Antidotes to Summer Brain Drain (Part 2): 5 Ways to Pull the Plug on Learning Loss

• May 5, 2011 by Norene Wiesen

Last month Terri Zezula doled out tips for math skills practice over the summer.  But what about keeping up in reading and “staying in shape” for learning? 

Here are 5 more ways you can help your child stay sharp over the summer:

1. Read, Read, Read…and Understand

   If your child is working on basic reading skills such as phonics and decoding, provide plenty of opportunities to read silently and aloud.  Generate excitement about reading by helping your child create a reading list at the beginning of the summer.  Ask for recommendations from your child’s teacher and friends and from the children’s librarian at your local library.  If reading is a struggle for your child, take turns reading a story to each other.  Talk about the story.  Ask your child questions—what might happen next, and why?  What does your child think about what has happened so far? 

   If your child is good at decoding, broadening her exposure to life may be the key to improving reading comprehension^[i].  Find creative ways to associate new experiences with reading—such as pairing a field trip with a book.  After a trip to an art museum during which your teenager is taken by Matisse, visit the library for a book about Paris in the 20’s.  Or visit an observatory and follow up by reading about the constellations; then, take your child out into the dark night and see if you can identify the constellations yourselves.

2. Take Up a Musical Instrument

   Decades ago, families gathered in the evening to play music together.  Revive the tradition!  However poorly you might play, you’ll have fun together and stimulate your child’s brain to develop in beneficial ways.

   Research has shown that actively playing a musical instrument has positive effects on the brain.  In one study, six months of formal musical training resulted in positive changes for participants, such as improved perception of pitch in spoken language and improved processing of speech. The study authors concluded that a relatively short period of brain training—just 6 months—can have a significant, positive impact on the organization of children’s brains.

3. Cultivate a Growth Mindset

   Regardless of your child’s ability, the right attitude is essential in fostering risk-taking behavior and perseverance in learning. Research has shown that learners with a “growth mindset” who believe that their ability is fluid and that life is filled with opportunity thrive on new and challenging experiences, while those who believe their ability is fixed and unchanging are more likely to balk at challenges.

   To help your child develop a growth mindset:

   • Explain that the brain develops new neural connections in response to challenging learning experiences.
   • Give your child a challenge, and provide support by praising effort and progress rather than intelligence.
   • Model a growth mindset for your child – take on a challenging learning opportunity of your own and be up front when you encounter difficulties.  Talk with your child about how you plan to overcome obstacles that you encounter, and then follow through.
4. Give Your Child Stronger “Learning Muscles”

   All learning takes place on a foundation of critical cognitive skills, including memory, attention, processing, and sequencing.  A child must be able to hold information in working memory in order to complete all the steps in a multi-step task, and to stay focused on the task long enough to complete it.  A child’s brain must be able to process information rapidly enough to keep up with new incoming information, and to put all the elements in the right order to comprehend and use that information.

   Fun, web-enabled learning programs like BrainPro® software with consulting (for learners who are below grade level and need some extra help) can help strengthen your child’s cognitive skills to accelerate learning.  Learners using these programs typically improve up to 2 years in reading level in just 12 weeks and often see improvements in other subjects that rely on reading as well, such as math and social studies.

5. Unstructured Play

   While it’s easy to write off summer vacation as downtime from learning, it’s important to remember the importance of unstructured play in a child’s development.  Summertime can provide your child the freedom and opportunity to grow and explore in ways not possible during the busy, and often over-scheduled, academic year.

   Your child uses play to develop a host of important characteristics such as self-confidence and creativity, as well as social skills like negotiation and working in groups.  Opportunities for active, physical play set the groundwork for lifelong healthy habits and promote physical well-being.  Physical activity is an effective way for the body to rid itself of the stress hormones^[ii] that build up during the challenges of daily life.  Make time for play.

6. [i] Strauss, Valerie. Active Summer, Active Minds: Educators Seek Ways to Prevent Learning Losses During Vacation. Monday, June 15, 2009.

