Archive for 2015

Robot Gives Hospital-Bound Girl Continuity with School

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<i><b><span style="color: #741b47;">A unique piece of technology is helping a fifth-grade student named Peyton virtually attend school while she’s in the hospital for radiation therapy.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="color: #741b47;">PAVS is an advanced robot that uses a camera-based monitor to feature Peyton’s face and voice and which allows her to attend her elementary class in Montgomery County, Maryland which is about 250 miles away from her hospital.the robot’s name, ‘PAVS’, stands for Peyton’s Awesome Virtual Self, and it makes sure she can attend all of her classes at Poolesville Elementary even if she physically cannot be in the classroom. The robot lets Peyton interact with her class, talk to her teachers and virtually move around the classroom.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="color: #741b47;">PAVS is a rolling machine that’s four feet high. With an attached iPad screen, it shows Peyton in real-time while it lets her view her class and watch her lessons and other activities through the school day. Fellow students and teachers at Poolesville have warmly welcomed PAVS, The Washington Post reports.one of Peyton’s classmates who sits along with PAVS said the idea was ‘really cool’ and recognized how Peyton might feel lonely and bored in the hospital away from her friends, the Christian Examiner reports.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="color: #741b47;">The 10-year-old Peyton is thin with blue eyes, and as The Washington Post says, she loves penguins, the color green, and sparkly fashion. Peyton also loves science and math, two subjects she can still engage in thanks to PAVS.many in the media, including The Washington Post, Food World News and the Christian Examiner, have pointed out that the advanced robot lets Peyton return to normalcy and participate in her classroom lessons and engage in activities her peers do. PAVS gives Peyton the chance to stay connected with her classmates and friends and offers her a sense that she can continue her usual activities despite her health issue.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="color: #741b47;">According to Peyton’s mother, Lynn Schaeber, one significant success of PAVS is that it enables Peyton to retain her socializing activities and to maintain a level of continuity in her life:“We forget as parents that school is their life. They wake up preparing to go to school, and the last thing they do at night is homework.”</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="color: #741b47;">According to the district’s director of technology integration and school support, Kara Trenkamp, there’s currently a learning curve in integrating PAVS into the classroom, but she expressed her gratitude that the project so has had some very positive outcomes.</span></b></i></div>
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<i><b><span style="color: #741b47;">The robot has drawn the attention of more schools and districts, Maryland officials say. Teachers from Fairfax County in Virginia visited PAVS’ school to see firsthand the possibilities the advanced robot makes possible in terms of virtual learning for students who cannot attend due to health-related, geographical or other limitations.doctors are also seeing the value of robot technology, among them AeRang Kim, a pediatric oncologist at the Children’s National Health System, who says the potential of such technologies is immense and with multiple benefits for patients.</span></b></i></div>
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Robot Gives Hospital-Bound Girl Continuity with School

A unique piece of technology is helping a fifth-grade student named Peyton virtually attend school while she’s in the hospital for radiat...

Schools, Universities Largest Market for 3D Printers

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<i>Schools and universities are beginning to incorporate 3D printers into their curricula more often, and now make up the largest market for 3D printers under$2,500.educational institutions buy more 3D printers than individuals. The number of US schools that have 3D printers hasn’t been quantified, but 5,000 schools have MakerBot’s 3D printers, and they are only one of the major sellers. Others include Stratasys, 3D Systems, and Variquest.</i></div>
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<i>3D printer purchases are expected to double in 2016 to 496,500 shipments. By 2019, numbers could reach 5.6 million.these statistics come from a report by Gartner Inc., an independent technology research company.rapid quality and performance innovations across all 3D printer technologies are driving both enterprise and consumer demand, with unit shipment growth rates for 3D printers increasing significantly. The 3D printer market is continuing its transformation from a niche market to a broad-based, global market of enterprises and consumers.Lan Neugent, interim executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), said that technology and career faculty are often instrumental in school’s 3D printer purchases. He said:educators understand that when children have the ability to see the results of their theoretical thinking in a concrete form, it brings reality to the classroom. As schools are working on STEM and college and career readiness, it’s a natural progression that you would get a fairly inexpensive device to cut across those categories.</i></div>
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<i>Some schools are adapting remarkably quickly. The Oakwood School in San Fernando Valley, California, has an entire 3D printing program at the core of its STEAM curriculum, writes Bridget Butler Millsaps of 3DPrint.com. Two school districts in Rhode Island, North Cumberland and McCourt, are incorporating 3D printers into middle school curricula, according to Brittany Ballantyne of the Valley Breeze.Because of the 3D printer trend in schools, there is a growing demand for child-oriented computer-aided design (CAD) software that students can use to create 3D-printed objects, writes John Dogru of Tech Crunch.</i></div>
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<i><i>There are already a few options for students. Apps like Zotebook.io allow users to draw 2D designs and convert them into 3D models for printing. FormZ for the computer comes with student licenses that allow high school and university students to access it for free for a year, where they can use its tutorials to learn how to use the professional-grade software.Another app designed for young children is Dr. Fluff’s Robot Factory for Android. Users create 3D models of fanciful robots, and teachers who don’t have access to a 3D printer can send away for students’ models via mail.Much of the school market is outside of America, writes Alison DeNisco of District Administration. For example, China has made significant investments in 3D printing for schools, and the government plans to offer training to teachers so they can create 3D printing courses. The program will begin in elementary schools, according to a report from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology entitled “National Additive Manufacturing Industry Promotion Plan 2015-2016.”</i></i></div>
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Schools, Universities Largest Market for 3D Printers

Schools and universities are beginning to incorporate 3D printers into their curricula more often, and now make up the largest market for...

UK Children Do Better In Foster Care Than With Troubled Families

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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>A joint study by the Rees Centre of the University of Oxford and the University of Bristol looked into student achievement for children in foster care settings, concluding that children in foster care do better at school compared to children who continue living with their troubled families and get social workers’ support.the study also found that the duration and stability of the child’s foster care placement contribute to the student’s educational success.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>For the study’s purposes, researchers examined the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results of about 640,000 teenage students in the UK. They found that vulnerable children living in foster or kinship care did as better as 6 GCSE grades higher than children living with their parents and receiving social worker support, the BBC reports. The researchers highlighted that the more stable and long-term the foster care, the better the academic achievement of the student. They argue in their report:</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>“The earlier the young person enters foster or kinship care the better their progress, provided that they do not experience many short care periods interspersed with reunifications with their birth families or many placement and/or school changes.”this type of setting offers the protection and sense of safety students need to focus on their education, the researchers say. Children who remain in the same foster care placement for more than one year could achieve a total of 5 higher GCSE grades compared to children switching between birth family and foster family or other settings.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>The study, which was funded by the Nuffield Foundation, a UK educational charity, included interviews with 26 young people apart from the GCSE grade analysis. Compared to students that are not in foster care or receiving social work support at home, both foster care groups lag behind. The research also reveals that parameters such as days of absence, school moves and type of school contributed to how successful or not a child’s education was.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><i>Reporting on the study’s results, Community Care said that when a child’s final placement is in foster or kinship care then their GCSE results are better compared to students in at-home care.the education lead for the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, Ms. Debbie Barnes, said the findings will help the organization better understand and better serve children in need, the BBC reports. David Berridge, Professor of Child and Family Welfare at the University of Bristol, said about children in foster or kinship care:“[Y]young people said they could only do well at school once they felt safe and secure, that they mattered to someone and that their birth families were also being supported,” Caroline Mortimer reporting for The Independent says.for Josh Hillman, Acting Director and Director of Education at the Nuffield Foundation, the study provides a ‘clear agenda’ for anyone involved in care systems and education as to what steps to take next to improve the learning circumstances of children in need, Phys.org reports.finally, the Children’s Minister Edward Timpson emphasized the value of education and family support in a student’s academic and personal success</i></span>.</div>
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UK Children Do Better In Foster Care Than With Troubled Families

A joint study by the Rees Centre of the University of Oxford and the University of Bristol looked into student achievement for children i...

