Dr. Rebecca Palacios: Science for the Summer! Part Two: Explorations

Dr. Rebecca Palacios: Science for the Summer! Part Two: Explorations

In the prior post Setting the Stage Dr. Palacios talked about simple activities parents can use to promote  and determine their children's interest in nature, here she discusses a process for observing insects. The simple process could be easily replicated in any centre or home. Frogs, ants, butterflies, crickets...the list is endless and free.
The full article can be read from the link above  

....My first suggestion was to find out about your child's interests and set up an experience or exploration with that in mind. I asked: "Is it bugs, bubbles? How about shadows and light, or sound and vibrations? Perhaps it is things that move or things that grow?"

Here are some suggestions on setting up exploration zone with those themes.

Insects - As with anything, safety comes first, so when dealing with insects and young children, it is important to have an adult present at all times to keep the youngster safe.

Activities - Set up a small area in your home for insect observing. You'll need a jar with holes in the top so that your child can observe the insects for a day or two before releasing them.

Where do you get the bugs? Dollar stores sell nets and containers for observing insects, and some pet stores sell crickets that you can purchase fairly inexpensively to observe and then release. You can also purchase an ant farm, which usually comes with a coupon to populate the farm.

I have also captured ants from my backyard and placed them in my ant farm. I released them after about two weeks, but in the meantime they dug complex and fascinating pattern tunnels in the perlite sand.

You can try to capture a butterfly with a net in your backyard as well. And sometimes just lying on the grass on a blanket will produce insect finds deep in the grass.

If you don't have a backyard, you can go to a park or take a nature walk and look for some insects.

Questions

• What are some different kinds of insects?
• How are insects the same? How are they different?
• What colors are insects?
• What do insects need to live?

Dr. Rebecca Palacios: Science for the Summer! Part One: Setting the Stage

Dr. Rebecca Palacios: Science for the Summer! Part One: Setting the Stage

I've posted a piece by Dr. Palacios before on Learning through waterplay. Here and in the subsequent posting she talks about simple activities parents can use to promote their children's interest in nature.

The full article can be read from the link above  

Now that summer is here and many children are at home, there are lots of things that families can do to encourage summer learning....

..Learning about science doesn't have to be limited to a museum. Here are some suggestions for creating opportunities right in your home.

First, find out what your child is most interested in. Is it bugs or bubbles? How about shadows and light, or sound and vibrations? Perhaps it is things that move or things that grow? One great way to find out is to visit a library or secondhand book store and find the section that has science books for young readers of your child's age. Lay several of them out on a table and see what your child chooses.

Second, bring some of those books back home and read them together to set the stage.

Third, look around for things in your house, at the market or online that will help your child explore and spur his or her interest in the topic. If the topic is light and shadows, for example, the equipment and materials might include flashlights, mirrors, cardboard, safety scissors and colored cellophane.

Fourth, set up the equipment and materials in a specially designated "exploration zone" for a week or so, depending on your child's interest. With young children, it's always a good idea to allow exploration to occur in a series of relatively brief sessions over a span of time.

Fifth, take some photographs as your child experiments with the materials. Many children at this stage are so immersed with their work that they may not want to communicate or answer questions right then -- but when they see the photos later, they'll have so much to say! If your child does want to talk while exploring, ask questions such as: "Why does it look like that?" "What can you do to make it grow?" or other thought-provoking questions. These will help to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Sixth, once your child has finished with the activity, present the pictures you took and ask what was happening and what he or she found out. This review is important in developing your child's recognition of sequences of events and in development of language skills.

If you can, print the pictures, glue them into a small journal or book and have the child dictate a story (for you to write down) about what was happening in the photo. In this manner, you are showing your child that ideas can be written down, an important literacy concept for young children.....

How digital culture is rewiring our brains

How digital culture is rewiring our brains

I've read a number of other contemporary articles in the same vein and they all appear to make the same points as Baroness Greenfield. The wholesale adoption and introduction of digital technologies to young minds without an understanding of the long term effects is reckless. I like the reference to smoking and cancer. It's an  allusion I frequently use when I'm trying to explain my worst fear scenario for the current "digi-babies".     

The full article can be read from the link above 

"Our brains are superlatively evolved to adapt to our environment: a process known as neuroplasticity. The connections between our brain cells will be shaped, strengthened and refined by our individual experiences. It is this personalisation of the physical brain, driven by unique interactions with the external world, that arguably constitutes the biological basis of each mind, so what will happen to that mind if the external world changes in unprecedented ways, for example, with an all-pervasive digital technology?

