Group items tagged

"Restaurants and public places in Ireland are loud. They looked so different from the United States -- full of people laughing and talking to one another -- that it took me several days to figure out just what I was seeing. Actually, it was what I wasn't seeing. As we traveled through Ireland, families and friends met each other for dinner or coffee just like we do here in the States, but without one thing. Their cell phones weren't out. No one was texting. No one was taking selfies. They were with each other. . . . . . except in one place -- the McDonalds."

"New U.K. research from has found that make-believe fantasy play could boost children's creative thinking. Carried out by researchers from Oxford Brookes University, the team presented their findings at the British Psychological Society's Developmental Psychology Section annual conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland."

"You know that Minecraft is massive. But, did you know it is transforming learning? Geeky teachers have brought Minecraft to subjects ranging from history to biology to probability. The game is being rolled out to every secondary school in Northern Ireland this month. If you're a parent, you've noticed Minecraft offerings spawning in your local summer camp listings. The Chicago Architecture Foundation offers a Minecraft camp for budding builders. Ninety-two libraries participated in the International Games Day Minecraft Hunger Games tournament, and crowned a 13-year-old girl as its champion. And, I've helped launch Connected Camps' Summer of Minecraft, a new in-game online camp."

"Not all screen time is bad for toddlers as iPads and smartphones can help them learn in the same way as interactive play, scientists have found. Last year the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommended that children should have TV-free days and limit screen time to a daily maximum of two hours. Yet new research from the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Cork University Hospital in Ireland suggests that touch screen technology has a different impact on the brains of toddlers to simply passively observing a programme."