Along with reciting the days of the week and the alphabet,
adults often practice reciting numbers with young children.
Now, new
research from the University of Missouri suggests reciting numbers is
not enough to prepare children for math success in elementary school.
The research indicates that counting, which requires assigning numerical
values to objects in chronological order, is more important for helping
preschoolers acquire math skills.
"Reciting means saying the numbers from memory in chronological
order, whereas counting involves understanding that each item in the set
is counted once and that the last number stated is the amount for the
entire set. When children are
just reciting, they're basically repeating what seems like a memorized
sentence. When they're counting, they're performing a more cognitive
activity in which they're associating a one-to-one correspondence with
the object and the number to represent a quantity."
November 8, 2012
Kids Need at Least Seven Minutes a Day of 'Vigorous' Physical Activity, but Most Aren't Getting That
Children need a minimum of seven minutes a day of vigorous
physical activity, demonstrates recently published findings by
University of Alberta medical researchers and their colleagues across
Canada.
"Our research showed children don't need a lot of intense physical activity to get the health benefits of exercise -- seven minutes or more of vigorous physical activity was all that was required. But the seven minutes had to be intense to prevent weight gain, obesity and its adverse health consequences. And most kids weren't getting that."
"Our research showed children don't need a lot of intense physical activity to get the health benefits of exercise -- seven minutes or more of vigorous physical activity was all that was required. But the seven minutes had to be intense to prevent weight gain, obesity and its adverse health consequences. And most kids weren't getting that."
Examining Transition from Student to Teacher
"It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, emotionally
and mentally." These are not the words we generally associate with a
university student who is undergoing teacher training, yet Concordia
researcher Anita Sinner has heard similar statements from many such
individuals.
Every year thousands of students make the transition from student to teacher and the stories of those who struggle are often missing from our conversations.
"Pre-service teachers who experience varying degrees of struggle have few stories against which to compare their experiences when entering the teaching profession," Sinner explains. This magnifies a sense of dislocation in the very profession they seek to dedicate their working lives."
Every year thousands of students make the transition from student to teacher and the stories of those who struggle are often missing from our conversations.
"Pre-service teachers who experience varying degrees of struggle have few stories against which to compare their experiences when entering the teaching profession," Sinner explains. This magnifies a sense of dislocation in the very profession they seek to dedicate their working lives."
November 5, 2012
FOR KIDS: New planetary neighbor
For decades, astronomers have been training telescopes all over the
sky, looking for alien worlds. In October, they reported finding an
Earth-sized planet near a small, next-door star.
The discovery naturally raises the question: When can we visit?
“A rocky planet around … our nearest neighbor — this is incredible,” planet-hunting astronomer Debra Fischer told Science News. The Yale University scientist did not work on the new study. “If you were going to send a spacecraft anywhere, or a probe anywhere, that’s where you’d go first.”
The planet’s star, Alpha Centauri B, is a little smaller and cooler than the sun. It and a larger star called Alpha Centauri A sit about 4.4 light-years away, roughly the distance of 150,000 round trips from Earth to the sun. That may seem far away, but the Alpha Centauri system is our nearest stellar neighbor.
The discovery naturally raises the question: When can we visit?
“A rocky planet around … our nearest neighbor — this is incredible,” planet-hunting astronomer Debra Fischer told Science News. The Yale University scientist did not work on the new study. “If you were going to send a spacecraft anywhere, or a probe anywhere, that’s where you’d go first.”
The planet’s star, Alpha Centauri B, is a little smaller and cooler than the sun. It and a larger star called Alpha Centauri A sit about 4.4 light-years away, roughly the distance of 150,000 round trips from Earth to the sun. That may seem far away, but the Alpha Centauri system is our nearest stellar neighbor.
Embracing Children for Who They Are
Contrary to what some parents might believe or hope for, children are
not born a blank slate. Rather, they come into the world with
predetermined abilities, proclivities and temperaments that nurturing
parents may be able to foster or modify, but can rarely reverse.
Perhaps no one knows this better than Jeanne and John Schwartz, parents of three children, the youngest of whom — Joseph — is completely different from the other two.
Perhaps no one knows this better than Jeanne and John Schwartz, parents of three children, the youngest of whom — Joseph — is completely different from the other two.
