Why do some children read more?
From the Wiley press release: A new study of more than 11,000 7-year-old twins found that how well children read determines how much they read, not vice versa. Furthermore, the authors of the Journal of Child…
Study suggests music lessons improve children’s cognitive skills, academic performance
From the Frontiers press release: Structured music lessons significantly enhance children’s cognitive abilities — including language-based reasoning, short-term memory, planning and inhibition — which lead to improved academic performance. Published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, the research…
Study suggests grouping students into ability-based sets holds back less able pupils
From the Taylor & Francis Group press release: Students classed as less able are being hindered by being grouped into ability-based sets, according to new research published today in the Cambridge Journal of Education. Teachers’ expectations…
Study links early numeracy performance of young kids to specific math activities at home
From the Frontiers press release: New research links specific numerical activities undertaken by parents to certain math skills in young children. Published today in open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology, the study also finds that the more…
Scientists illuminate mechanism at play in learning
From the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University – OIST press release: The process we call learning is in fact a well-orchestrated symphony of thousands of molecular reactions, but the exact interplay between…
Study examines brain mechanism involved in language learning
From the University of Sussex press release: Learning a new language may be more of a science than an art, a University of Sussex study finds. Psychologists found that when we learn the names of…
Study shows how brain learns to reproduce patterns of brain activity that lead to reward
From the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University press release: In a scientific first, researchers have observed in mice how the brain learns to repeat patterns of neural activity that elicit the all-important feel-good sensation. Until…
Study suggests infants are able to learn abstract rules visually
From the Northwestern University press release: Three-month-old babies cannot sit up or roll over, yet they are already capable of learning patterns from simply looking at the world around them, according to a recent Northwestern…
Study suggests cognitive benefits of bilingualism may be overstated
From the Åbo Akademi University press release: Acquisition and active use of two languages have been suggested to train executive functions in the brain, such as focusing one’s attention, suppressing interference from the environment, and…
Study suggests childhood play experiences have a strong effect on spatial skills
From the University of Colorado at Boulder press release: Childhood play experiences strongly shape a person’s spatial skills, according to a new CIRES-led study — those skills can be critical to success in fields like…