Most Parents Uncomfortable Talking With Kids About Mental Health

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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>A poll in England has found that of over 1,100 parents surveyed, 55% had not spoken to their children about mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Of those parents, 20% said they did not know how to broach the subject.</i><i>The results of the poll were released as part of a program funded by the British Department of Health to attempt to eliminate the stigma that is often associated with mental health conditions.the BBC reports the poll of parents of children aged six to 18 was given by Opinion Matters, a market research company, on behalf of the Time to Change campaign and implemented by charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.the poll revealed that 45% of parents believed they did not need to have a conversation about mental health because it “was not an issue.” But the campaign reports that one in 10 children will experience a mental health problem.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Sue Baker, the Director of Time to Change, said this is the time to be the generation of change. At least three children in every classroom will experience mental health problems, she notes.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>A different survey released last month suggested that 62% of young people have used the internet to search for the word “depression.” The Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, said youngsters on their own accord do not have the confidence to ask their doctor for help with mental issues.kate Pickles of the Daily Mail said experts have warned that kids are under increasing stress, which includes social media pressure, cyber-bullying, school expectations, and even early “sexualization.” Cases of depression, problems in social settings, and anxiety have risen a fifth based on statistics that report the number of cases occurring.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Recent studies have also found that two-thirds of teachers are concerned about their students’ mental health. In some circumstances, young people have stopped being with friends, attending school, and having close relationships. In extreme cases, the stigma has driven children to consider suicide.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>As a result of the poll, teachers in the UK are scheduled to receive extra training on how to help students with mental health issues. Thanks to the Time to Change campaign, 60 schools in England, with help from the charity YoungMinds, will be given training and free resources to work with secondary school students (ages 11 through 18). Young people who have had mental health problems will also make presentations concerning their experience of living with the illness, writes Eleanor Busby of TES.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #783f04; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Two advertisements have been developed as part of the campaign aimed at 14-18-year-olds and their mothers and fathers. The first illustrates how young people should think before they judge a friend or classmate who is going through mental health problems. The second encourages parents to be prepared to have the mental health conversation with their children.nadine Peacock, a mother of a 19-year-old daughter, came to believe that the topic should be discussed in school and by parents after her daughter experienced mental health issues. Peacock said:“My biggest piece of advice, make mental health part of everyday conversation with your child. Even if your child isn’t experiencing any issues, if something does crop up further down the line at least then they feel like they can have an open conversation with you about it.“There also needs to be more education around the topic at school; the more openly this is discussed in the classroom, the less of a taboo mental health will be.”</i></span></div>
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Most Parents Uncomfortable Talking With Kids About Mental Health

A poll in England has found that of over 1,100 parents surveyed, 55% had not spoken to their children about mental health issues such as d...

California Legislature Moves on Requiring Vaccinations

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<i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">California is taking steps to require vaccines for schoolchildren even if parents state religious objections.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">California’s Assembly passed a strict new proposal this month requiring that parents have their children vaccinated regardless of religious or personal belief. The state Senate approved an earlier draft which bodes well for Senate approval on the new measure. After that, the bill will travel to the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature, writes the Los Angeles Times.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Quartz’s Gwynn Guilford writes that the bill originated after a December 2014 outbreak of measles at Disneyland in Southern California, where a woman who had not been vaccinated started an epidemic that infected approximately 131 Californians and many from other states. Eighty-one patients from California had immunization statuses that were known, and of those 81, 70% had never been immunized.only Mississippi and West Virginia, along with California if the bill is signed, require immunizations in spite of parents’ religious or personal stances, reports the National Conference of State Legislatures. The only exception in the California bill is a physician-approved exemption because of medical conditions like allergies and immune-system deficiencies.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Associated Press quoted Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) in her presentation of the bill:“Do we wait until we have a full-fledged crisis to protect the most vulnerable?” the bill passed on a bipartisan 46-30 vote after significant opposition from thousands of parents calling their representatives and marching on the Capitol. Those in agreement were equally as fervent and stood by 7-year-old leukemia survivor Rhett Krawitt who, because he could not be vaccinated after chemotherapy, was nervous to return to school in the acutely under-vaccinated Marin County.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“We should fight for the liberty not just of those who don’t want to vaccinate their kids, but for those who cannot,” said Republican Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, R-Pleasanton, during Thursday’s floor debate.still, opponents feel they are being bullied into making the decision to have their children vaccinated or to take their children out of school. Bill author Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), a pediatrician himself, and Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) said they have been targeted for recall by those against the bill. In Monning’s district, which includes Santa Cruz, there are a high number of parents who opt out of vaccinating their children. Monning says he has been forced to shut down his office because of safety concerns.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">“If anyone can tell me where the line for medical necessity reasonably ends to justify a law, then I will vote for this bill,” Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) said. “Until then, this is a slippery slope.”</span></i></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL56npCPb9uOd9_yWSBDuJnJwXuK4zZIRr7zdevGciBCtc_fgFOdyyeqoOx6rk9igoHw-BS1SowTLT1xQ_IX4LD3vyPeNVLDpF-lVQwknfJIRMAGAH_boUiWdlA8coA-8LiJLM-18wX0Sa/s1600/images+%252837%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL56npCPb9uOd9_yWSBDuJnJwXuK4zZIRr7zdevGciBCtc_fgFOdyyeqoOx6rk9igoHw-BS1SowTLT1xQ_IX4LD3vyPeNVLDpF-lVQwknfJIRMAGAH_boUiWdlA8coA-8LiJLM-18wX0Sa/s1600/images+%252837%2529.jpg" /></span></i></a><i></i><br />
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<i><i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One group opposed to the passing of the bill is Californians for Vaccine Choice. On their website they warn that the measure would “eliminate a parent’s right to exempt their children from one, some, or all vaccines, a risk-laden medical procedure.”  The group continues by stating that California parents will be forced to vaccinate children with more than 40 doses of 10 federally recommended immunizations or homeschool their children unless a doctor will sign a release, which 99.99% of doctors refuse to do under federal guidelines, report Michael Martinez and Amanda Watts of CNN.</span></i></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #073763; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Denise Hassanzade Ajiri of The Christian Science Monitor writes that according to professor Mark Largent, a historian at Michigan State University in East Lansing who authored “Vaccine: The Debate in Modern America,” parents who are against vaccinating their kids are not anti-vaccine, but are vaccine-anxious.health professionals are of the opinion that the risks of vaccines are lower than the diseases themselves. They add that the study that linked the vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella to autism has been discredited, but some parents are still wary.</span></i></div>

California Legislature Moves on Requiring Vaccinations

California is taking steps to require vaccines for schoolchildren even if parents state religious objections. California’s Assembly pas...

