In March, many education consultants gathered in person at the MK Education Summit near Atlanta…
Education Headlines – September 18
In this edition of Education Headlines, some themes emerged. One has to do with the amount of autonomy parents give their children serving as a predictor of school success and the ability to focus. Another is that our teens, who are suffering from anxiety and depression at increasing and alarming rates, are impacted by some simple factors such as sleep and technology usage. We hope that you can use this information as you support your families on the field.
Happy reading!
More Screen Time For Teens Linked To ADHD Symptoms
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/17/629517464/more-screen-time-for-teens-may-fuel-adhd-symptoms
This is an interesting study of teens and their engagement in digital media (texts, social media, etc.). Researchers found that teens who were “high frequency” users of digital media were more than twice as likely to develop ADHD symptoms. The authors caution that this doesn’t prove that technology causes ADHD, but rather that many symptoms of ADHD emerge in correlation to the amount of time spent on technology.
Empowering Kids In An Anxious World
https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/07/18/620074926/empowering-kids-in-an-anxious-world
This review of two new parenting books points to a relationship between children having more autonomy and lower anxiety and depression as they get older. One author states that our children today are “play-deprived,” and that children benefit greatly from the social interactions and risks associated with free, unsupervised play. A second author focuses on the motivation of children, finding that children should be in the “driver’s seat” in their education. Time to pursue their own interests and freedom from pressure to bring home good grades, the author posits, helps them to discover their own internal motivation.
How to Help Children Overcome Math Anxiety
https://hechingerreport.org/how-to-help-children-overcome-math-anxiety/
Researchers have studied adults with “math anxiety,” and find that their brains actually operate differently, even on very simple math problems. Through studies such as this, we are endeavoring to understand from where this anxiety comes (it’s often from parents) and how it affects performance. One of the researchers writes, “it’s that it’s not just what we know, but how we feel really matters – and that the environmental situations we create can have a big impact on whether we thrive to our potential or not.”
The Importance of Sleep for Teen Mental Health
Just in case you haven’t read about this lately, this article serves as a great reminder of the importance of sleep for our teens, and claims that only 9% of teens are getting the needed amount of sleep. Research has told us that there is a clear link between teen depression/anxiety and sleep, and that teens who get less sleep engage in riskier behavior. The article contains some practical suggestions for helping teens get more sleep.
A Lost Secret: How To Get Kids To Pay Attention
This is an interesting article, comparing parenting practices between Maya families and US-American families. Researchers find that Maya children tend to be much more focused and self-motivated – twice as focused, actually – and that this is largely the result of much more autonomy in their lives. In the US, by contrast, children are receiving decreasing amounts of autonomy in their lives. “It may be the case that [some American] children give up control of their attention when it’s always managed by an adult,” says one of the researchers.
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