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"Educational and developmental psychologists have tried to understand how skills and motivation are linked to academic achievement. While research supports ties between individuals' concepts of their abilities and their achievement, we lack a complete picture of how these relations develop from childhood to adolescence. A new longitudinal study looked at how youths' self-concepts are linked to their actual academic achievement in maths and reading from middle childhood to adolescence. The study found that students' self-concepts of their abilities in these two academic domains play an important role in motivating their achievements over time and across levels of achievement."

This free online course was developed in response to the emerging importance of children and youth in international development policy. The course will give the learner a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of development from the early years right through to adolescence. The course will deal with questions such as: What makes young people tick? What shapes and influences a child's development? How can the adults who work with children support them more effectively? After completion of the course, learners will be familiar with the major theories on the development of children. This course will be of great interest to professionals already in health, care or development professions, to learners who are planning a career that centres on youth, and will also be beneficial to parents, carers, and learners who are interested in studying issues related to children and adolescents.

A good read for those in preschool / early childhood education.

Can you design a school to promote healthy eating? There are things every cafeteria can do (read to the end.) This is a big problem and something we need to address. Every school should have a fruit basket near the checkout. It is a no brainer, but do we? "Just walk into the cafeteria and you can see this is no ordinary elementary school. "One of the most striking differences is the openness of the eating space," said pediatrician Dr. Matthew Trowbridge, who also consulted on the project. Students can look into the area where the food is prepared, and they can look outside to a planned school garden, where vegetables will soon be planted."

"During one of the standard visits to see family and friends recently, I came across a childhood game that had captured the imaginations of many a youngster in my generation…Scalextrics! A friend of mine had bought the classic car racing game for his five-year old son and I could not turn down the opportunity of a race…with the reasoning of showing my 11-month old daughter how it works ***cough, cough***."

Interesting study of children, preschool and later school success. "Children's later school success appears to have been enhanced by more active, child-initiated early learning experiences. Their progress may have been slowed by overly academic preschool experiences that introduced formalized learning experiences too early for most children's developmental status."

Discussion of why Generation X is inundating Second Life and why Gen Y is so underrepresented. I will say that my students LOVE Second Life, but you also have to remember that I teach students who, for the most part, grew up playing outside and have engaged in free play all of their lives. Perhaps this is also a function of the presence of free play in the lives of children. How many Gen Y kids truly had free play as part of their childhood? We've sort of structured and organized everything for them in many cases.

Overview of Linden Stats showing more Gen X than Gen Y in Second Life and the impact of using SL to teach.

Student created wiki. Thomas Cooper is the teacher behind this project. He teachers at the Walker School in Marietta, GA. Many people believe that child labor and abuse is something of the past, but there could not be more of a false statement. Around the world children are being marginalized, and abused, and forced into labor. Children in Africa are being forced to join the military and kill children and adults alike. Other children are living on the streets because their parents' lives were taken by the AIDS virus. And due to India's class system, young children will live in poverty with no possible way of hope in the future. Children are even forced into prostitution and labor. Childhood deformities and disabilities cause affected children to live in isolation and cause pain and suffering for both them and their families. Be sure to check out the teacher resources in the table of contents.

Invention at Play: Invention Playhouse

Want to Play? Want to Invent? What's the Difference? When asked what inspired them to become inventors, many adults tell stories about playing as children. Among their most frequently cited childhood play experiences are: mechanical tinkering, fiddling with construction toys, reflecting about nature, and drawing or engaging in visual modeling.

E-learning for Kids isn't only for kids, though; it's also a site where:* Parents get more engaged in their kids' education  * Educators and experts champion e-learning and contribute their knowledge on how kids can learn better.* Commercial education and game developers contribute to the next generation.* Corporations and associations channel their social responsibility efforts.  * People with a passion for childhood education make a difference.

An excellent resource for all Primary school and Early Childhood teachers.

A childhood obesity program centering around some really cute puppets. These guys are cute. They have a program you can use in health class too.

New longitudinal study. "University of Montreal researchers now believe parental behavior may play a factor in the link between verbal frustrations and aggression. Physical aggression in toddlers includes frequent hitting, kicking, and a tendency to bite or push others. "Since the 1940s, studies have observed an association between physical aggression problems and language problems among children and adolescents. It was also demonstrated around ten years ago that physical aggression problems arise in early childhood when language develops."

Starting up a directory for Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) teachers who use twitter.

"Teens who were severely bullied as children by peers are at higher risk of mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts and behaviours, according to new research in CMAJ(Canadian Medical Association Journal). "Our findings showed a general tendency, in about 15% of the children, of being exposed to the most severe levels of victimization from the beginning of their education until the transition to high school," writes Dr. Marie-Claude Geoffroy, McGill Group for Suicide Studies, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, with coauthors. "Those children were at greater risk of debilitating depressive/dysthymic symptoms or anxiety and of suicidality in adolescence than less severely victimised children, even after we accounted for a plethora of confounders assessed throughout childhood.""

"Children from disadvantaged backgrounds and certain ethnic minority backgrounds, including from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds, have lower levels of vigorous physical activity, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. The patterns mirror inequalities seen in levels of childhood obesity, suggesting a need for a greater focus on the promotion of vigorous physical activity, particularly for those children from more disadvantaged backgrounds."

"Second-grade students who read aloud to dogs in an after-school program demonstrated improved attitudes about reading, according to researchers at Tufts Institute for Human-Animal Interaction at Tufts University. Their research appears online in advance of print in the Early Childhood Education Journal. Reading skills are often associated with improved academic performance and positive attitudes about school in children. Researchers wanted to learn if animal-assisted intervention in the form of reading aloud to dogs in a classroom setting could contribute to improved skills and attitudes."

Awesome ways to use QR codes to help children learn to read.