A recent survey in the US showed that more than half of teenagers aged 13 to 17 spend more than 30 hours a week, outside school, using computers and other web-connected devices. If their environment is being transformed for so much of the time into a fast-paced and highly interactive two-dimensional space, the brain will adapt, for good or ill. Professor Michael Merzenich, of the University of California, San Francisco, gives a typical neuroscientific perspective.

''There is a massive and unprecedented difference in how [digital natives'] brains are plastically engaged in life compared with those of average individuals from earlier generations and there is little question that the operational characteristics of the average modern brain substantially differ,'' he says.

The implications of such a sweeping ''mind change'' must surely extend into education policy. Most obviously, time spent in front of a screen is time not spent doing other things. Several studies have already documented a link between the recreational use of computers and a decline in school performance. Perhaps most important of all, we need to understand the full impact of cyber culture on the emotional and cognitive profile of the 21st-century mind.

Inevitably, there is a variety of issues. Let us look at just three.

First, social networking. Eye contact is a pivotal and sophisticated component of human interaction, as is subconscious monitoring of body language and, most powerful of all, physical contact, yet none of these experiences is available on social networking sites. It follows that if a young brain with the evolutionary mandate to adapt to the environment is establishing relationships through the medium of a screen, the skills essential for empathy may not be acquired as naturally as in the past.

In line with this prediction, a recent study from Michigan University of 14,000 college students has reported a decline in empathy over the past 30 years, which was particularly marked over the past decade.

Such data does not, of course, prove a causal link but just as with smoking and cancer some 50 years ago, epidemiologists could investigate any possible connection.

The psychologist Sherry Turkle, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has argued in her recent book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other that the more continuously connected people are in cyberspace, the more isolated they feel.

Second, video games. Neuropsychological studies suggest frequent and continued playing might lead to enhanced recklessness. Data also indicates reduced attention spans and possible addiction. In line with this, significant chemical and even structural changes are being reported in the brains of obsessional gamers.

No single paper is ever likely to be accepted unanimously as conclusive but a survey of 136 reports using 381 independent tests, and conducted on more than 130,000 participants, concluded that video games led to significant increases in desensitisation, physiological arousal, aggression and a decrease in prosocial behaviour.

Third, search engines. Can the internet improve cognitive skills and learning, as has been argued? The problem is that efficient information processing is not synonymous with knowledge or understanding. Even the chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, has said: ''I worry that the level of interrupt, the sort of overwhelming rapidity of information - and, especially, of stressful information - is, in fact, affecting cognition. It is, in fact, affecting deeper thinking. I still believe that sitting down and reading a book is the best way to really learn something.''

Given the plasticity of the brain, it is not surprising adapting to a cyber-environment will also lead to positives - for example, enhanced performance in skills that are continuously rehearsed, such as a mental agility similar to that needed in IQ tests or in visuomotor co-ordination. However, we urgently need a fuller picture.

I would like to suggest a ''mind change'' initiative, involving epidemiological studies that explore the significance of these trends in relation to a screen-based lifestyle, as well as funding for basic brain research into, for example, the neural mechanisms of addiction and attention, the long-term effects of various screen activities on brain structure and function, and the neural processes perhaps underlying deep understanding and creative insight.

The design of innovative software that attempted to offset some of the perceived or agreed deficiencies arising from our digital culture would be enormously valuable. We need more detailed profiles of computer use, along with surveys of the views and insights of parents, teachers and employers. Then, in the light of all this input, this hypothetical initiative would make recommendations. It might well include a root and branch re-examination of education and subsequent training that best equips the citizen of the 21st century to be personally fulfilled and useful to society.

Science and technology is having an unprecedented impact on the length and quality of our lives. We have an extended lifespan and extended leisure time. Like climate change, mind change is complex, unprecedented and controversial. However, the endpoint is not one of just damage limitation. It is, rather, ensuring that we deliver to the next generation an environment that can, for the first time, enable the realisation of each individual's full potential.

Outdoor Play May Protect Children's Eyes From Nearsightedness: Study

Outdoor Play May Protect Children's Eyes From Nearsightedness: Study

So let me get this straight...as well as being good for your physical and mental health, playing outside won't make you go blind?

The full article can be read from the link above 

"Playing outside doesn't just boost the mood and provide an ample dose of vitamin D -- it could also have a protective effect on kids' eyesight.

New research from the University of Bristol suggests a link between playing outdoors and risk of myopia, or nearsightedness. People who are nearsighted are unable to see far-away objects clearly.

Specifically, 8- and 9-year-olds who played a lot outside had a halved risk of being short-sighted at age 15, compared with those who didn't play outside much, researchers found.