Schools Considering Later Start Times for Safety

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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), earlier this year released a statement that adolescents who do not get enough sleep can suffer from physical and mental health problems, an increase in automobile accidents, and a decline in academic performance. Unfortunately, teens’ natural sleep cycle makes it difficult for them to fall asleep before 11:00 p.m. and then attend a 7:30 a.m. — or earlier — first class the next day.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The AAP recommends that middle and high schools delay the start of class time to 8:30 a.m. or later. This would bring school times in alignment with the biological sleep rhythms of adolescents, for whom sleep-wake cycles begin to shift up to two hours later at the start of puberty.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">“Chronic sleep loss in children and adolescents is one of the most common – and easily fixable – public health issues in the U.S. today,” said pediatrician Judith Owens, MD, FAAP, lead author of the policy statement, “School Start Times for Adolescents,” published in the September 2014 issue of Pediatrics.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">“The research is clear that adolescents who get enough sleep have a reduced risk of being overweight or suffering depression, are less likely to be involved in automobile accidents, and have better grades, higher standardized test scores and an overall better quality of life,” Dr. Owens said. “Studies have shown that delaying early school start times is one key factor that can help adolescents get the sleep they need to grow and learn.”</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">In Guilford, Connecticut, several school districts are considering giving an extra hour of sleep to its older students, believing that the change will reap safety, physical, and academic benefits, writes Kate Ramunni of the New Haven Register. Although changing schedules is always a headache for school districts, it can be done. The Wilton School District was one of the first to do it in 2003; at that time, teachers were against the shift, but parents supported the change.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">“It can be costly in terms of rearranging bus schedules, and a lot of students and parents are concerned with sports programs because changing times can affect their ability to participate in sports,” said Rachel Gary, director of the Greater Hartford chapter of Start School Later. “There are always obstacles, but if there are things we can do to make lives healthier and safer, we owe it to them to address that. I feel like there has to be a way to come to a middle ground, and that has been done in a lot of different ways.”in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, a survey has shown that most people think that changing school starting times to a later hour is best for students. Annapolis Patch‘s Deb Belt writes that four options were presented on how to make this change happen, all of which would result in high school students starting their first class at least 30 minutes later than the existing 7:17 a.m. bell.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">New Jersey legislators have endorsed a bill to study the advantages of later start times for middle and high school students as well. The New Jersey Association of School Administrators supports the change, but believe it should be decided by local districts and not by a statewide mandate, according to Phil Dunne of the Courier-Post .teens who sleep later are less prone to have car accidents, researchers have found. An excellent example of this can be found by comparing two adjacent counties in Virginia, says Nicholas Bakalar writing for The New York Times. These two counties are almost identical when it comes to ethnicity, percentage of congested roads, and socioeconomic characteristics. One difference, however, is that in Henrico County, high school begins at 8:45 a.m., and in Chesterfield County, school begins at 7:20 a.m. In 2009-2010, the rate of accidents involving 16- to 18-year-old drivers was 48.8 per thousand in Chesterfield. In Henrico County, the rate was 37.9. In 2010-2011, in Chesterfield the rate was 51.9 per thousand and in Henrico 44.2. However, for adults during that same time, accidents fluctuated between 13 and 14 per thousand in both Chesterfield and Henrico Counties.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The November issue of The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine included the Henrico/Chesterfirld experiment, but gathered no information on other risky behaviors or other factors that could have affected the results. Dr. Robert Verona, associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School understands that the study does not specifically prove causal effect, but he does say:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">“There is a growing literature that shows that early start times are a problem, and school systems should take a look at the data and seriously consider whether they should delay them.”</span></i></div>
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Schools Considering Later Start Times for Safety

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), earlier this year released a statement that adolescents who do not get enough sleep can suffer ...

Safety Experts, Doctors Urge Parents to Be Vigilant Around Water

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<b><i>With summer in full swing, parents are being warned by health professionals and child safety advocates to monitor their children more closely around water.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>When Lindsey Kujawa took her eyes off her son for just a few seconds at a pool party, her toddler jumped into a hot tub and the jets pushed him to the other side. After about 20 seconds Kujawa pulled her son out and he seemed fine. WCHS-TV reports that Kujjawa, in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America”, said after about an hour, she noticed that her son was coughing and lethargic and rushed him to the emergency room. There she was told that her son was was suffering from a little known, but very dangerous condition, often called secondary drowning.the condition, which is a result of fluid that is left in the lungs after the intake of water, prevents tiny air sacs in the lungs from sending oxygen into the bloodstream.  This can eventually cause the heart to stop beating.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>“This case is not a total surprise and it can happen, but not in the majority of cases,” said Dr. Paul Pepe, chair of emergency medicine at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, who has conducted numerous studies on drowning in Texas and in Florida, where rates are high.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Pepe added that although this is not a common event, it does occur. In medical terms, even when a child is resuscitated after falling in water, pulmonary edema can develop in the first three to four hours after water has been taken into the lungs.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Last week, the USA Swimming and the Pool Safely campaign announced that 95 children under 14 have drowned in pools and spas in the US this year as of May 31. Of that number, 74 involved children under 5 years of age. The organization does not keep records of deaths from secondary drowning.ellyn Pollack, spokesman for the organization, said “secondary drowning” is not a phrase that her group uses because the child has died from drowning even if the death occurs two days later. The data used comes from the Consumer Product Safety Commission which urges parents to teach their children how to swim. The CPSC reports that there are up to 400 drownings per year in the US among children under the age of 15. Approximately 75% of the children are under 5 years old. Drowning is the number one cause of death for children under 5.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Another type of drowning is known as “dry drowning” says Asher Fogle, writing for Good Housekeeping, with some experts estimating that dry and secondary drowning account for about 1 to 2% of these fatal events.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>“This smaller percentage, while rare, is really scary because the symptoms can be delayed,” Dr. Mark Zonfrillo, from the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, tells GoodHousekeeping.com.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>In cases of “dry drowning”, however, water never reaches the lungs, but occurs when a small amount of water is taken in through the mouth or nose making the airway spasm and close up. It can take place in water or briefly after exiting.for both dry and secondary drowning, the symptoms to watch for are trouble breathing, coughing, sputtering. Additionally, with secondary drowning, parents should look for vomiting, sleepiness, lethargy, chest pain, fever, or unusual mood change.waiting too long to administer CPR, or to take the child to an ER, can cause complications. Swimming lessons are crucial according to the CDC, along with learning CPR, close supervision, and constructing barriers around pools and spas.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Jenna Birch of Yahoo! Health details 6 types of drowning, and although the World Health Organization simplified things in 2005 by putting all types of drowning under the one umbrella term “drowning,” knowing the distinctive manners in which people can drown may be helpful.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Wet drowning is when a body is underwater and the victim inhales water into the lungs making it impossible to take in oxygen. Dry drowning is when the throat reflexively closes and the victim dies of asphyxiation. Silent drowning takes place when there are no warnings, no sounds, no splashing, and no cries for help. The victim silently goes underwater and drowns.</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Active drowning is when the victim is fighting and flailing. This type of victim’s thrashing can make rescue dangerous or impossible. Passive drowning describes a victim who is unconscious and in the last stages of the drowning incident. Secondary drowning occurs when a person has a near drowning experience, or a serious intake of water, but does not show symptoms until up to 24 hours after the episode.the settings in which drownings can occur differ dramatically. Children can drown in larges bodies of water, lakes, pools, spa tubs, bathtubs, and even in large buckets. Emergency medicine physician Darria Long Gillespie, an assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine, implores parents to never let their guards down. One moment of distraction is the first step to most childhood drowning events.</i></b></div>
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Safety Experts, Doctors Urge Parents to Be Vigilant Around Water

With summer in full swing, parents are being warned by health professionals and child safety advocates to monitor their children more clo...

