3 Activities That Boosts the Working Memory in Children

Children are the future of human mankind. Hence; it is very important to boost the working memory, which is an integral part of brain development process for children. In this article; we look at different activities which can boost the working memory in children.

A well known scholar once said “A good memory is like a bagful of gold.” Therefore it is very important to build the + memory of children in their formative years. Working memory stores crucial information, while other material which is taught in schools forms the foundation for complex skills and knowledge. Children are very innocent in their early days. Hence, they can retain lot of information in their brains. A child who has poor working memory will find it extremely difficult to take on activities and face problems in learning. A recent research claims that memory deficits, if not found in early childhood can lead to extreme conditions; that can affect the academic performance of the child.

Let us now see different activities that can boost the working memory in children:

Kim’s game: This is a very popular game played by young kids that provides memory building exercises for them. It contains various selections of objects and number of words. These things are displayed to the child and then the objects are covered up. Kids then have to determine which item has been removed. This game can be played with different sets of objects.Repetition: This activity ensures that children retain information for both short term and long term memories. It consists of reciting times tables, test questions and regularly viewing vocabulary cards. Study shows that with regular retrieval practice the child’s memory can be increased substantially. Number and letter sequences: If you want to teach your child a foreign language then number and letter sequences is a very probable answer. It comprises of short number sequence and then gradually builds up digit by digit. The child then gets a minute to revise it after which the number sequence is removed completely. The child then has to recall as much of the sequence as they can. This process is repeated for letters.

To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://hardik.practutor.com/

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States
http://www.practutor.com/

View the original article here

E-readers kindle enthusiasm for learning among children in Kenya | Laila Ali

Teaching tablet … Using e-readers, children at Intimigom nursery and primary school in south-west Kenya are learning to enjoy reading. Photograph: Jon McCormack

Half of schools in sub-Saharan Africa have few or no textbooks, according to Sacmeq, a body that monitors educational quality in southern and eastern Africa. The cost of buying and transporting books means they often have to be shared between students in a classroom, hindering learning and slowing development. Yet e-readers have the potential to change this.

Intimigom nursery and primary school in the rural Maasai province of Kilgoris, south-west Kenya, is attempting to overcome textbook shortages by using donated e-readers. The e-readers come loaded with hundreds of Kenyan textbooks in English and Kiswahili, as well as stories for primary school children. When electricity shortages occur, they can be charged using small solar power packs and generators.

"I had never seen a Kindle before; I really like using it as it helps me with reading and writing," says Intimigom student Obuto Kukutia, aged 12.

"We have a seen a lot of positive changes since we started using Kindles. The children are very excited to learn and are often reading through their break. It helps them with their spelling and [English] language skills. Compared to other schools I have taught at, the children here appear to be ahead. The parents' reaction to the Kindles has also been very positive; they wonder how such a small device can hold several books," says the headteacher, Shadrack Lemiso.

The school has 150 e-readers for the 200 students. It is supported by the Kilgoris project, a not-for-profit organisation that – partnered with Worldreader – provides e-books to schools in sub-Saharan Africa. Worldreader works with publishers including Penguin, Random House, and Amazon, as well as African authors and publishers, to ensure local and international books are available and affordable, if not donated for free. It has distributed more than 220,000 digital books to children and teachers across four projects in sub-Saharan Africa.

"We saw the technology as the most effective and efficient way to give our students all the known benefits of access to books. Instead of building a library, the technology lets us put a library in a child's hand. And we can keep that library up-to-date electronically. E-books don't get tattered or torn, like their paper cousins," says Caren McCormack, president and co-founder of the Kilgoris project. "At the launch ceremony at Intimigom, I joked that the Kindles were much like a herd of cows, a source of long-term security and prosperity for a family. And who could better protect a precious herd than a group of Maasai?"

Sporadic internet connectivity in the area means only a small number of books can be downloaded at a time; for downloads to all the devices, the e-readers are taken to Nairobi, where high-speed internet is more readily available.