Scientists Uncover Secrets of How Intellect and Behavior Emerge During Childhood
Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research
Institute (TSRI) have shown that a single protein plays an oversized
role in intellectual and behavioral development.
The scientists found that mutations in a single gene, which is known to cause intellectual disability and increase the risk of developing autism spectrum disorder, severely disrupts the organization of developing brain circuits during early childhood. This study helps explain how genetic mutations can cause profound cognitive and behavioral problems.
The genetic mutations that cause developmental disorders, such as intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder, commonly affect synapses, the junctions between two nerve cells that are part of the brain's complex electro-chemical signaling system. A substantial percentage of children with severe intellectual and behavioral impairments are believed to harbor single mutations in critical neurodevelopmental genes. Until this study, however, it was unclear precisely how pathogenic genetic mutations and synapse function were related to the failure to develop normal intellect.
The scientists found that mutations in a single gene, which is known to cause intellectual disability and increase the risk of developing autism spectrum disorder, severely disrupts the organization of developing brain circuits during early childhood. This study helps explain how genetic mutations can cause profound cognitive and behavioral problems.
The genetic mutations that cause developmental disorders, such as intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder, commonly affect synapses, the junctions between two nerve cells that are part of the brain's complex electro-chemical signaling system. A substantial percentage of children with severe intellectual and behavioral impairments are believed to harbor single mutations in critical neurodevelopmental genes. Until this study, however, it was unclear precisely how pathogenic genetic mutations and synapse function were related to the failure to develop normal intellect.
Common Math Standards Supported With New Study
A new study analyzing the previous math standards of each
state provides strong support for adoption of common standards, which
U.S. students desperately need to keep pace with their counterparts
around the globe.
Forty-six states are implementing the Common Core math and reading standards, which nonetheless have come under fire recently by some researchers and would-be politicians.
But William Schmidt, MSU Distinguished Professor of statistics and education, said the Common Core is a world-class set of standards.
"We can't yet prove anything about the Common Core standards because they're just now being implemented, but if we look back we find that those states that were closest to the Common Core on average did better on the 2009 NAEP test (National Assessment of Educational Progress)," Schmidt said.
Forty-six states are implementing the Common Core math and reading standards, which nonetheless have come under fire recently by some researchers and would-be politicians.
But William Schmidt, MSU Distinguished Professor of statistics and education, said the Common Core is a world-class set of standards.
"We can't yet prove anything about the Common Core standards because they're just now being implemented, but if we look back we find that those states that were closest to the Common Core on average did better on the 2009 NAEP test (National Assessment of Educational Progress)," Schmidt said.
October 31, 2012
How Do You Raise a Prodigy?
Drew Petersen didn’t speak until he was 3½, but his mother, Sue, never
believed he was slow. When he was 18 months old, in 1994, she was
reading to him and skipped a word, whereupon Drew reached over and
pointed to the missing word on the page. Drew didn’t produce much sound
at that stage, but he already cared about it deeply. “Church bells would
elicit a big response,” Sue told me. “Birdsong would stop him in his
tracks.”
Prodigies are able to function at an advanced adult level in some domain before age 12. “Prodigy” derives from the Latin “prodigium,” a monster that violates the natural order.
These children have differences so evident as to resemble a birth defect, and it was in that context that I came to investigate them. Having spent 10 years researching a book about children whose experiences differ radically from those of their parents and the world around them, I found that stigmatized differences — having Down syndrome, autism or deafness; being a dwarf or being transgender — are often clouds with silver linings.
Families grappling with these apparent problems may find profound meaning, even beauty, in them. Prodigiousness, conversely, looks from a distance like silver, but it comes with banks of clouds; genius can be as bewildering and hazardous as a disability.
Prodigies are able to function at an advanced adult level in some domain before age 12. “Prodigy” derives from the Latin “prodigium,” a monster that violates the natural order.
These children have differences so evident as to resemble a birth defect, and it was in that context that I came to investigate them. Having spent 10 years researching a book about children whose experiences differ radically from those of their parents and the world around them, I found that stigmatized differences — having Down syndrome, autism or deafness; being a dwarf or being transgender — are often clouds with silver linings.
Families grappling with these apparent problems may find profound meaning, even beauty, in them. Prodigiousness, conversely, looks from a distance like silver, but it comes with banks of clouds; genius can be as bewildering and hazardous as a disability.