Virginia School Bans Open-Flame Science Labs After Accident

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<i><b>W.T. Woodson High School in Virginia’s Fairfax County was the location of a fire in its chemistry a week ago, leading the superintendent of one of the largest school districts in the country to suspend all science experiments that would include open flames, write Moriah Balingit, Justin Jouvenal, and T. Rees Shapiro of The Washington Post.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The fire occurred when a teacher used a flammable liquid to demonstrate how chemicals can change the color of a flame. Five students in the classroom were hospitalized, the teacher was burned, and all students were evacuated from the school. Students said no one was wearing protective garments.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Fairfax County Schools Superintendent Karen Garza said a review of the county’s curriculum would ensue and safety guidance education for teachers would occur. The county plans for security updates for all science teachers before the semester ends.high school students will be most affected by the ban. Lab procedures in physics, biology, and chemistry classes all include open flames, said a veteran teacher.the teacher repoured flammable liquid on a dying flame, causing a “splash of fire” to hit the observers. Two students were taken by helicopter to hospitals in the area, three students were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, and the teacher’s burns were minor. Officials described the fire as accidental.t</b></i><i><b>he US Chemical Safety Board and the American Chemical Society say that “the rainbow experiment” that was the lab performed has left students with severe injuries and should not take place in classrooms.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>“These demonstrations present an unacceptable risk of flash fires and deflagrations that can cause serious injuries to students and teachers,” the American Chemical Society said.calais Weber knows about preventable accidents like the one that happened at W.T. Woodson High School. Weber was 15-years-old when ten years ago the same event occurred in her chemistry class.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>“It was called the rainbow experiment,” said Weber. “It was meant to show how different chemicals burn at different light frequencies, so the flames end up being different colors when you burn them.”</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Her teacher took out a bottle of methanol at her desk in front of the classroom. She poured it into the open fire, reports Laura Evans for Fox 5 Washington, D.C. The flame exploded, and since Weber was in front of the experiment she bore the brunt.she says the solution to the problem is proper training, the reduction of complacency, and increased knowledge.“I really think there are teachers that for whatever reason don’t understand the chemical properties of methanol and exactly why it’s so dangerous and therefore don’t understand how to use it properly,” she said.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The flame burned Weber over 40% of her body and she was in the hospital for two and a half months. She was a model, so the accident changed her life dramatically. Weber has worked tirelessly to raise awareness so no one else will go through what she has endured.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>But in the last year and a half there have been four accidents across the US like the one at Woodson that have injured over 20 people. Still, Weber continues working with lawmakers and educating students and parents.</b></i></div>
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Virginia School Bans Open-Flame Science Labs After Accident

W.T. Woodson High School in Virginia’s Fairfax County was the location of a fire in its chemistry a week ago, leading the superintendent ...

UK Government Approves First New Grammar School in 50 Years

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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Weald of Kent school in Tonbridge, England will build an ‘annexe’ new grammar school in Sevenoaks, Kent after Education Secretary Nicky Morgan gave the green light. The school, which is not considered a separate grammar school establishment, but rather an annexe of the existing school, is expected to welcome its first 450 students by 2017. It is the first new grammar school to be approved in 50 years.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Opening new grammar schools have been banned since 1997, and the Education Minister says the Kent grammar school case should not be construed as a ban lift, nor should it make other schools hopeful they can get their proposals approved. Explaining her decision, Morgan said it was a natural expansion, the Daily Mail reports, and that the decision shouldn’t be thought of as government approval of selective schools.several proposals for grammar schools have been rejected in the past largely in view of bureaucracy, the UK Telegraph reports.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Proposals for new grammar schools are prohibited by law and they can only be considered when they “meet the criteria for being a genuine expansion” — in other words, when there’s sufficient demand for new school places, Morgan said.“I don’t want to fight the battles of selective and non-selective… This is one particular application with one particular set of circumstances. Why would I deny a good school the right to expand?”“I don’t think this will open any kind of precedent or floodgates,” the Education Minister added.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Labour party characterized the decision as a “backward step”. The party banned the introduction of more grammar schools in the late 1990′s on the grounds that academic selection shouldn’t determine students’ educational opportunities.shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said the decision makes equal access to education difficult for students:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">”David Cameron should look at the clear evidence on grammar schools: They do not increase equality of opportunity, they make it worse.”the Weald and Sevenoaks sites will be under one leadership and management while governance, curriculum and admission processes will also be centrally administered.grammar schools in England are run by the state and choose their students through the 11-plus examination, an exam students take at the age of 11 and which determines the top students qualified to attend. The rest attend a standard secondary school.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The system is highly controversial in view of its discrimination against students with less-than-excellent academic abilities. Hannah Richardson of the BBC says of the grammar school concept:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“[T]he system effectively divided students into two types – those destined for university and better jobs, and those deemed more suitable for less celebrated professions.”</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Currently there are 164 state-run grammar schools in England. Citing the pros and cons of grammar schools, The Week says in a balanced analysis of the news that they help the brightest children thrive.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Grammar schools proponent Boris Johnson, London Mayor and an MP, says the ban of selective schools is a ‘tragedy’ considering how they have helped children from poorer backgrounds access quality education. He characterizes a grammar school as “a great mobilizer and liberator,” TheWeek says.another oft-cited advantage of grammar schools is the sheer number of successful alumni these schools boast and the fact that grammar school students excel at national exams.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On the other hand, Grammar schools can discriminate against less able students at a young age, which critics say is something that places hurdles in front of the aspirations and social mobility of students, The Week writes.</span></i></div>
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UK Government Approves First New Grammar School in 50 Years

The Weald of Kent school in Tonbridge, England will build an ‘annexe’ new grammar school in Sevenoaks, Kent after Education Secretary Nic...