   [ii] Cotman CW, Berchtold NC. Exercise: a behavioral intervention to enhance brain health and plasticity. Trends in Neurosciences.  2002; 25(6):295-301. doi:10.1016/S0166-2236(02)02143-4

   Related Reading:

   5 Reasons You Should Limit Screen Time

   Fit Bodies Make Fit Brains: Physical Exercise and Brain Cells

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Family Focus, Reading & Learning

Tags: arts, auditory processing, child reading development, cognitive skills, emotions in learning, exercise, health and well being, how children learn, learning environment, learning through play, learning to read, literacy, motivating students, musical training, oral language skills, play, reading comprehension

Increasing Our Alertness to Caffeine Use in Ourselves and Our Children

• March 18, 2011 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

Whatever your personal opinion of that daily coffee or diet soda might be, we as a society—not just as individuals, but as a whole society—have made the use of caffeine into a daily ritual. For some it is an approved indulgence. For others, it represents an absolute need.

While this is obviously a problem amongst adults, it represents adverse example-setting when practiced in the presence of children. Every time we pull through the drive-thru for that daily double-mocha, every time our children hear us say, “I need a diet soda,” we send a message to our charges in the back seat that this is a necessary part of our daily, adult lives.

That stage is being set, so let’s take a step back and look objectively at this habit of caffeine, both in ourselves and our children.

Make no mistake: caffeine is a drug. As a psychoactive compound, this stimulant blocks the action of adenosine and adenosine receptors. Essentially, caffeine binds to adenosine receptors in nerve cells, but it doesn’t slow down the cell’s activity; instead, it speeds it up. Also, while adenosine opens blood vessels, caffeine causes them to constrict.

On the “positive” side, the immediate effects in humans range from enhanced cognitive performance (Smit and Rogers, 2000) to auditory vigilance (Lieberman et al., 1987) to improved reaction time (Durlach, 1998; Lieberman et al., 1987).[i]

But on the “negative” end of the spectrum, it causes high blood pressure, increases heart rate, disrupts sleep cycles, and negatively impacts attention spans.

As the body becomes habituated to the drug, it compensates for these effects, and begins to require more caffeine to function at normal levels. One study showed that children aged 9-10 who regularly drank two or fewer cans of cola a day were less alert than their non-indulging counterparts.[ii] In short, the more caffeine we take in, the less of its effects we experience, and the less we are able to function at normal levels of alertness.

Aside from the stimulant nature of caffeine, we cannot ignore how it is delivered: children and adolescents primarily get caffeine doses through drinking soda and energy drinks. During their most formative years, they are repeatedly exposed to and conditioned to the paring of sugar and caffeine. Interestingly, Robinson and Berridge refer to sugar as a “natural reward” that “activates similar reward pathways as drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, amphetamine, and nicotine.”[iii]

So along with decreased brain function, these habits can potentially contribute to life-long afflictions like diabetes and obesity.

Lastly, let’s add to this the fact that childhood and adolescence is the fastest stage of brain development. At this time, proper sleep and nutrition are critical elements in laying the foundation for future brain health and fitness. The consumption of caffeine and sugar undermines both.

We know the habits that contribute to a healthy life. Maintaining good nutrition, getting the right amount of sleep and staying away from drugs are all key lessons that we want our younger generations to internalize. How can we help make that happen?

As challenging as it might be, might we consider starting with ourselves, ditching the daily double-mocha and diet soda, and taking the first step toward leading by example? By becoming more aware of our own habits, maybe we can begin to help our children take positive control of their own.

References:

[i] Temple, Jennifer L. (2010) Caffeine Use in Children: What we know, what we have left to learn, and why we should worry. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 2009 June; 33(6): 793–806. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699625/

[ii] Heartherley, S.V., Hancock, K.M.F. and Rogers, P.J. (2006) Psychostimulant and other effects of caffeine in 9-11-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 47-2, 135-142.

[iii] Robinson TE, Berridge KC . The psychology and neurobiology of addiction: an incentive-sensitization view.

Addiction. 2000 Aug;95 Suppl 2:S91-117. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11002906

Related Reading:

What Every Parent Should Know about Their Baby’s Developing Brain (Part 2)

Adolescence: What’s the Brain Got to Do with It?

