This and That
Stories from NPR Education:
- Following the lead of an education blogger, former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urges parents to boycott schools until gun safety measures are enacted.
- Undergraduate college enrollment in the U.S. is down for the sixth
straight year. That decline is happening across the board in higher
education — despite the popularity of a bachelor's degree.
That is according to a new set of numbers from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center — a nonprofit that tracks students in degree-granting institutions. Though the number of undergraduates pursuing bachelor's degrees this spring increased slightly, that uptick paled in comparison to the decline in enrollment for alternative pathways, like associate's degrees and certificate programs.
-"I want The Three Bears!"
These days parents, caregivers and teachers have lots of options when it comes to fulfilling that request. You can read a picture book, put on a cartoon, play an audiobook, or even ask Alexa.
A newly published study gives some insight into what may be happening inside young children's brains in each of those situations. And, says lead author Dr. John Hutton, there is an apparent "Goldilocks effect" — some kinds of storytelling may be "too cold" for children, while others are "too hot." And, of course, some are "just right."
Hutton is a researcher and pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital with a special interest in "emergent literacy" — the process of learning to read.
In terms of Hutton's "Goldilocks effect," here's what the researchers found:
In the audio-only condition (too cold): language networks were activated, but there was less connectivity overall. "There was more evidence the children were straining to understand."
In the animation condition (too hot): there was a lot of activity in the audio and visual perception networks, but not a lot of connectivity among the various brain networks. "The language network was working to keep up with the story," says Hutton. "Our interpretation was that the animation was doing all the work for the child. They were expending the most energy just figuring out what it means." The children's comprehension of the story was the worst in this condition.
The illustration condition was what Hutton called "just right".
When children could see illustrations, language-network activity dropped a bit compared to the audio condition. Instead of only paying attention to the words, Hutton says, the children's understanding of the story was "scaffolded" by having the images as clues.
"Give them a picture and they have a cookie to work with," he explains. "With animation it's all dumped on them all at once and they don't have to do any of the work."
Most importantly, in the illustrated book condition, researchers saw increased connectivity between — and among — all the networks they were looking at: visual perception, imagery, default mode and language.
- Following the lead of an education blogger, former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urges parents to boycott schools until gun safety measures are enacted.
This is brilliant, and tragically necessary.
What if no children went to school until gun laws changed to keep them safe?
My family is all in if we can do this at scale.
Parents, will you please join us? https://twitter.com/pcunningham57/status/997498464542978048 …
What if no children went to school until gun laws changed to keep them safe?
My family is all in if we can do this at scale.
Parents, will you please join us? https://twitter.com/pcunningham57/status/997498464542978048 …
That is according to a new set of numbers from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center — a nonprofit that tracks students in degree-granting institutions. Though the number of undergraduates pursuing bachelor's degrees this spring increased slightly, that uptick paled in comparison to the decline in enrollment for alternative pathways, like associate's degrees and certificate programs.
-"I want The Three Bears!"
These days parents, caregivers and teachers have lots of options when it comes to fulfilling that request. You can read a picture book, put on a cartoon, play an audiobook, or even ask Alexa.
A newly published study gives some insight into what may be happening inside young children's brains in each of those situations. And, says lead author Dr. John Hutton, there is an apparent "Goldilocks effect" — some kinds of storytelling may be "too cold" for children, while others are "too hot." And, of course, some are "just right."
Hutton is a researcher and pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital with a special interest in "emergent literacy" — the process of learning to read.
In terms of Hutton's "Goldilocks effect," here's what the researchers found:
In the audio-only condition (too cold): language networks were activated, but there was less connectivity overall. "There was more evidence the children were straining to understand."
In the animation condition (too hot): there was a lot of activity in the audio and visual perception networks, but not a lot of connectivity among the various brain networks. "The language network was working to keep up with the story," says Hutton. "Our interpretation was that the animation was doing all the work for the child. They were expending the most energy just figuring out what it means." The children's comprehension of the story was the worst in this condition.
The illustration condition was what Hutton called "just right".
When children could see illustrations, language-network activity dropped a bit compared to the audio condition. Instead of only paying attention to the words, Hutton says, the children's understanding of the story was "scaffolded" by having the images as clues.
"Give them a picture and they have a cookie to work with," he explains. "With animation it's all dumped on them all at once and they don't have to do any of the work."
Most importantly, in the illustrated book condition, researchers saw increased connectivity between — and among — all the networks they were looking at: visual perception, imagery, default mode and language.
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