UK, China Increasing International Education Cooperation

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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The UK and China, which already have tight educational connections, are planning on expanding their partnership with programs designed to increase exchange between the nations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Many Chinese students who want to study abroad go to the UK. China’s Minister of Education Yuan Guiren says that both countries have initiated programs to enhance their higher education collaboration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">In each of the past few years, China has increased the number of full scholarships. In 2014, 64,000 Chinese students studied in the UK.according to Richard Macauley of Quartz, even young children are going to the UK from China for schooling and make up 14% of the country’s total population of international students.programs will be encouraging students to travel from the UK to China, too. The government invited 200 British students to study in China at no cost. The British government will be sending 80,000 students to study in China in the coming years, according to CCTV.com.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Statistics show that Chinese universities are growing in quality, meaning that British students who want to study there will not be missing out on opportunity. Four of the nation’s universities were included in the Times Higher Education top 100 rankings, writes Alice Gast.earlier this year, the government tried teaching math in English schools with traditional Chinese teaching methods. According to Schools Minister Nick Gibb, this was extremely successful, with students who historically scored poorly in math doing particularly well. Now, groups of school teachers have traveled to Shanghai to study Chinese teaching techniques, and 30 Chinese teachers were transported to the UK to work with students and educators. Gibbs said:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">When that’s brought to England and the approach has been tried in English schools, it’s been hugely successful. Teachers have been pleasantly surprised by how much some of the less-able children are achieving in maths as a consequence of this approach.gibbs described one Chinese teacher in a Harris academy, who spent an entire lesson describing how to multiply two double-digit figures ending in zero. He said:i walked around the classroom and all the children were understanding what was happening and could perform the calculation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The program’s focus on math was inspired by China’s notoriously successful math achievement. They consistently score the highest in the PISA exam, the Programme for International Student Assessment test administered by OECD. In 2012, Shanghai ranked first in math, reading, and science, ahead of both Singapore and Hong Kong, according to Xie Qiao of CRIEnglish.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, not everyone’s assessment of the program is as optimistic as Gibb’s. The three-part documentary Are Our Kids Tough Enough? showed that Chinese teachers struggled to discipline and control Western students, and the UK teachers disagreed with their methods. Over the course of four weeks, five Chinese teachers took charge of 50 students at a comprehensive school in Hampshire. The experience was very different from what the students were used to: the teenagers wore uniforms, attended from 7am to 7pm, had two meal breaks, and had the responsibility of cleaning their own classrooms. Lessons involved repetition, note-taking, and some group exercises. After the month was over, the students scored 10% higher in math and science than their peers.research so far has shown that Chinese teaching methods bring about a small improvement in performance, but experts say that there isn’t enough data and the methods need to be tested with a larger base.</span><br />
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UK, China Increasing International Education Cooperation

The UK and China, which already have tight educational connections, are planning on expanding their partnership with programs designed...

Open University Facing Staff Shakeup Amid Changing Needs

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<i>Staff at the UK’s Open University, which offers distance learning and education options for non-traditional students, are currently in a strike ballot over job losses and the closure of seven regional centers that has put more than 500 jobs at risk.</i></div>
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<i>The OU is looking to close seven locations, including Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Gateshead, Leeds, and Oxford, in an effort to streamline student support.  The institution is also considering closing its London location, although it may consider keeping a smaller location in the capital.</i></div>
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<i>According to a spokesman for the university, the decision comes as a response to the changing needs of its students rather than a change in funding.</i></div>
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<i>The staff members who currently work in these locations, who total around 500, would be offered the opportunity to transfer to one of the two other offices that focus on student support services, or to the OU’s headquarters in Milton Keynes.  Those who choose not to transfer would need to take voluntary severance or early retirement.</i></div>
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<i>Staff members argue that following through with the plan would limit opportunities for face-to-face interactions and change the ethos of the institution.  After a senate meeting last week resulted in a rejection of the plan, calling it “high risk” and “failing adequately to support the academic mission of the university,” the University and College Union (UCU) has decided to ballot for strike action over the closures because the university has decided to continue with the plans.</i></div>
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<i>UCU Open University branch president Pauline Collins said: “Axing over 500 staff across seven centres would be catastrophic to the Open University’s ability to provide the kind of support that students need.  We hope the university will now see sense and work with us to find a better solution for staff, students and the future of the Open University.”</i></div>
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<i>The OU maintains that the offices which may be closed were not mainly used as teaching centers.  Therefore, student services and support would not be affected.closing the centers could save the university around $7.5 million of a total budget of over $600 million.  The money could be beneficial to the institution, which has seen a decrease in the number of part-time students by about 10%, a result of changes to higher education funding, including the introduction of tuition costs, reports Harriet Swain for The Guardian.</i></div>
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<i>A new structure is set to be in place by February 2017 that would allow offices to remain open in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes, Manchester and Nottingham along with a smaller sub-office in Dublin.the university added that the plan calls for an expansion of the centers in Milton Keynes, Manchester, and Nottingham.</i></div>
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<i>Peter Horrocks, Vice-Chancellor, said: “This recommendation, if approved, would allow us to enhance student support in a way that’s simply not possible in our current office network, and offer our students the sort of support they expect and deserve.”a final decision will come from the university’s council in late November.the OU currently enrolls around 200,000 students, many of whom have jobs and other commitments along with their schoolwork.</i></div>
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Open University Facing Staff Shakeup Amid Changing Needs

Staff at the UK’s Open University, which offers distance learning and education options for non-traditional students, are currently in a ...

Flatiron School Guarantees Full-Time Web Development Job

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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">A fast-track learning program at the Flatiron School in New York offers web and mobile development courses through an online Learn-Verified Web Developer Program, a course which Flatiron says guarantees a full-time job within six months of graduation.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">The courses takes 600 to 800 hours to complete and costs $1,000/month. However, there’s no fixed timeframe – the faster learners study, the less they’ll pay.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Up until now, Flatiron was exclusively offering its courses in a classroom, with 99% of its graduates getting full-time jobs and an average entry-level salary at $74,000. Now, thanks to Learn-Verified, the school is offering its complete curriculum online. The school provides an all-your-money-back guarantee if graduates don’t get a full-time job offer within six months of graduation.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Unlike many MOOCs, Flatiron’s online course revolves around community and communication. Adam Enbar, co-founder and CEO of  the Flatiron School says:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">“The current field of online education resources is simply inadequate for people who want to develop the breadth of skills necessary to begin a new career. Community is where education succeeds and the lack of it is why MOOCs fail. We created a platform that facilitates personalized attention, high-quality curriculum and comes with a job placement guarantee.”</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Enbar added that current online learning platforms are ineffective due to their emphasis on content consumption:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">“Online education today expects students to watch videos and post questions to forums or wait a week to speak to a mentor, which given available technology is equivalent to sending a letter in the mail rather than sending a text message.”</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">The Learn-Verified curriculum offers 600 to 800 hours of web development content and a learning platform that facilitates learning through cutting edge tools and workflows. The course includes more than 100 videos and interactive quizzes and over 200 coding labs, TechCrunch says.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Learn-Verified students will have access to the school’s academics 18 hours per day and be able to reach and interact with other students on a 24/7 basis.flatiron’s curriculum is open-source and constantly improving, thanks to the feedback that learners, faculty and graduate provide.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Following their graduation, the school’s placement staff will seek appropriate full-time jobs for its graduates, the school says. Some of the most notable companies hiring Flatiron graduates include Intel, Microsoft and Google.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">“Thousands of people come through the doors at Flatiron School to learn to code and successfully launch careers,” Enbar says. “We have now created a platform that allows anyone in the U.S. at anytime of the day to develop those same hirable skills and then be placed in a well-paying job.”</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Flatiron was founded in 2012 and offers online and traditional mobile and web development classes taught by highly skilled instructors. The online course costs $1,000 per month – a heavy price tag considering that other schools offer courses at no cost, with competitors like Codecademy priced at $29/month, QZ.com observes.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; line-height: 19.6px;">Flatiron School trains creative, passionate people in web and mobile development.  Established in 2012 by founders </span><span class="xn-person" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #404040; line-height: 19.6px; margin: 0px;"><span itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px;">Adam Enbar</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; line-height: 19.6px;"> and Avi Flombaum, 99 percent of Flatiron School's adult graduates have launched careers companies like Google, Intel and Microsoft. All classes are facilitated by highly skilled instructors. Flatiron School is a recognized partner of NYC Department of Small Business Services, creating opportunities for all New Yorkers</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.6px;">.</span></span></i></div>
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Flatiron School Guarantees Full-Time Web Development Job

A fast-track learning program at the Flatiron School in New York offers web and mobile development courses through an online Learn-Veri...