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Family Focus

Tags: brain development, childhood obesity, cognitive skills, development, health and well being, nutrition, processing rate, sleep

4 Ways to Celebrate Brain Awareness Week 2011

• March 14, 2011 by Carrie Gajowski

It’s Brain Awareness Week! Join us every day from March 14-20 as we share information about the brain, how the brain learns, and how educators can address some of the challenges in education today.

Need some ideas for how to celebrate Brain Awareness Week and honor this most important of organs?

1. Incorporate “Brain Awareness” Into Your Classroom
   Need some ideas on this one? For starters, download some of our educational Classroom Resources for Teachers, a variety of fun and informative worksheets and experiments on topics related to the brain.  (My favorite is the Grocery Store Game, which tests memory span and mnemonic strategies.) Then have your students try our free Scientific Learning® BrainApps™ games for a brain fitness challenge!
   
   
2. Catch Up On the Best Blog Posts About the Brain
   Whether you’re new to this blog or a long time reader, there are sure to be some great posts you haven’t yet explored.  In celebration of Brain Awareness Week, here are some of the most popular brain-related posts: Educating Kids about Nutrition and the Brain – learn how you can create the ultimate brain-health meal, the "Brainiac Blue Plate Combo!” The Adolescent Brain –find out what your adolescent is really thinking and how his or her developing brain works. Benefits of Music in Schools: The Effects of Music on the Brain – check out what the latest research says regarding the importance of music education and its benefits for learning. Dr. Norman Doidge on Brain Plasticity – discover the truth…old dogs can learn new tricks, all lifelong.
   
   
3. Tweet the Brain, Learn, and Win
   This week on Twitter, we will be testing your knowledge of the brain.  Play with us for a chance to win one of our “brain” goody bags each day!  Follow @brainfitness and join in the fun! 
   
   
4. Subscribe to Receive All of Our Brain Awareness Week Posts
   Subscribe to this blog (below) to have our blog posts show up in your inbox during Brain Awareness Week and beyond. Thanks for joining us for Brain Awareness Week!  All of The Science of Learning bloggers look forward to sharing it with you!

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Education Trends, Family Focus, Reading & Learning

Tags: brain plasticity, health and well being, high school learning, middle school learning, motivating students, musical training, nutrition, science, Scientific Learning events

Why Your Brain Loves Chocolate

• February 10, 2011 by Bill Jenkins, Ph.D.

As mid-February rolls around, two subjects, hand in hand, start winding their way into our societal consciousness. Like it or not, you probably have two items “on the brain” these days: love and chocolate.

Now, I sincerely hope you have an affinity for love. Likewise, probability indicates that you most likely have an affinity for chocolate. But what is it about chocolate that has all of us running to the store on Valentine’s Day to procure those shiny red boxes for our loved ones?

Consider the sensations that love creates in the brain. When we are in love, what do we feel? What are the elemental feelings and emotions that a true, heart-felt loving relationship create?  Think about the sensations associated with a budding romantic bond; being with that other person creates feelings of well-being and centeredness. We feel stimulated and awake in their presence, aware of their every word and move. We feel pleasure just being in the same room with them.

Now, consider chocolate. As it turns out, there are an extensive number of compounds in chocolate – about 380 – a number of which can have profound effects on our brain chemistry and contribute to these same feelings and sensations that accompany courtship and love.

Imagine that you have just received that delightful box from your loved one. You lift off the flimsy, red cardboard top, slip off that sheet of paper, and within you find a dozen small brown paper cups, each gently holding one of these delicious trifles. You pick the darkest one in the box and pop it in your mouth. Then what happens?

