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Pedagogy - 17.01.2022

Improving reading skills through action video games
 An Italian-Swiss team demonstrates children reading skills can be improved through a novel child-friendly action video game.   What if video games, instead of being an obstacle to literacy, could actually help children improve their reading abilities? A team from the University of Geneva has joined forces with scientists from the University of Trento in Italy to test an action video game for children, which would enhance reading skills.

Pedagogy - 13.12.2021

The gift of technical literacy: researchers advise educating children this holiday season
Researchers at SFU's School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) urge parents and guardians to educate their children on the potential risks associated with biowearable technology devices when gifting this holiday season. Biowearable technology devices, or biowearables, are interactive smart devices worn on-body, such as smart watches and fitness trackers.

Pedagogy - 22.11.2021

Kids, teens believe girls aren’t interested in computer science
Children as young as age 6 develop ideas that girls are less interested than boys in computer science and engineering - stereotypes that can extend into the late teens and contribute to a gender gap in STEM college courses and related careers. New research from the University of Houston and the University of Washington, published Nov.

Pedagogy - 11.11.2021

Modified formula milk not linked to better academic performance
Babies who were given nutritionally modified formula milk had the same maths and English exam results as children who were given standard formula milk by age 16, finds a major new study led by UCL researchers that links seven randomised controlled trials to school performance re Scientists from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOS ICH) and the UCL Institute of Education, who published their findings in the BMJ today, used a

Campus - Pedagogy - 03.11.2021

Coping with COVID: Understanding the impacts on year 12 students
Cancelled milestones and missed rites of passage are just some of many impacts COVID-19 has had on final year students, with a Monash University study finding social events play a big role in motivating students to cope with the stresses of year 12. The study into the experiences of year 12 students in 2020 found that social activities and celebrations that symbolise the completion of school, like valedictory dinners, school formals and 18th birthdays, were not just a question of enjoyment, but also helped students stay motivated and manage their stress during a high-stakes year.

Pedagogy - 20.10.2021

Children’s screen time surged during pandemic: study
Children have been spending almost triple the recommended amount of screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Western-led study. Published in the  Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, the research found that, on average, children had nearly six hours of screen time each day. Some children in the study were on their screens even longer, at a staggering 13 hours a day.

Pedagogy - Social Sciences - 04.10.2021

If parents believe they can boost child development, they can change their kids’ outcomes
Support can boost belief and outcomes, according to results of UChicago field experiments A new study from the University of Chicago investigates one potential source of discrepancy in child skill level: disparity in parents' beliefs about their influence over their children's development. Through experimental studies involving hundreds of families across the Chicagoland area, the researchers show parental knowledge and beliefs differ across socioeconomic status.

Pedagogy - Campus - 04.10.2021

Learning Is More Effective When Active
Carnegie Mellon University Engaging students through interactive activities, discussions, feedback and AI-enhanced technologies resulted in improved academic performance compared to traditional lectures, lessons or readings, faculty from Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute concluded after collecting research into active learning.

Pedagogy - Campus - 27.09.2021

Finger tracing enhances learning: evidence for 100-year-old practice
A practice used by education pioneer Montessori in the early 1900s has received further validation, with studies showing that finger tracing makes learning easier and more motivating. Imagining an object after tracing it can generate even faster learning, for children and adults alike. Finger tracing has been used by teachers to help students learn for more than a century.

Pedagogy - 24.09.2021

National primary school tests have little effect on children’s happiness and wellbeing
National Curriculum Key Stage 2 tests taken by 10- and 11-year-old children in England to assess progress in English and Mathematics do not seem to affect children's wellbeing, according to new UCL-led research. The peer-reviewed study, published today in Assessment in Education, analysed data from around 2,500 children who live in England (where the KS2 tests are conducted) and in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (where the tests do not take place) and are all participants of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

Pedagogy - 20.09.2021

Family time increases parents’ wellbeing, especially couple time
Time spent together in families significantly contributes to mothers and fathers' happiness when compared to being alone, shows new research from a UCL academic. The research also finds that couple time spent alone without children contributes to the largest increase in wellbeing Published today in Sociology , the study analyses data from 236 couples who participated in the 2014-2015 United Kingdom Time Use Survey and finds that fathers often reported enjoying family time more than mothers do.

Pedagogy - 20.09.2021

Women, Black students may opt out of sharing learning data, if given choice
As the debate continues over gathering data to advance teaching and learning in a way that lets students have a say over how their information is used, a University of Michigan study shows that giving them the opportunity to opt out may skew the data, biasing it against the people institutions most want to help.

Pedagogy - 15.09.2021

Understanding babies’ minds: University of Toronto researcher examines how infants learn language
For more than 20 years, the University of Toronto's  Elizabeth Johnson has studied the ways babies and children acquire language: How do children begin learning the meaning of words? How do they cope with unfamiliar languages and voices? How do they learn language so quickly? Now, with the support of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation's John R. Evans Leaders Fund , the professor of psychology and director of the Child Language and Spe

Pedagogy - 09.09.2021

Helping children with autism and hyperlexia learn to understand what they read
Hyperlexia is a condition where preschool children display an intense early interest in letters in a way that is very advanced for their age. They can decode words accurately, but without understanding their meaning. It is most common among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - with approximately 6-20% of children with autism demonstrating hyperlexia.

Pedagogy - Life Sciences - 30.08.2021

Brains are most amenable to reading development in the first two years of primary education
The regions that form the reading network in the brain mainly develop in the first two years of primary school. After that, the growth of these brain regions stabilises. This has been shown by a year-long study conducted by KU Leuven. Neurobiological differences in dyslexia are already present at pre-school age  The regions that form the reading network in the brain mainly develop in the first two years of primary school.

Pedagogy - 26.08.2021

Physical activity in children can be improved through ’exergames’
Physical activity among young people can be improved by well-designed and delivered online interventions such as 'exergames' and smartphone apps, new research shows. According to a review study carried out at the University of Birmingham, children and young people reacted positively in PE lessons to the use of exergames, which deliver physical activity lessons via games or personalised activities.

Pedagogy - Social Sciences - 20.08.2021

A parent’s genes can influence a child’s educational success, inherited or not
A child's educational success depends on the genes that they haven't inherited from their parents, as well as the genes they have, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the study confirms that genes a person inherits directly are most likely to contribute to their achievements in education.

Pedagogy - Health - 05.08.2021

Children with autism respond well to puppets
A new study by researchers at the Yale Child Study Center demonstrates that puppets can attract and hold the attention of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), raising the potential for developing more engaging therapies that strengthen social engagement and facilitate learning. The study, published in the journal Autism Research, is the first to test anecdotal evidence that children with ASD, like most youngsters, pay attention to puppets.

Health - Pedagogy - 02.08.2021

’Origami’ testing app could help tackle spread of malaria
A new approach to tackling the spread of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, which combines affordable, easy-to-administer blood tests with machine learning and unbreakable encryption, has generated encouraging early results in Uganda. Malaria is one of the world's leading causes of illness and death, sickening around 228 million people each year, more than 400,000 of them fatally.

Pedagogy - Social Sciences - 23.07.2021

Machine learning used to successfully measure attachment in children
For the first time, researchers have used machine learning to successfully measure attachment in children - the vital human bond that humans first develop as infants to their caregivers. In new multi-disciplinary research, led by the University of Glasgow and published in PLOS ONE, the study team present a quick and easy way to measure attachment through a computer game, that has the potential to be used in largescale public health monitoring.