Three Illinois Schools Close Due to Legionella Bacteria

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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">School officials in Elgin, Illinois have reported the evacuation of 2,900 students from three schools in the area after high concentrations of Legionella bacteria were found in the cooling towers for the facilities.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Higher than normal” levels of the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s disease were found at Larkin High School in Elgin, Eastview Middle School in Bartlett and the administration building of Elgin School District U46, causing the closure of all three buildings.  Students were relocated until parents were either able to pick them up or the district was able to bring them home.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“While risk of exposure to the bacteria was low, we decided, in consultation with the Kane County Health Department, to evacuate staff and students to safe locations as a precaution,” the school district said.while students in classrooms heard a public address announcement asking everyone to leave the building, students who were eating lunch said they did not hear anything official concerning the school’s closure.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“All of a sudden somebody said, ‘Let’s go,’” said sophomore Jonathon Davis of Elgin. “We said, ‘Who’s fighting now?’ We didn’t know what was going on. They said to go out in single file but everybody ran out. In five minutes the school was empty.”</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other students who had been in the lunchroom at Larkin said they thought it was either a fire drill or live-shooter drill.  It was not until they went outside that a Facebook announcement from school district CEO Tony Sanders explained the evacuation, writes Dave Gathman for The Chicago Tribune.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some parents also reported that they had not heard of the evacuation and they were merely showing up at school to drop something off to their child.sanders said he made the decision close to 10:30 am on Wednesday after reading the annual report concerning the air quality testing of the school cooling towers, which described “higher than normal” levels of Legionella bacteria.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He added that Educational Services Center staff had been asked to report to either Bartlett High or Elgin High to help students there.  Because the central office was closed, key district leaders would be moved to district’s plant operations building where a news conference was held this afternoon.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A decision has not been made yet concerning whether or not the schools will remain closed.  In the meantime, all 19 towers are being thoroughly cleaned and sanitized.the state is currently dealing with an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, which has already resulted in the deaths of 13 people.</span></i></div>
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Three Illinois Schools Close Due to Legionella Bacteria

School officials in Elgin, Illinois have reported the evacuation of 2,900 students from three schools in the area after high concentratio...

University of Michigan to Partner with edX

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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>The University of Michigan, which helped found the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider Coursera, will now be partnering with online education platform edX as well.the first of UM’s edX courses under the title of MichiganX will begin in April of 2016. There will be at least 20 courses from the the University over the next two years, and three that are scheduled to be released early on cover finance, learning analytics, and data science ethics.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Laurel Thomas Gnagey of Michigan News quoted a statement by James Hilton, Vice Provost for the Office of Digital Education & Innovation this new partnership aligns closely with our mission and values. Our core commitment is about experimenting, learning and adapting in order to shape the future of higher education. EdX and Coursera provide very different models with different sweet spots for experimentation. We are thrilled that our faculty will be able to take advantage of both platforms to push the boundaries of discovery.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The first course, “Finance for Everyone: Smart Tools for Decision-Making,” will launch on April 5th and last for six weeks of five to six hours each. It will be taught by Gautam Kaul, a professor of finance in the school of business, reports Diane Schaffhauser of Campus Technology. A certificate upon completion will be available for $49.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Kaul, who is the Digital Education & Innovation department’s first “Innovator in Residence,” said:</b></i></div>
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<i><b>With the help of strategic investments UM has made in digital learning, I’ve been able to reach nearly a million global learners through MOOCs while transforming the way I engage students on campus. I’m excited to experiment with the edX platform to continue our quest to redefine residential learning.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The second course on analytics will be taught by Timothy McKay, a professor of Physics and Astronomy and an Academic Innovation Fellow with the DEI. The third, which encourages students to “think about the ethical questions surrounding the use, integration and analysis of data,” will be taught by H. V. Jagadish, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>EdX was founded in 2012 by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the goal of offering free, high-quality education to anyone with an internet connection, writes Gen Hummer of the Michigan Daily. Coursera was co-founded in 2012 by the University of Michigan along with the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Princeton University, and two computer science professors from Stanford. Partnering with both, according to UM, will allow them to try different approaches to online learning.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>UM plans on growing their Coursera offerings as well. By December, UM says that they will increase from 20 courses on the platform to 50.james DeVaney, Associate Vice Provost of the DEI, reports that the university has reached 3.6 million people through their MOOCs since 2012. He says:</b></i></div>
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<i><b>If we continue to harness the best technology and deepen our use of learning analytics, we know the ripple effect of Michigan’s academic excellence and alumni network will be felt around the world.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The university also is working with a third platform, NovoEd.</b></i></div>
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University of Michigan to Partner with edX

The University of Michigan, which helped found the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider Coursera, will now be partnering with onl...

Documentary Examines Boot Camps for Media-Addicted Kids

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<i><b>The documentary “Web Junkie”, soon to be shown on PBS, examines Chinese children’s excessive use of computer games and may have relevance for American parents who have children who spend hours each day in front of a screen.<br>The film addresses the tragic effects on teens in China who have become addicted to video games and who play for dozens of hours without eating, sleeping, or using the bathroom. Some, writes Jane E. Brody of The New York Times, have come to see the real world as artificial.<br>Rehabilitation centers have been established to treat what Chinese doctors are calling a clinical disorder, where kids are confined sometimes for months, isolated from all media, and undergo therapy that is often draconian. None of these methods, so far, have been proven to be effective.<br>This addiction to media is not referred to as a clinical disorder in the US, but many American young people start at an early age to use technology to entertain themselves and spend more time on these devices than experts consider healthy. A Kaiser Family Foundation study in 2010 reported the average 8- to 10-year-old spends almost eight hours a day on varying media devices, and older children and teens spend more than 11 hours per day with media. Television use takes first place timewise, but computers, tablets, and cellphones follow closely.<br>The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no exposure to any electronic media before the age of two because children of this age learn best by interaction with people. Older kids and teens should spend only one or two hours per day with entertainment media and then spend more free time outdoors, reading, doing hobbies, and using their imaginations in free play.<br>While some parents limit the time their children can spend in front of a TV or computer, two-thirds of kids surveyed in the Kaiser study reported their parents had no rules at all concerning time spent on media, writes Nicole Oran of the MedCity News.<br>“We’re throwing screens at children all day long, giving them distractions rather than teaching them how to self-soothe, to calm themselves down,” Catherine Steiner-Adair, a Harvard-affiliated clinical psychologist and author of “The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age” told The New York Times.<br>Spending so many hours in front of a screen can also cause a desensitization from violence and, at some point, can become a detriment to children’s learning abilities. Kids who see a lot of simulated violence can become less empathetic and may act out violently, according to Dimitri A. Christakis of the Seattle Children’s Research Institute.newsMax’s Sylvia Booth Hubbard references a statement made by Drew Altman, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation:<br>“The amount of time young people spend with media has grown to where it’s even more than a full-time work week. When children are spending this much time doing anything, we need to understand how it’s affecting them – for good and bad.”<br>So, is the Chinese boot camp effective? Is it curing the affected kids? Should teens undergo this kind of treatment.</b></i></div>

Documentary Examines Boot Camps for Media-Addicted Kids

The documentary “Web Junkie”, soon to be shown on PBS, examines Chinese children’s excessive use of computer games and may have relevance...