As you chew, savor and swallow, your body begins to digest and metabolize those 300+ compounds. Here are a few of them and their affects:

• Tryptophan and serotonin: They create feelings of relaxation and well-being.
• Caffeine: This psychoactive substance creates temporary alertness.
• Xanthines: This mild stimulant occurs naturally in the brain and, like caffeine, increases wakefulness.
• Theobromine: This stimulant and vasodilator increases blood flow.
• Phenylethylamine: This compound stimulates the brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of pleasure and motivation.
• Anandamide: This neurotransmitter activates pleasure receptors in the brain.
• Flavonols: Found also in foods like red wine, blueberries and green tea, these compounds boost blood flow to key areas of the brain for two to three hours after being metabolized, creating effects similar to those of a mild analgesic (painkiller) like aspirin.[i]

While a great number of researchers continue to unravel the details of how the compounds in chocolate affect brain chemistry, in reading this list, the simple question that comes to my mind is this:

If you were in a courtship situation, wouldn’t you take actions to engender these same sensations in your prospective mate? If in having the object of your desires consume a cocoa-based gift you can create associations within their mind connecting you with feelings of stimulation, pleasure, wakefulness, relaxation, well-being and even relief of pain, doesn’t that bode well for the development of love?

To be accurate, many of these compounds must be metabolized in large quantities to create noticeable effects. For example, Christian Felder of the National Institute of Mental Health estimates that a 130-pound person would have to eat 25 pounds of chocolate at one time to experience an intoxicating effect.[ii] (Please, no matter how tempted you might be, don’t try this at home.)

Of course, in the end, we cannot ignore the simple sensations of eating chocolate that make it such a widely-loved experience. Researcher Daniele Piomelli, in his studies of chocolate, speculates that the ingredients, smells, tastes and textures of chocolate alone can be enough to induce feelings of pleasure.[iii]

So with those thoughts in your brain, make it a wonderful Valentine’s Day.

For additional reading, check out Brain Cannabinoids in Chocolate(published in Nature, August 22, 1996), Prescription-based Chocolate by Jon Marino (2004), and Why Women Need Chocolate by Debra Waterhouse (1995).

[i] ”Boosting Brain Power – With Chocolate,” Science Daily (2007, February 22).

[ii]Ellen Kuwana, “Discovering the Sweet Mysteries of Chocolate,” Neuroscience for Kids (2010, October 1).

[iii]Ciampa, Linda. “Researchers say chocolate triggers feel-good chemicals,” CNN (1996).

My Favorite Chocolate:

TCHO

Related Reading:

Food and the Brain

Educating Kids about Nutrition and the Brain

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Categories: Brain Research

Tags: behavior, health and well being

How Much Sleep Do Children Need?

• February 1, 2011 by Martha Burns, Ph.D

Sleep is essential to health and well-being as well as performance in work and play. Sleep and wake cycles appear to be regulated by the brain. And, although sleep allows for renewal of organs of body, it is also vital to cognitive skills in children and adults. Just a small amount of sleep deprivation affects performance for days thereafter.

There are two kinds of sleep that adults and children cycle through during the night, non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS) which accounts for about 80% of sleep and occurs more frequently during the first half of the night and rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) that accounts for the other 20% as is more prevalent during the second half of the night.. Rapid eye movement occurs when we dream as our eyes dart back and forth under our closed eyelids. Despite this complex nature of sleep performance during the day is dependent on the total number of hours of sleep.[i]

Children need much more sleep than adults and it is important that they have schedules and an environment that conducive to adequate sleep. There is a great deal of scientific evidence regarding the importance of sleep to the developing brain yet our nations’ children are not getting enough.

The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) conducted a Poll in 2004 to determine the amount of sleep our nations’ children are receiving and factors that are affecting the quantity and quality of sleep our children receive.[ii]  In general they found that our nations’ children from birth through adolescence are sleep deprived: infants are getting one to two hours per day less sleep than experts recommend and toddlers through school aged children average from one half hour to two hours less per day.

Expert recommendations are provided below with U.S. averages in parentheses.

• 14-15 hours sleep per day for children aged 3-11 months  ( U.S. infants average is 12.7)
• 12-14 hours of sleep a day for children aged 1-3 years (U.S. toddlers average 11.7)
• 11-13 hours per day for children aged 3-5 children  (U.S. preschoolers average 10.4) 
• 10-11 hours for 1st through 5th grades children (U.S. children average 9.5)  

Children who do not get adequate sleep are more likely to develop problems getting to sleep and staying asleep at night. But most important, when children do not get adequate sleep experts report that, unlike adults who act lethargic during the day, children exhibit hyperactivity.

