Research from the University of Copenhagen has determined that when it comes to virtual reality (VR), adolescent male and female students learn differently. With a study focusing on 66 seventh and eighth grade students from Denmark, it was discovered that if children identified with the avatar seen on screen, their knowledge would improve. Boys were able to concentrate more on a drone figure, due to features that resembled a computer game with characteristics similar to…
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University tuition fees are said to be making progress possible for UK Universities to increase diversity. The annual £9,000 fee, introduced by the coalition government in 2012, came with the provision to secure gains in access and participation. As a result, higher tuition fees have leveraged £800m into schemes and bursaries for less advantaged students. Entry rates have increased in 95% of parliamentary constituencies since 2006. English pupils receiving free school meals were 83% more…
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Studies are being conducted across the United States to investigate how to use Smartphones as early detectors of mental illness in teens. One of the goals for these studies is to detect the signs of mental illness at a much earlier stage, particularly among young people. The thinking behind it is that as users scroll through social media or watch YouTube videos, they leave digital footprints that might offer clues to their psychological well-being. These…
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Data from an Australian national household survey has been used to analyse adults’ mental health after having children. The survey followed 20,000 Australians for up to 16 years. The results show that having a first child increases adults’ time pressure as they are introduced to the role of parenting. However, having more children further increases the demands on parents. Having a second child doubles the time pressure on parents. The effects of which were found…
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A review by The UBC found good-to-strong endorsement of certain sleep hygiene practices for younger kids and school-age kids. These practices include regular bedtimes, reading before bed, having a quiet bedroom, and self-soothing. The focus was on four age groups in particular: infants and toddlers, pre-schoolers, school-age children and adolescents, involving close to 300,000 kids in North America, Europe and Asia. “Research tells us that kids who don’t get enough sleep on a consistent basis…
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A corpus study has been carried out of children’s emoji usage by Internet Linguist, Gretchen McCulloch. Parents with young children were asked to submit examples of children’s electronic communication for the analysis. Many preliterate children send emoji-only text messages with ages 3 to 5 said to be the peak time for this. Examples of the children’s messages showed strings of emojis with some of them showing preferences for certain themes such as animals or hearts….
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Children attending school in deprived areas of Britain are being taught mindfulness in order to ease tension and anxiety – and it’s working. The technique has been adapted in areas such as Litherland, Merseyside, where students are continuously exposed to violence and gang activity. Methods of relaxation such as controlled breathing have been helpful to children who internalise feelings, and who may slip beneath a teacher’s radar when in need of support. “If I concentrate…
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Dr Barbie Clarke talks to Sunday Times journalist Lizzie Catt who spent a week as a ‘digital teenager’, learning how young people today get their news and current affairs. With a world full of fake news and dramatic stories, parents can be concerned that their teenagers are vulnerable. However, from the time spent with them Lizzie finds that there is a drive from teenagers to find the real news; they are not to be duped…
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The disturbing news footage that emerged yesterday surrounding the Syrian child in Huddersfield being bullied in the school playground highlights once again the need to address all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying. A growing concern about cyberbullying led The Duke of Cambridge to set up the Cyberbullying Taskforce in 2016, an initiative that included leading tech companies and experts in the field of children, the internet and mental health. The Taskforce has since launched several…
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UK schools are being asked to monitor children’s happiness and mental health as part of lessons in relationships, sex and health education. The information will be used to create a ‘happiness index’ which will track young people’s well-being. An annual ‘State of the Nation’ report will be published highlighting mental health trends among the UK’s youth. This will be the first time that mental health will be given the same level of focus as physical…
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