The researchers also found that the association persisted despite the amount of actual physical activity the kids got, which means that exercise likely wasn't the reason for the protected eyesight. The researchers also found that it didn't matter how much time the kids spent reading, or if their parents were also short-sighted.

"We're still not sure why being outdoors is good for children's eyes, but given the other health benefits that we know about we would encourage children to spend plenty of time outside, although of course parents will still need to follow advice regarding UV exposure," study researcher Dr. Cathy Williams said in a statement.

The study, published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, included more than 7,000 children who participated in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The children received eye exams at age 7, 10, 11, 12 and 15, and researchers also noted their levels of outdoor play at age 9 and their levels of exercise (using an activity monitor) at age 11.

A review of studies from University of Cambridge researchers supports the new finding, showing that with every hour a child spends outdoors, his or her chance of being nearsighted decreases by 2 percent.

Nearsightedness is increasing. According to a 2009 study in the journal Archives of Ophthalmology,nearsightedness prevalence increased by 41.6 percent between 1999 and 2004, while it only increased by 25 percent in the 1970s."

Feeling the Deficit? UK Woodlands Offer a Natural Remedy! | Travel News

Feeling the Deficit? UK Woodlands Offer a Natural Remedy! | Travel News

A long way from C.S.Lewis' "If I say it three times it becomes true". In this case there has to be a book, a movement, a report, an inquiry....before we recognise what's right in front of us. "35,000 children in England are being prescribed anti-depressants" might be a bit of a hint. The article is well worth a read.
The full article can be read from the link above 

"The UK deficit hit the headlines this July with the announcement of a 0.7% shrinkage in the economy. Beyond the economic short-fall however, there appears to be another, more sinister deficit at work; one which is thought to be costing the nation in terms of physical and mental health, compromising well-being whilst causing long-term social and psychological damage to our youngsters; this deficit involves the shrinkage of our children’s natural experiential landscapes.

As play, youth and environment workers at the Heartwood Project, a woodland based initiative close to the city of Bath, it has grown increasingly evident to us over recent years that a paradigm shift has taken place in the experience of childhood in the UK. The National Trust has recently commissioned a research initiative entitled ‘Natural Childhood’ which considers the presence, causes and consequences of ‘Nature -Deficit Disorder’; not a condition which commands a catchy acronym and a prescription from the doctor, rather it is descriptive of a limited interaction with the natural world and calls quite simply for a remedial return to nature. ....... Examining three specific categories: ‘physical health problems including obesity, mental health problems, and children’s growing inability to assess risks to themselves and others’, Moss has affirmed that ‘a generation of children appears to be suffering from a lack of contact with the natural world, with serious consequences both for themselves and for society as a whole.’

The report cites the ‘Good Childhood Inquiry’ which reported in 2009 that children in the UK were experiencing an ‘epidemic of mental illness’ and revealed that around 35,000 children in England are being prescribed anti-depressants. Such disheartening news is increasingly being linked to childhood disconnection with nature. It seems there is no substitute for the teachings of the natural world. Nature’s lessons are direct, multi-sensory, exciting and real, breaking through the often over-structured play and learning experiences of many children and young people today. The freedom to imagine, experiment, create, take appropriate risks, wander, dream and play is inherent to outdoor play. Nature does not offer an instruction manual or limit our sensory stimulation but instead allows the process of discovery to unfold, encouraging balanced personal development and health......"

Please, Don't Touch the Nature - NYTimes.com

Please, Don't Touch the Nature - NYTimes.com

A really thought provoking article about our communications with children in respect to their interactions with nature. How much are our own perceptions effected by our own fears and ignorance of nature?

The full article can be read from the link above  

Our environment, we’re told by climate scientists, is fragile. But are children learning that their natural environment — the trees, dirt and grass that surround us — is “fragile,” too? Several educators, after observing years of children’s being taught to “look, but don’t touch,” have argued this summer that many programs and policies designed to protect the natural world are actually preventing a new generation from developing an interest in it. Don’t climb the trees, don’t dig holes, take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints — do we keep nature and children too far apart in the interest of protecting (or overprotecting) them both?

Photo by  KJ DELL'ANTONIA

New projects - Inaburra Preschool Bangor, Sydney, New South Wales.

Inaburra Preschool

Bangor, Sydney, New South Wales

 Construction: J M Landscapes

The design brief for this project was to,

* Create a safer more natural environment that would provide clear supervisory sight lines,

* Incorporate "dead" space that had previously been used for retaining or had been nominated by child care
   regulatory bodies as unusable,

* Restructure the playground levels to provide a clear direct pathway from top to bottom, reducing trip 

   hazards and providing a gently ascent/descent for parents with prams,

* Repurposing the lower slopes to incorporate play and small group areas.     