Two problems that experts say decrease the amount of sleep children get are consumption of caffeine during the day and having a television in the bedroom. The poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation found that 43% of school-aged children, 30% of preschoolers and 18-20% of infants and toddlers have televisions in their rooms.

Another reason some children have trouble staying asleep is sleep apnea (brief stoppage of airflow at night that causes a child to awake). Doctors and parents may not suspect sleep is being affected by snoring because children do not exhibit the same behaviors as adults when they get insufficient sleep. Unlike adults suffering from sleep apnea who complain of fatigue and sleepiness, children may exhibit hyperactivity and aggressive behavior. So parents should tell their pediatricians if their child snores or wakes frequently during the night but also check for sleep deprivation when their child is showing increased activity or aggressive behavior that seems out of character for the child.

Related Reading:

The Imperative of Cultivating Healthy Adolescent Sleep Habits

Sleep: An Essential Ingredient for Memory Function

[i] Kruger, J.M., Rector, D.M., Roy, S., Van Dongen, H.P.A., Belenky, G. and Panksepp, J. (2008) Sleep as a fundamental property of neuronal assemblies. Nature Reveiws Neuroscience. 9, 12, 910-919

[ii] The National Sleep Foundation website contains a paper which summarizes the 2004 poll.www.sleepfoundation.org.

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Categories: Family Focus

Tags: behavior, health and well being, sleep, toddler

10 Ways to Reduce Holiday Stress

• December 23, 2010 by Carrie Gajowski

The holiday season is upon us once again!  This is typically a busy time for a lot of people.  The music, the enticing foods, gifts to buy and wrap, parties, family time – all of these things make the holidays both fun-filled times and times of high stress. 

I seem to remember the more stressful times better than the fun times, especially when it comes to flying home from San Francisco to New England each year.  There was the year that my luggage got lost; arriving just in time to fly back to the bay area after the holidays were over.  That was the year that I learned to pack more in the bag that actually gets carried on the plane with me.    Or the year I got everything packed and arrived at an airport jammed with other holiday travelers only to find out that my flight had been cancelled.  Fortunately, it was re-scheduled to get me home just in the nick of time to get together with my family.   These were definitely anxiety-producing times for me around the holidays!

I found a great article written by the staff at the Mayo Clinic that outlines 10 ways to help with the stress around the holidays and perhaps even help you make all of the challenges around the holidays fun and enjoyable.  Some of the suggestions take a bit of thought and pre-planning but might be worth trying! 

I will try idea # 6 when I head to airport just before the New Year to fly from New England back to San Francisco.  By planning ahead, I will get the airport 2 hours early to make sure I have enough time to check in and be at the gate well before the plane takes off.  I will also take a deep breath and be ready for anything that happens!  I hope these tips are helpful in creating a wondrous, magical holiday season this year and for years to come.  Happy Holidays!  

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Categories: Family Focus

Tags: behavior, health and well being, stress

Beating Bullying for Better Learning

• December 16, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

In March of 2000, nine year-old Verity Ward of Great Britain had been pushed to the limit. She had been physically and emotionally bullied by fellow students at her school. They had repeatedly kicked, slapped and otherwise abused her for over eighteen months.

At the time, after she and her family tried unsuccessfully to have the problem addressed by the school, she said, “"I just want them to stop. I can't take it anymore. I used to love coming to school, but now I hate it." (BBC News, 2000)

Sadly, Verity’s experience is somewhat common. In a 2001 survey funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, sixteen percent of U.S. school children reported being bullied sometime during the current term. (National Institute of Health, 2001) Bullying is something we tend to think of as taking place between individuals or small groups. The reality is that such destructive interactions not only affect the lives and learning of those directly involved, but those affects can ripple outward, negatively affecting the  across classrooms and even the entire school.