Wearable Tech Responds to Brain Signals with Classroom Uses

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<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This last week’s adaptive learning summit by the National Education Initiative showcased some interesting technology, including a piece of headgear that can “read’ the minds of students for a more immersive and effective learning experience.nish Sonwalkar is the chair of professional development at the MIT Club of Boston and CEO of a company named intellADAPT, writes Nichole Dobo of the Hechinger Report. He has created a working model of a headband that can read and respond to the brain’s electrical signals. He predicts that it will be ready for classroom use in two or three years and will cost about as much as a cheap laptop.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This would open up opportunities for teachers to adjust their teaching style in real time. For example, they can more effectively understand how engaged their students are, and measure which activities improve it.this sounds like the wave of the future, but it’s not a new idea. Technology that can respond directly to the brains of its users has been in the works for a few years.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Toronto-based technology company InteraXon designed a similar headband that responds to the brain’s electrical signals, dubbing it Muse. The company was founded in 2007 and raised money for the project using Indiegogo. Muse uses EEG (electroencephalography) sensors to monitor brain activity and can use Bluetooth to send its information to any device that is compatible with its app.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With practice you can learn to manipulate your brainwave pattern, like flexing a muscle you’ve never used before.it sends those brainwaves to your smartphone or tablet showing you how well your brain is performing, and also translates your brainwaves into instructions to interact with content on your iOS or Android device.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So far, it has mainly been used to help users learn how to relieve stress based on stressed-out versus relaxed brain patterns, but can also be used to control simple appliances like turning a beer tap on and off.interaXon’s founder and CEO Ariel Garten is a “neuro-consultant.” Elijah Wolfson of Newsweek quoted Garten on the transition of the technology into the consumer market:</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is the first EEG device that’s really a consumer product, that’s designed for ease of use, and comes with an app that’s really meaningful.</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Once InteraXon improves the app’s ability to read Muse’s signals, plans include collecting data to improve healthcare, creating playlists based on mood, recommending breathing exercises for when you’re stressed, and integrating with dating websites based on your emotional responses to movies and music. In the future, this technology can be integrated with devices and smart homes, allowing for direct control of technology, according to Rachel Feltman of Quartz.</span></i></b><br />
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Wearable Tech Responds to Brain Signals with Classroom Uses

This last week’s adaptive learning summit by the National Education Initiative showcased some interesting technology, including a piece ...

Technology in Schools Not Boosting Achievement

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<i><b>A new report from the OECD shows that “moderate” technology use in the classroom can improve learning, but that too much screen time is linked with a decrease in performance.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The report, entitled “Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection,” was released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development who based the study on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. The PISA tests are given to 60,000 15-year-olds in 32 countries and the data is used to analyze the school systems between nations.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The report states that the implementation of technology is not an automatic achievement-booster:</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Limited use of computers at school may be better than no use at all, but levels of computer use above the current … average are associated with significantly poorer results.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Put simply, ensuring that every child reaches a baseline level of proficiency in reading and mathematics seems to do more to create equal opportunities in a digital world than can be achieved by expanding or subsidizing access to high-tech devices and services.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Moderation is key, writes Joy Resmovits in the Los Angeles Times. Students should use computers only for certain activities that really benefit from the addition of technology. Students who use computers for drills in school at least once a week score more than 20 points lower than students who don’t.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>OECD education director Andreas Schleicher suggested that how we view technology in the classroom should be re-evaluated:</b></i><i><b>s</b></i><b style="font-style: italic;">tudents who use computers very frequently in school don’t outperform students who use them moderately, even when we modify for social background.</b></div>
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<i><b>If you have 21st century technology added to 20th century classrooms, it might be unrelated and take opportunities away. Schools probably haven’t become good enough at the kind of pedagogies that use technology well.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>If it’s used on a smaller scale, which is more useful, it’s usually more interactive teaching. If you want students to become smarter than a smartphone you have to think about instructional methodology and learning environment.</b></i><i><b>we are quite disappointed by the findings in general. Bringing technologies to the classroom didn’t seem to be related to positive skills outcomes.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>According to a survey, students in OECD countries spent around 25 minutes online at school. Australia came in the highest with about 58 minutes, and South Korean students spent less than ten, reports Business Insider.</b></i><i><b>american students taking the PISA felt more comfortable answering questions from a keyboard. They scored better on the digital reading test than on paper, scoring slightly above average. The math test had similar results, with digital scores around the OECD average, and below average scores on the paper test.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>The group also administered a digital skills test dealing with navigating web pages, using browsers, and making charts on the computer, according to Arjun Kharpal of CNBC. The list top-performing countries (Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, and Shanghai) closely mirrors the results of the organization’s 2012 print reading test, implying that basic and traditional skills are all one really needs to succeed in a digital environment.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>Students who spend six hours online every weekday were more likely to report feeling lonely at school and arriving late or skipping school in the two weeks before the test.</b></i></div>
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<i><b>In 2012, 96% of 15-year-olds in OECD countries said that they had a computer at home, but only 72% said that they use computers or tablets at school, Schleicher writes in a BBC piece. For some countries, the number was less than half.</b></i></div>
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Technology in Schools Not Boosting Achievement

A new report from the OECD shows that “moderate” technology use in the classroom can improve learning, but that too much screen time is l...

Jones Ousted as University of Mississippi Chancello

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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Students at the University of Mississippi are up in arms over the ousting of Chancellor Dan Jones, carrying red and white signs offering their support and asking classmates to sign a petition and attend a protest rally on campus.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>The sudden decision has been met with an outpouring of emotion from angry alumni and faculty as well.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>“This is a guy who was doing right in my eyes, and because he was doing right and standing up for what he believes in, he’s no longer allowed to be in that position,” said Chandler McKinley, a sophomore from Raleigh, N.C.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>The 12-member board came to the decision quickly in what is being called a “cowardly manner” by Sam R. Hall for The Clarion-Ledger.  No public announcement was made concerning the decision that was made only four days after Jones had returned to work following lymphoma treatment.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>A statement was made the day after the decision was handed down in which the board said that while they were pleased with his leadership skills, their concerns stemmed from a financial angle over the University of Mississippi Medical Center, which Jones also oversees.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Students on campus are angered by the decision, with many of them gathering together to form the grassroots movement “Students for Chancellor Jones,” the group in charge of the rally set to be held in an effort to get the board to overturn their decision.  Many appreciated his efforts to make the campus inclusive and lessen the racial climate once found to be controversial, writes Kayleigh Skinner for The Jackson Free Press.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>“Well, honestly, a lot of us are shocked,” said senior Phillip Waller. “This blindsided us. We couldn’t believe that a chancellor that has given so much to this university and made the university succeed in so many ways was unceremoniously dumped.”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>A number of efforts to reverse the decision have been started on campus, including an online petition on change.org, which currently has over 7,000 signatures.  In addition, the faculty senate will be holding a vote concerning a resolution, and State Representative Steve Holland is at work to have a resolution passed in the Mississippi legislature.  About 60 students and faculty members attended the most recent IHL meeting in support of Jones.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>“Losing Dr. Jones’s presence on campus – I think there would be a general morose feeling on campus. It would be like we had lost, you know, a member of our family,” student Sarah Stewart said.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Similar rulings made concerning educational leaders in Virginia and Texas were both overturned due to pressure from students and faculty members.  However, the Board of Trustees for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) does not seem to be considering a reversal.</i></span><br />
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Jones Ousted as University of Mississippi Chancello

Students at the University of Mississippi are up in arms over the ousting of Chancellor Dan Jones, carrying red and white signs offering t...

