Television is one of the most prevalent media influences in kids’ live – watching TV is a daily pastime for 75 percent of Canadian children, both boys and girls from Grade 3 to Grade 10. How much impact TV has on children depends on many factors: how much they watch, their age and personality, whether they watch alone or with adults, and whether their parents talk with them about what they see on TV.
Most children plug into the world of television long before they enter school; in a year, the average (American) child spends 900 hours in school and nearly 1,023 hours in front of a TV. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), kids in the United States watch about 4 hours of TV a day – even though the AAP guidelines say children older than 2 should watch no more than 1 to 2 hours a day of quality programming – and children under age 2 should have no “screen time” at all.
Research shows ‘Signs of Suicide’ prevention program helps reduce the number of attempts by high school students.
Read article: [[http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0103/p14s01-legn.html|Signs of Suicide Program]]
( Christian Science Moniter ) (2008-01-03)
How does a 19th Century Maori war chant figure into the college aspirations of a bunch of student athletes in El Segundo? Just another means of preparing students — not just for college, but for life, suggests Dan Golden, who was recently hired for the new position of director of life planning and experiential learning at the private Vistamar School in El Segundo.
Tell Them From Me is an assessment system that measures a wide variety of indicators of student engagement and wellness, and classroom and school climate that are known to affect learning outcomes. The anonymous survey covers areas including: perceptions of testing, involvement in sports teams and clubs, attendance, hours spent watching TV, a sense of belonging, post-graduation goals, bullying, self esteem, student anxiety and depression.
Our society has undergone radical shifts in everything from family structure to demographics to where and how families and children spend the majority of their time. Canadian schools, first developed in the context of the family farm and small town, have struggled to respond to the massive shifts that have taken place in how children are living their lives outside of the classroom walls.
Children who get less than nine hours of sleep a night are more likely to be overweight or obese, new research shows. The study reinforces the fact that sleep is important for health and well-being throughout life.
How does a 19th Century Maori war chant figure into the college aspirations of a bunch of student athletes in California? Just another means of preparing students — not just for college, but for life, suggests Dan Golden, who was recently hired for the new position of director of life planning and experiential learning at the private Vistamar School in El Segundo.
( Los Angeles Times ) (02-Jan-2008)
Reducing the number of students per classroom in U.S. primary schools may be more cost-effective than most public health and medical interventions, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Virginia Commonwealth University. ( ScienceDaily ) (Oct. 17, 2007)_
Read [[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071016131350.htm| full story]]
Students at Zion Lutheran School in Mayer thought Principal Deb Kelzer was kidding when she proposed that they give up their classroom chairs and instead sit on large rubber exercise balls. But subtract chairs, add big rubber balls and you get a bunch of classroom benefits. [[http://www.startribune.com/local/west/11549666.html|Keeping Students on the Ball]]
(Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota) (2007-10-27)