October 29, 2012
Grading and supporting U.S. education: study examines consequences of international comparisons
K-12 schools in the United States are often
criticized for falling behind their counterparts in other countries, but
a new Cornell University study suggests that this “negative spin” does
not increase public support for spending more to improve the nation’s
schools.
October 25, 2012
Homework 'won't improve performance'
Homework is little if any use for primary school pupils, say two
Australian education academics trying to change the approach to after
hours study across the Tasman.
"We're not saying homework should be abolished, just reformed and refined," Professor Mike Horsley from Central Queensland University said.
Horsley said homework had been found to improve academic achievement in the senior years of high school. In Australia that is years 10 to 12 where students are generally aged at least 15.
At that level homework benefited about 45 per cent of students, Horsley said.
"But research shows it won't improve the achievement of children in the early years of primary school, and that it has negligible benefits in the higher grades of primary school."
"We're not saying homework should be abolished, just reformed and refined," Professor Mike Horsley from Central Queensland University said.
Horsley said homework had been found to improve academic achievement in the senior years of high school. In Australia that is years 10 to 12 where students are generally aged at least 15.
At that level homework benefited about 45 per cent of students, Horsley said.
"But research shows it won't improve the achievement of children in the early years of primary school, and that it has negligible benefits in the higher grades of primary school."
FOR KIDS: A slime with memory
A slime mold called Physarum polycephalum can crawl from one
spot to another. Some people liken its appearance to moving, pulsing dog
barf.
Others clearly feel more tenderness toward the organism — enough to spend much of their life studying it.
One such team of scientists now reports finding that although slime molds lack a brain, this goo may still have a memory of sorts.
Others clearly feel more tenderness toward the organism — enough to spend much of their life studying it.
One such team of scientists now reports finding that although slime molds lack a brain, this goo may still have a memory of sorts.
October 24, 2012
Higher-math skills entwined with lower-order magnitude sense
The ability to learn complex, symbolic math is a uniquely human trait,
but it is intricately connected to a primitive sense of magnitude that
is shared by many animals.
“Our results clearly show that uniquely human branches of mathematics interface with an evolutionarily primitive general magnitude system. We were able to show how variations in both advanced arithmetic and geometry skills specifically correlated with variations in our intuitive sense of magnitude.”
Babies as young as six months can roughly distinguish between less and more, whether it’s for a number of objects, the size of objects, or the length of time they see the objects. This intuitive, non-verbal sense of magnitude, which may be innate, has also been demonstrated in non-human animals.
When given a choice between a group of five bananas or two bananas, for example, monkeys will tend to take the bigger bunch.
“Our results clearly show that uniquely human branches of mathematics interface with an evolutionarily primitive general magnitude system. We were able to show how variations in both advanced arithmetic and geometry skills specifically correlated with variations in our intuitive sense of magnitude.”
Babies as young as six months can roughly distinguish between less and more, whether it’s for a number of objects, the size of objects, or the length of time they see the objects. This intuitive, non-verbal sense of magnitude, which may be innate, has also been demonstrated in non-human animals.
When given a choice between a group of five bananas or two bananas, for example, monkeys will tend to take the bigger bunch.
FOR KIDS: Young scientists tackle abstract problems
When Nilesh Tripuraneni set out to make pancakes one morning, he had
no idea he’d also wind up with the makings of a first-rate science fair
project. But as the high school student sprinkled water on a hot griddle
to test its temperature, the dancing droplets got him thinking: What,
exactly, was going on beneath them?
The sophomore at Clovis West High School in California turned to the Internet for clues to the hopping water droplets. He learned that when the surface of a griddle becomes very hot — much hotter than the boiling point of water — the lower part of water droplets can vaporize, or turn to gas, before reaching the griddle. That cushion of vapor allows the rest of the droplet to dance.
Tripuraneni also learned about researchers at the University of Oregon in Eugene who had discovered a way to make the droplets race across a heated, grooved surface. This movement really fascinated Tripuraneni, who has always loved fluid mechanics. That’s a branch of physics that deals with liquids and gases. Before long, the teen was at work describing the racing water droplets mathematically.
The sophomore at Clovis West High School in California turned to the Internet for clues to the hopping water droplets. He learned that when the surface of a griddle becomes very hot — much hotter than the boiling point of water — the lower part of water droplets can vaporize, or turn to gas, before reaching the griddle. That cushion of vapor allows the rest of the droplet to dance.
