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Part 3 You will hear a student called Ravi talking to his tutor, Dr. Chang, about research he is doing for an assignment on children playing outdoors.
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First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 26.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 26.
DR. CHANG:
Right, Ravi, tell me how the research for your assignment about children's outdoor play is going.
RAVI:
Yes, well, I've been reading about why children spend less time playing outside now than 20 or 30 years ago.
DR. CHANG:
So is it just because of the amount of online time that children have now, which obviously happens indoors?
RAVI:
Well, if that was the case, there'd be a correlation between high Internet use and low levels of outdoor play.
RAVI:
And it's nothing to do with whether there are adequate facilities outside, playgrounds, for example, as any open space will do.
RAVI:
There's perhaps no single more important factor than parental worries about the dangers of vehicles on the streets.
DR. CHANG:
But it could also be that children today prefer playing indoors to outdoors?
RAVI:
Well, a study in Tokyo suggests it's the other way around, that children are spending more time in structured activities and out-of-school clubs than before.
RAVI:
And this has a knock-on effect on...
DR. CHANG:
What's left for outdoor play.
DR. CHANG:
Your premise is that outdoor play is good.
DR. CHANG:
What exactly do you want to focus on in your assignment?
RAVI:
Well, not so much on things that apply to exercise in general, like children's muscles getting stronger because they run around.
RAVI:
And not on what seems, for instance, self-evident, that outdoor play helps children to concentrate on things other than lessons.
RAVI:
I'd like to investigate some of the more unexpected benefits, like to children's digestion.
RAVI:
This is because fresh air tends to stimulate hunger, perhaps leaving to one side the question of whether climbing trees helps educate children about the natural world.
DR. CHANG:
No, not really relevant.
DR. CHANG:
What sort of decisions do outdoor games and activities force children to make?
RAVI:
Well, for example, how they decide how dangerous something might be.
RAVI:
And I'd like to outline the main findings on that.
DR. CHANG:
And as you're arguing that there's been a shift in play patterns over the last generation or so, how are you going to substantiate this?
RAVI:
Surveys have compared parents' recollections of their childhood play 30 years ago with what their children do now.
RAVI:
And the nature of what children do when they are playing outdoors has changed.
RAVI:
Well, surprisingly, it's not so much how often children play outside or preferences for large or small groups, but the fact that the play sessions don't go on for as long.
RAVI:
And games involving one child running after another who tries to get away, these are still as popular as ever.
RAVI:
But one thing that has declined is improvised games.
RAVI:
And I'd like to examine why this might be.
DR. CHANG:
And what about safety?
RAVI:
Well, from my reading, serious accidents are still rare.
RAVI:
More kids hurt themselves falling out of bed than out of trees.
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Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 27 to 30.
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Now listen and answer questions 27 to 30.
RAVI:
I think the decline of outdoor play is a problem, which should worry parents.
RAVI:
I mean, perhaps the children themselves don't miss it.
RAVI:
They may be happy to spend lots of time indoors.
RAVI:
But the links between inactivity and physical problems when they're adults are so well established that I think kids should be encouraged to spend more time outdoors with their brothers and sisters and friends.
DR. CHANG:
What about schools?
RAVI:
Well, what I think they should do differently regarding outdoor play, and it wouldn't actually require a great deal of expenditure, is base their policy on different outcomes, like developing children's confidence, not just thinking about exam results.
RAVI:
Although I don't know how it would go down with the parents.
DR. CHANG:
And do children get more contact with nature in rural areas?
RAVI:
There's research on this by Smith and Barker.
RAVI:
Intuitively, you'd expect children in rural areas to spend more time out in the open.
RAVI:
But in fact, they are generally told to keep off agricultural land.
RAVI:
Plus, there are difficulties with supervision outside towns and cities.
DR. CHANG:
And Smith and Barker's paper was published in...
DR. CHANG:
Not the most up-to-date, but still valid to use.
DR. CHANG:
But you'll need to stipulate very precisely that their focus was, if I remember correctly, just on rural areas.
DR. CHANG:
So you'd need to consider how far their restricted findings might be applicable to urban areas as well.
DR. CHANG:
So now I'd suggest you produce an overview of what you're going to cover...
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That is the end of Part 3.
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You now have 30 seconds to check your answers to Part 3.