While bullying can encompass any number of behaviors, the general definition involves one individual using an imbalance of power to dominate another. While this imbalance can be real or perceived and exist between individuals or groups, it manifests in a combination of three ways: physical, verbal and psychological abuse. Interestingly, males tend to be bullies and/or bullied more often than females. Between males, physical and verbal bullying is more prevalent. Among females, verbal and psychological forms tend to be more common. (U.S. Department of Justice, June 2001)

Bullying can create a stressful, anxiety-filled environment where it becomes difficult for individual victims, classrooms and even the whole of a school population to learn effectively. Studies have already shown that victims of bullying are more likely to have cognitive deficits than their peers and score lower on tests that measure executive function. Researchers suspect that the lower academic performance in such individuals may be a result of the chronic stress that can actually kill brain cells. (Seattle Times, March 2010)

So what can an institution do to remedy the problem? In the 1980s, researcher Dan Olweus of Norway implemented a multi-level intervention program to address bullying:

1. At the school level, he surveyed the bullying problems, increased supervision, held school-wide assemblies, and offered staff training to increase awareness.
2. In classrooms, he helped to establish rules against bullying and helped conduct classroom meetings--including parents--to discuss the problem of bullying at school.
3. Finally, he performed individual interventions with those identified as bullies and victims. (Limber and Nation)

The results of Olweus’s work were more than promising. In just two years, reported incidents of bullying had dropped by half. What is more, students reported drops in truancy and vandalism and theft, and, maybe most importantly, they characterized their school environment as “more positive as a result of the program.” (Ibid.)

While bullying is an extremely serious and prevalent problem in schools across our nation, work such as that of Olweus gives us as educators a clear response. The fact is, we must respond. We cannot let bullying go un-addressed as it so often is. In taking actions that involve whole school populations as opposed to just the bullies and victims, we make the issue a public one. We give the victims a voice, and we give every member of the school community the tools to talk about and deal with the issue head-on.

In the end, we can relieve the victims of their pain, freeing them to take advantage of all the school has to offer. We can also help bullies build self-esteem and positive relationships. As educators, it is our responsibility to help every individual--bully as well as victim--to find their positive life path and achieve success.

For more information, check out these articles:

1. Bullying Widespread in U.S. Schools, Survey Finds, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, April 24, 2001.
2. Addressing the Problem of Juvenile Bullying, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Fact Sheet, June 2001.
3. Bullying Among Children and Youth, Limber, Susan, and Nation, Maury.

 

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Categories: Brain Research, Education Trends, Reading & Learning

Tags: academic problems, behavior, cognitive skills, emotions in learning, executive function, health and well being, learning environment, self-esteem

Why Limit Screen Time? Scientific Research Explains

• November 18, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

This past September in a blog posting about the importance of physical exercise, I opened with a comment about the powerful pull that the video screen exerts on young brains. To be sure, this useful evolutionary adaptation has served us very well. Our instinctive ability to focus and concentrate on fast-moving, bright stimuli is a survival mechanism that allowed our ancestors to escape from many a tight spot. Even so, with the advent of modern technologies such as computers and television, we are now experiencing the down side of an endless flood of engaging electronic input. Research has shown that extensive screen time has the power to negatively affect our very chemistry and biology.

As we know from brain plasticity research, the stimuli we receive over time directly affect the development and wiring of the brain. Still, these effects are only the beginning of a long list of problems that screen time engenders. This past September, British psychologist and biologist Aric Sigman published an article in the British MailOnline that pulls together the conclusions of recent research from around the globe, painting a clear picture of the deleterious effects of screen time, and that picture is far from pretty. In fact, it is one that we, as parents, as teachers and as members of a national community, must not ignore.

