Professors Earn Prestigious Fellowships
Milo Obourn and Elizabeth Garner Masarik receive funding from SUNY to promote the education of diversity and gender issues in New York State.
Read the storyProfessors Earn Prestigious FellowshipsInspired by her cultural roots and academic interests, public health major Gabriela Guerrero helped bring a research initiative to elementary schools in Puerto Rico — one that’s transforming recess with nothing more than paint and pavement.
The project, known as Painted Play Spaces, examines how simple changes to the recess area can influence children’s behavior and well-being. By painting games like hopscotch, Four Square, and structured movement stations directly onto blacktops, researchers aim to encourage more active and collaborative play during recess.
The research team at a conference in Puerto Rico
“The research project mainly focuses on the correlation between your built environment and how that can affect physical activity levels,” Guerrero explained.
In 2024, Gabriela was approached by her Puerto Rican kinesiology lecturer, Dr. Christian Martinez, about joining the research project, alongside his colleague Dr. Julie Dearing from the Department of Public Health. The research began in Oklahoma, expanded into the Rochester area, and was in the process of moving to Puerto Rico next.
“He had introduced the idea of the research project because I’m also Puerto Rican,” Guerrero said. “He was like, we would like to have a student from there who can help translate materials and understands the culture.”
The reason for the expansion to Puerto Rico was in part due to a widespread lack of funding for children’s play spaces. Schools struggling with funding are especially apt to benefit from the painting method due to its low cost relative to building and maintaining new playground sets.
“They don’t really have playgrounds. And if any of the schools did have playgrounds, they were not used because they weren’t safe,” Guerrero explained. “They’re not maintained like they are over here. So, the kids don’t really use them.”
After painting the spaces, the research team returned six months later to observe changes in activity levels and behavior. They recorded how many students were sedentary, walking, or engaged in vigorous activity, while noting where students gathered and how they interacted.
While increasing movement was a primary goal, the team quickly began noticing another trend.
“We’ve seen a lot of benefits in the kids’ social-emotional development. They’re a lot better at talking with each other, planning things together, and conflict resolution,” Guerrero said. “Recess is a big part of that for kids. Some states are removing recess from the curriculum, so we kind of just wanted to reinforce the importance of recess for elementary school age children.”
“They’re a lot better at talking with each other, planning things together, and conflict resolution.”
Gabriela Guerrero
The team traveled to Puerto Rico three times — first to present at a conference, then to implement the painted spaces, and finally to conduct six-month follow-ups. The experience allowed Guerrero to merge her academic interests with her cultural identity.
“I’ve grown up going to Puerto Rico. Spanish was my first language,” Guerrero said. “But I’ve always lived in New York, and the cultural connection I gained in a professional setting is something I’m so grateful for because I feel like it has shaped my connection to the island in a completely different way that I would have never had from just visiting my family.”
For Guerrero, watching children use the play spaces she helped create left a lasting impression.
“I’m implementing something. I’m seeing how life is over here for the kids and putting something to change,” Guerrero said. “They’ll come up to you and they’re like, ‘I love this. Thank you so much.’ Just that experience was like, I can’t explain how amazing it is to have this opportunity simply because of school.”
Painted Play Spaces
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