Data Shows US Kids Inadequately Hydrated

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Data shows that a broad cross-section of  kids ages 6 to 19 are not drinking any water as part of their daily fluid intake. In fact, a majority of children and teens are not drinking enough fluids in general and are walking around in a mildly dehydrated state, says a new study.</div>
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Postdoctoral researcher Erica Kenney at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and her colleagues retrieved information about children’s consumption of water from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHNES) and published their findings last week in the American Journal of Public Health, writes Richard Harris for NPR.</div>
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At first, the Harvard study was based on the consumption of sugary drinks in schools and the ways in which kids could be steered to drinking water instead. After the study began, they found that children were not drinking much fluid at all and they wondered if that was creating problems.</div>
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The NHNES includes testing of urine that revealed whether the participants are hydrated. The report showed that more than half of the thousands of students studied between 2009 and 2012 were somewhat dehydrated.</div>
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“This doesn’t mean we’re saying kids are dropping like flies or that they’re very seriously dehydrated and need to go to the hospital or anything like that,” Kenney says. “But even mild dehydration can affect children’s fatigue levels, mood and possibly their ability to learn,” she says.</div>
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Kenny was concerned when the study showed many children drink no water at all and those who did drink water were not drinking very much of it. The Institute of Medicine says children and teenagers should be drinking around two to three quarts (48-72 oz.) of water daily, which includes water in food, juicy fruits, and vegetables, based on age, size and sex. Research suggests that adolescent boys normally need to drink more water than girls.</div>
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Some schools have had trouble providing tap water to students because of infrastructure with aging plumbing, along with concerns about lead in the water. Some schools offer bottled water, but it is an expensive solution and the mechanics of serving it are difficult.</div>
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“There’s a lot of research out there to suggest that even mild levels of dehydration are enough to impact cognitive functioning and mood in kids,” Kenney says.</div>
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Long-term and severe dehydration can result in serious health problems with circulation, metabolism, temperature regulation, and waste removal, but even mild levels of dehydration can lead to headaches, dry mouth, dizziness, irritability, increased heart rate, and poorer physical performance, writes Ashley Welch of CBS News.</div>
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Senior author Steven Gortmaker, a professor of the practice of health sociology, says the solution to this public health problem is simple: focus on helping children drink more water.</div>
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Robert Preidt, reporting for HealthDay, quotes an expert in in child health on the importance of hydration:</div>
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“Children can be more susceptible to dehydration than adults,” said Nancy Copperman, who directs public health initiatives at North Shore-LIJ Health System in Great Neck, N.Y.</div>
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That, “coupled with an already impaired hydration status, can have physiological problems such as [neurological] issues, increased demands on their kidneys and heat stroke,” she explained.</div>
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It could be that children do not ingest enough water while they are at school because they prefer not to use the bathrooms at school, possibly because of lack of privacy, embarrassment, or even bullying.</div>
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Copperman also suggested that water sent to school in students’ lunch boxes should be frozen so that is is cold when lunchtime rolls around. She adds that thirst is not a good indicator of the need for water, so parents should make sure kids have access to water throughout the day.</div>
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Also, water infused with fruit, cucumbers, or mint makes water more appealing to children.</div>
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Data Shows US Kids Inadequately Hydrated

Data shows that a broad cross-section of kids ages 6 to 19 are not drinking any water as part of their daily fluid intake. In fact, a ma...

Researchers Find Racial Bias in Treatment of Kids with Appendicitis

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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Researchers using a national survey data base from 2003 to 2010 found that black children with acute appendicitis, an extremely painful condition, were less likely than white children to get painkillers in the emergency room. And only about half of children of any race got painkillers even though it is common protocol to administer painkillers in cases of appendicitis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“Black patients with moderate pain were less likely to receive any analgesia, and black patients with severe pain were less likely to be treated with opioids,” Dr. Monika Goyal of the Children’s National Health System in Washington and colleagues wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s JAMA Pediatrics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why does this happen? It may be a combination of unwarranted fear of opioids and an unconscious bias against African-American kids, according to experts. Researchers believed that a study focused on appendicitis cases in general would be helpful, because medical experts broadly agree that the condition merits pain relief measures.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Of the kids in emergency rooms for appendicitis, only 57% received anything for their pain, and only 41% were given an opioid drug. Only 12% of black children were given an opioid for pain relief. Goyal wrote that the findings suggest that there are racial disparities in the administration of opioids to children with appendicitis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Furthermore, the findings suggest that clinicians are reacting to the pain of patients differently if they are black. And though clinicians recognize the pain equally across racial groups, they more often treat black patients with nonopioid analgesia, but treat white patients with opioid analgesia for the same type and amount of pain.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Although in the past, painkillers were thought to mask symptoms important for diagnosing stomach pain, that mindset has evolved. There are also protocols to make sure that children who need to take opioids to control severe pain will not overdose or become dependent on the medication.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Goyal and his team used data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey of almost a million respondents age 21 or younger who were diagnosed with appendicitis in an emergency room, according to Kathryn Doyle of Reuters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“It should also be noted that these data were collected between 2003 and 2010, so some of this information is over a decade old and one might hope that things would be different if the data were collected today,” said Dr. Eric W. Fleegler of Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.fleegler’s colleague Dr. Neil Schechter, who coauthored an editorial published with the research, said it should be noted that all patients do not experience pain in the same way, with discomfort depending on the duration of symptoms and degree of inflammation. It is typical, however, to prescribe analgesics for appendicitis , said Fleegler and Schechter.                                     </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“The bottom line with all of this is that pain matters, its treatment should be patient centered and individualized, and every patient should feel reassured that they will be treated equally,” Fleegler and Schechter told Reuters Health by email.they added that hospitals should be using national benchmarks to measure how they are doing compared to others nationwide. If there is more or less opioid use for a given condition, an education program for staff could be helpful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yasmin Tayag, reporting for Inverse, says that researchers had documented racial disparities related to waiting times, admission rates, and pain management before this study was completed. This, however, is the first time biased practices have been discovered towards children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A study, Racism and the Empathy for Pain on Our Skin, published in 2011 in Frontiers in Psychology found that white people do not feel the same level of empathy for physical pain in black people as they do for people of their own race.</span></div>

Researchers Find Racial Bias in Treatment of Kids with Appendicitis

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