While screen time has been shown to have negative psychological effects, I found Sigman's run-down of the chemical and biological effects to be of particular concern:

1. Suppression of melatonin release: Healthy levels of melatonin help regulate sleep, the immune system, and the onset of puberty. When children who watched an average amount of TV had all screen time removed, their melatonin levels went up by 30 percent after one week.
2. Increased chance of coronary heart disease: A study of 290 boys aged 15 showed that those who averaged over two hours of screen time a day had "elevated levels of chemical markers related to the development of coronary heart disease in later life." A different study out of Melbourne showed that for each hour an adult watches TV a day, there is an 18 percent increase in the likelihood that this adult will die from heart disease. Says Sigman, "Those who watched four or more hours were 80 percent more likely to suffer a fatal heart condition."
3. Changes in chemicals related to hunger and feeling satisfied: After 45 minutes of screen time, subjects consumed 230 calories more than those who had no screen time. Also, women who watched TV during a meal were more likely to snack later on.
4. Elevated blood cholesterol: Individuals between five and 15 who watched more than two hours a day were more likely to have raised blood cholesterol later in life.
5. Release of dopamine: Screen time causes the release of dopamine, a chemical that contributes to learning and concentration. As a result, our brains may become desensitized to the effects of normal levels of dopamine, making it hard to concentrate and focus on non-screen-based stimuli.

Taken in sum, these studies are sending us a clear message that we as parents and educators must take to heart: the more these screen-based technologies occupy time in our days, the more vigilant we must be about maintaining our own healthy habits, as well as educating our students to the risks so they can make their own smart decisions and lead long, healthy lives.

Learn more about the effects of screen time:

• Read more about Dr. Sigman and his work on his website, http://www.aricsigman.com/
• For an overview, read Dr. Sigman's complete article, Teletubbies is as bad for your child as a violent video game, says leading psychologist (MailOnline.com, September 11, 2010)

Get the details from Dr. Sigman's February 2007 article from Biologist, Visual voodoo: the biological impact of watching TV.

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Family Focus

Tags: brain plasticity, digital natives, health and well being, video

Fit Bodies Make Fit Brains: Physical Exercise and Brain Cells

• September 23, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

The pull of the video screen is incredible, isn’t it? Students love working on computers in their classrooms, and then they go home and want to dive right back into e-mailing their friends and playing online games. Add to that the constant calling and texting on cell phones, and you might imagine we are developing a population with a fantastic intellect but a dismal future when it comes to physical health.

In the face of such technological and social forces, we as educators must not underestimate the importance of physical education and health literacy. As a nation, we are lumbering heavily down the wrong track. One in three Americans will develop diabetes, dying 10-15 years too soon. The prevalence of childhood obesity has doubled since the 1980s. And, with the abundance of processed foods, it’s getting harder and harder for students to make healthy choices.

Most everyone understands—especially those of us who have taught in the classroom—that time spent in vigorous physical activity during the school day helps students stay alert and more attentive during intensive classroom time. But I recently read an article that expanded my thinking on the subject. On June 7, 2010, the New York Times published a blog, Phys Ed: Your Brain on Exercise, by Gretchen Reynolds. The article outlines the research done in the 1990s by Dr. Fred Gage and his colleagues at the Laboratory of Genetics at the Salk Institute in San Diego, as well as that of Dr. Jack Kessler, the chairman of neurology at Northwestern. Together, their studies show that physical exercise is not just important for building healthy muscles, hearts and lungs. It is essential for a healthy brain, too. As it turns out, maintaining a healthy noggin depends partly upon the presence of a chemical called, interestingly enough, noggin.

Dr. Gage’s research discusses the interplay of two chemicals that affect brain development: bone-morphogenic protein (BMP), which helps control cell division, and noggin, which is involved with the production of new brain cells.  These two chemicals are in constant competition, pushing back and forth and creating balance in the production of brain cells. As the years pass, our brains become less and less able to produce these cells, and BMP slows things down even more. In short, just as our muscles do not rebuild themselves as well when we get older, our brains likewise become less able to replenish their tissues.

So, how does exercise help? It does two things: it lowers the amount of BMP AND increases the presence of noggin. In Dr. Kessler’s lab tests, the mice who received more exercise not only had more noggin in their brains, but they performed better in mazes and other tests. In his words, they were "little mouse geniuses, if there is such a thing."

