I have written extensively about the negative impact of stress during the early years of a child’s life, but this new study describes also the possibilities as it seems that there is a positive effect of active learning at a young age. This is an impressive longitudinal study, although the amount of participants isn’t that… Read More How the first five years of life help shape the brain
The title of this post may seem a bit strange for some and obvious for others, but I do think it’s an interesting extra dimension to something we’ve known for quite a while now: (toxic) stress at a young age can have a huge effect on the development of the brain, and therefore it’s not… Read More Where you live as a child, can have a negative impact on your brain
The simple answer? Often not. The longer answer? Check this new study. From the press release: Log on to any app store, and parents will find hundreds of options for children that claim to be educational. But new research suggests these apps might not be as beneficial to children as they seem. A new study… Read More Are educational apps for children any good?
Sleep and exercise have been two important worries about children for the past few decades, for sure in relation to obesity. New research from the University of South Australia shows that the same decline in body mass index may be achieved by either extra sleep or extra exercise with some extra insights! From the press… Read More What’s better for children: sleep or exercise?
Mindfulness has been a hype for quite a while, also in education. I wouldn’t call it a myth, as I know research that do show benefits, but it often comes with a warning that for some children – most often the children who are having difficulties already – it can have negative consequences. But now… Read More Can mindfulness make you selfish?
There is a new systematic review study on a topic that is highly relevant to the present situation. High‐quality evidence shows that, on average, school‐based interventions aimed at students who are experiencing, or at risk of, academic difficulties, do improve reading and mathematics outcomes in the short term. This is in line with a previous… Read More School-based interventions can help improve reading and math in at-risk children
As I child I watched way too much television. Besides helping me learn to speak and write a personal kind of English, what has been the result? A new report assesses the values emphasized by television programs popular with tweens over each decade from 1967 to 2017, charting how 16 values have waxed and waned… Read More How has television been shaping the values of our children?
It seems that so often Corona has made existing problems worse, often in the form of a domino-effect. This new study shows the gender gap between mothers and fathers in the labor force has grown significantly since the onset of the pandemic, especially in states where elementary schools primarily offered remote instruction. From the press… Read More How school closures worsened the gender gap
My wife and I have been reading together with our children for over a decade. Once and a while we used a digital book, but most often paper was our first choice. This new meta-analysis and review by Furenes, Kucirkova, & Bus shows that this was a good choice as digital books may harm young… Read More New meta-analysis and review: Digital books can harm young children’s learning (but this shouldn’t be the case)
I learned a long time ago that in Flanders a good reputation of a school can go back thirty years and often isn’t necessarily related to the actual quality. This new study reminds me of this. It’s an analysis of parents’ reviews of U.S. public K-12 schools, posted primarily from 2009 to 2019 on the popular… Read More A new study on how well parents know the quality of the schools of their children… Can you guess the answer?