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. 

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. 







Preschool playspace, Before, 2011. Top and middle tiers. The middle tier of the playground had stairs whose treads and risers were of equal size. This made it  difficult for children of this age group to  ascend/ descend safely. Additionally, the step treads were too small to be used for seating. It was requested that the new design should break up the open space in the tier to provide a series of smaller more intimate spaces.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. 

Preschool playspace, Before, 2011.  Middle and lower tiers. Educators advised that the fixed cargo/scramble net was rarely use by children and that the series of stepped concrete levels was providing a mobility difficulty for parents with prams and a trip hazard for the children.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Middle and lower tiers. In the fore ground is a small segment of the gently graduated Stoneset pathway that now links all levels. In the rear is a series of child dimensioned stairs that can be used for small group work or as ad-hoc seating for performances.

Preschool playspace, Before, 2011. Top and middle tiers. Educators reported that the children had grown bored with the fixed slide and were rolling down the adjacent slope instead.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Middle tier.

Preschool playspace, Before, 2011. Top and middle tiers. The sandpit had been built on a slope which caused the sand to flow downwards out of the pit and onto other areas of the play ground. A concrete wall had been build around the outer lower rim of the pit to prevent this. Educators advised that the wall was non-functional and unsightly .

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Top and middle tiers. The new sand pit is stepped and incorporates equipment boxes that double as seating, raised building platforms and a water channel that bisects the pit, doubles as a tier wall and empties into a dry creek bed watering the sensory plantings.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Top and middle tiers. Instead of emerging from a pump the water bubbles up from a sandstone cauldron before emptying into the rill. The water flow is controlled by an educator accessing a nearby tap which is fitted with a vandal proof keyed valve.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Top and middle tiers. The sandstone cauldron emptying into the rill.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Top and middle tiers. The sandstone rill acts as a terrace within the sand pit, a building platform and a source of water for the children and the vegetation within the creek bed.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Top and middle tiers. The sandstone rill.

Preschool playspace, Before, 2011. Middle tier. Prior to redevelopment the area beneath the sandpit was compacted grass, used by the children as an informal pathway to the sandpit. 

Preschool playspace, After,  2012. Middle tier. After  redevelopment the area incorporates a formal stepping stone pathway, a dry creek bed, a mini labyrinth/seating area and sensory plantings.

Preschool playspace, After,  2012. Middle tier. After  redevelopment the area incorporates a formal stepping stone pathway, a dry creek bed, a mini labyrinth/seating area and sensory plantings.

Preschool playspace, After,  2012. Upper tier. A large bamboo teepee seat is ringed with sensory plantings and fragrant climbers which will grow upward and between the poles creating a shaded intimated small group area/storytelling space.

Preschool playspace, Before, 2011. Lower tier.
Educators advised that they wished the area to be redesigned to create a safer, more natural environment that would provide clear supervisory sight lines, utilise "dead" space that had previously been used for retaining or had been nominated by child care regulatory bodies as unusable, and to re-purpose the lower slopes to incorporate play and small group areas.

Preschool playspace, Before, 2011. Lower tier.
Educators advised that they wished the area to be redesigned to create a safer, more natural environment that would provide clear supervisory sight lines, utilise "dead" space that had previously been used for retaining or had been nominated by child care regulatory bodies as unusable, and to re-purpose the lower slopes to incorporate play and small group areas.

Preschool playspace, After,  2012. A new mixed surface bike track.

Preschool playspace, Before, 2011. Lower tier.
"Dead" space that had previously been nominated by child care regulatory bodies as unusable.

Preschool playspace, After,  2012. Lower tier. Prior "dead" space has been re-purposed to incorporate play and small group areas.

Preschool playspace, Before, 2011. Lower tier.
"Dead" space that had previously been used for retaining .

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Middle and lower tiers. The slope between the middle and lower tiers is now has two separate climbing areas, (ropes and a climbing wall)  a double slide and a tunnel slide.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Middle and lower tiers. The slope between the middle and lower tiers is now has two separate climbing areas, (ropes and a climbing wall)  a double slide and a tunnel slide. 

Preschool playspace, After, 2012. Upper and middle tiers. A series of child dimensioned stairs that can be used for small group work or as ad-hoc seating for performances, a climbing wall and an  ascending log stepper causeway.

Preschool playspace, After, 2012.  Upper and middle tiers. A series of child dimensioned stairs that can be used for small group work or as ad-hoc seating for performances, a climbing wall and an  ascending log stepper causeway with sensory plantings.