The research exploring the connections between exercise, BMP and noggin are ongoing. But we now know that exercise clearly helps ensure that our bodies AND brains stay healthy. For me, the science points once again to something that we as educators cannot ignore. We should not underestimate the importance of a solid physical education program. In addition, we can add to that the physical fun and play of recess, and help our students create life-long habits that contribute to maintaining healthy bodies as well as healthy noggins.

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Reading & Learning

Tags: childhood obesity, exercise, health and well being, physical education, play

Building Unstructured Play Into the Structure of Each Day

• August 20, 2010 by Sherrelle Walker, M.A.

As educators, we carefully design connections between what we teach and our students' future success. Practically every aspect of our young people's school day is designed with a specific learning purpose in mind. Along with helping them learn foundational, essential content, we also employ classroom experiences to help students learn to apply knowledge to creative solutions, analyze situations to make smart decisions, and learn to collaborate with others.

Now, stop for a moment and think about the skills I just listed: analyzing challenges; making decisions; creating; collaborating. As it turns out, these are all benefits that young brains get out of the simple experience of good old-fashioned unstructured play.

Today, 21st century society has evolved into one where our children's time is over-scheduled and over-structured. A recent poll of 2,000 parents in the UK indicated that, after figuring in school, homework, extra lessons, after-school activities and television and computer screen time, the average child gets a seriously inadequate 69.77 minutes a day for unstructured play.

Why is unstructured playtime so essential? In the 2007 clinical report, The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds, published by The American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg outlines the key benefits of play, which include:

• The development of creativity, imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength
  
• The ability to engage, interact with and manipulate the surrounding world
  
• The opportunity to conquer fears and practice adult roles
  
• The ability to develop self-confidence and resiliency
  
• The chance to work in groups, share, negotiate, resolve conflicts and learn self-advocacy
  
• The opportunity to build healthy, active, coordinated bodies

The list goes on and on and on. And yet, even with that understanding of the importance of such play for healthy development, we find it challenging--both as parents and educators--to make that time. But we can and we must, so let us assume that you can successfully "unplan" some time each week. Once we flip the switch to the "off" position, then what? Here are a few ideas just to get you started:

• Spend a day in the park. But for goodness sake, don't plan anything! Just bring a picnic and let the rest happen. (It will, you'll see.)
  
• Pay a regular visit to the library and let those budding brains explore.
  
• Revisit your back yard. Remember that place? You will be amazed and what a few youngsters will devise with just some sticks, a garden hose and some nice, yummy mud. (Notice: Getting dirty is part of the fun and the learning. It'll be even more fun if you get into it with them.)
  
• Plan more play dates. Not only will friendships become more and more solid, but the negotiation and collaboration skills learned will be invaluable.
  
• Keep those art supplies stocked. Get a simple plastic cabinet, box or trunk that you can keep stashed in a closet, and FILL IT with art supplies. Then, maybe when it is least expected, open that treasure chest and let the magic happen.

As the grownups and educators, we want to plan with purpose. In the case of play, we need to relax and take it easy. If we can simply present some options, children and play will find their way.

Now, what about teens, who are by nature struggling to find their way? In general, teens' time is much more structured than that of younger children, considering that they are juggling school, homework, sports, music lessons, clubs, etc. While the general opinion is that teens have a greater propensity for getting into trouble when they have too much unstructured time, we must not forget that there are still benefits to unstructured time. Given reasonable boundaries, teens will continue to reap the benefits of unstructured time by stretching and exercising their mental wings. Think about all the great things that teens are doing through YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and similar organizations that give them the time and space to just be themselves in a safe, stimulating environment. Home can and should be just as safe, positive and creative.

While the research available is extensive, here are a couple of articles just to get you started:

• The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds, Kenneth R. Ginsburg, MD, MSEd, American Academy of Pediatrics (January 2007)
  
• Make Way for Play, Walter F. Drew EdD, Scholastic (June 2007)

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Categories: Brain Fitness, Brain Research, Family Focus

Tags: cognitive skills, creativity, development, elementary learning, elementary school learning, emotions in learning, health and well being, how children learn, imagination, learning through play, middle school learning, play, self-esteem