Tripuraneni also learned about researchers at the University of Oregon in Eugene who had discovered a way to make the droplets race across a heated, grooved surface. This movement really fascinated Tripuraneni, who has always loved fluid mechanics. That’s a branch of physics that deals with liquids and gases. Before long, the teen was at work describing the racing water droplets mathematically.
October 23, 2012
Parents Look On the Bright Side of Kids' Worries
Parents consistently overestimate their children's
optimism and downplay their worries, according to new research.
The findings suggest that secondhand evaluations by parents or other adults of children's emotional well-being need to be treated with caution.
Many psychologists and researchers have long held that children under the age of seven cannot accurately report how they feel, said Kristin Lagattuta, associate professor of psychology at UC Davis, who led the study. So behavioral scientists frequently rely on the impressions of parents, teachers and other adults.
The findings suggest that secondhand evaluations by parents or other adults of children's emotional well-being need to be treated with caution.
Many psychologists and researchers have long held that children under the age of seven cannot accurately report how they feel, said Kristin Lagattuta, associate professor of psychology at UC Davis, who led the study. So behavioral scientists frequently rely on the impressions of parents, teachers and other adults.
In the Future, Who Will Need Teachers?
Will Web connections and new apps
really replace much of our human need for real-live teachers? If the
free-for-all business of guitar lessons is any indication, the answer is
yes, as Your Guitar Sage's Erich Andreas and WSJ's Dennis Berman
explain on The News Hub.
The current hype is that ubiquitous Internet connections and tablet devices will emerge as a competitive threat to real-life teachers, kill the textbook business and bring low-price learning to billions around the world.
Such big changes may take a generation, as problems at many for-profit colleges are showing today. But these forces are already at play, in their full smashup glory, in what has happened to the simple guitar lesson.
The current hype is that ubiquitous Internet connections and tablet devices will emerge as a competitive threat to real-life teachers, kill the textbook business and bring low-price learning to billions around the world.
Such big changes may take a generation, as problems at many for-profit colleges are showing today. But these forces are already at play, in their full smashup glory, in what has happened to the simple guitar lesson.
October 22, 2012
TV, Devices in Kids' Bedrooms Linked to Poor Sleep, Obesity
Children who bask in the nighttime glow of a TV or
computer don't get enough rest and suffer from poor lifestyle habits,
new research from the University of Alberta has shown.
"If you want your kids to sleep better and live a healthier lifestyle, get the technology out of the bedroom," said co-author Paul Veugelers, a professor in the School of Public Health, Canada Research Chair in Population Health and Alberta Innovates -- Health Solutions Health Scholar.
"If you want your kids to sleep better and live a healthier lifestyle, get the technology out of the bedroom," said co-author Paul Veugelers, a professor in the School of Public Health, Canada Research Chair in Population Health and Alberta Innovates -- Health Solutions Health Scholar.
Children With Mental Health Disorders More Often Identified as Bullies
Children diagnosed with mental health disorders were three
times more likely to be identified as bullies, according to new
research presented Oct. 22 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.
Bullying is a form of youth violence defined as repetitive, intentional aggression that involves a disparity of power between the victim and perpetrator. A 2011 nationwide survey found 20 percent of U.S. high school students were bullied during the preceding 12 months. And while it is well-established that victims of bullying are at increased risk for mental health illness and suicide, few studies have investigated the mental health status of those who do the bullying.
Bullying is a form of youth violence defined as repetitive, intentional aggression that involves a disparity of power between the victim and perpetrator. A 2011 nationwide survey found 20 percent of U.S. high school students were bullied during the preceding 12 months. And while it is well-established that victims of bullying are at increased risk for mental health illness and suicide, few studies have investigated the mental health status of those who do the bullying.
October 20, 2012
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Is Both Under and Over Diagnosed
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is both under and
over diagnosed. That's the result of one of the largest studies
conducted on ADHD in the United States, published in the Journal of Attention Disorders.
A substantial number of children being treated for ADHD may not have the disorder, while many children who do have the symptoms are going untreated, according to the 10-year Project to Learn about ADHD in Youth (PLAY) study funded by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
A substantial number of children being treated for ADHD may not have the disorder, while many children who do have the symptoms are going untreated, according to the 10-year Project to Learn about ADHD in Youth (PLAY) study funded by the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
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