’s Geographies, 10(1), 49–65.
Stanley, R. M., Boshoff, K., & Dollman, J. (2012). A qualitative exploration of the “critical window”: Factors affecting Australian children’s after school physical activity. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 10, 33.
Stellino, M. B., Sinclair, C. D., Partridge, J. A., & King, K. M. (2010). Differences in children’s recess physical activity: Recess activity of the week intervention. Journal of School Health, 80(9), 436–444.
Willenberg, L. J., Ashbolt, R., Holland, D., Gibbs, L., MacDougall, C., Garrard, J., Green, J. B., & Waters, E. (2009). Increasing school playground physical activity: A mixed methods study combining environmental measures and children's perspectives. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 13(2), 210–216.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hyndman, B. (2017). What Students Want Within School Playgrounds to Be Active and Healthy. In: Hyndman, B. (eds) Contemporary School Playground Strategies for Healthy Students. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4738-1_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4738-1_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4737-4
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4738-1
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)