The Kilgoris project helps seven schools in the province, serving more than 600 students. Each has an active local board and leadership team consisting of parents, elders and teachers. "We rely on these boards for constant feedback, decision-making, direction and support," says McCormack. "We firmly believe that to do the most good and have the most impact, we need to align ourselves to the community's needs through communication with local families."

By expanding the schools it works with and adding pre-school and secondary levels, Kilgoris aims to help 1,000 students by 2017.

View the original article here

Children with internet access at home gain exam advantage, charity says

The e-Learning Foundation says children with computer access at home will be on average a grade higher in exams. Photograph: Paula Solloway/Alamy

A million children's exam results will be on average a grade lower than their peers this year because they do not have internet access at home, according to a leading charity.

The e-Learning Foundation says that children without access to a computer in the evening are being increasingly disadvantaged in the classroom. Research suggests that 1.2 million teenagers log on to revision pages every week and those using online resources were on average likely to attain a grade higher in exams.

The charity cites BBC research in which more than 100 students used the BBC Bitesize revision materials before their GCSE examination. The children were found to have achieved a grade lift compared to those who did not use the online revision guides. The BBC study says: "This is compared to factors such as teacher influence, which was found to produce no significant difference."

However, experts claim the Department for Education is now neglecting its duty to increase computer ownership among the most disadvantaged. The coalition government cut the Home Access scheme set up by Labour three years ago, which helped low-income families to buy a laptop computer.

And the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, which had responsibility for encouraging the use of technology in learning, was abolished in the Conservative-led government's so-called "bonfire of the quangos" earlier this year.

Meanwhile a study by Besa, the trade association for the educational supply industry, revealed that, due to budgetary pressures, schools plan to spend around 8% less on the provision of computers to pupils this year. Critics claim this will negatively affect after-school IT sessions, vital to those without the internet at home.

Only 60% of the 246 primary schools and 188 secondary schools surveyed said they were able to maintain their current spending. Yet nearly a third of schools will make extensive use of home access to the curriculum through the internet.

The e-Learning Foundation said it feared the gap between rich and poor pupils' performance would widen unless more was done to ensure that every child can use a computer at home. The charity's previous studies show the poorest families were two-and-a-half times less likely to have an internet connection at home than the richest ones.

Valerie Thompson, chief executive of the e-Learning Foundation, said: "Without home access to the internet many pupils struggle to complete their homework and coursework and, at this time of year, miss out on the benefits of online revision sites. The digital divide is having a truly damaging impact on children's prospects and causing the most disadvantaged to fall further behind.

"We know that online revision sites can help young people to get the best possible results. But we have to tackle the digital divide so that all young people can benefit from the opportunities that online learning has to offer."

Young people's access to the internet at home and in school has been growing in recent years and even seven years ago the UK Children Go Online study, which investigated 9 to 19-year-olds' uses of the internet, found that most children use it daily or weekly. The study also found that, among the daily or weekly users, 90% of the children surveyed use the internet for homework.

The e-Learning Foundation claims that access has still not been broadened to the poorest households and that this had a significant impact on levels of attainment during exams.

Last night the former Labour schools minister, Lord Knight, said the government appeared to be losing the battle to bridge the "digital divide". He said: "We had a scheme where people on tax credits could apply for a pre-charged visa card which could be used in a number of high street stores to buy a laptop. As a result 500,000 low-income families buy a computer. It delivered for a lot of kids and the government is continuing to fund it for children with special educational needs but not for everyone.

"People may think it is a luxury and times are hard, but the times are changing and the next generation need to know how to use the latest technology."

View the original article here

3 Activities That Boosts the Working Memory in Children

Children are the future of human mankind. Hence; it is very important to boost the working memory, which is an integral part of brain development process for children. In this article; we look at different activities which can boost the working memory in children.

A well known scholar once said “A good memory is like a bagful of gold.” Therefore it is very important to build the + memory of children in their formative years. Working memory stores crucial information, while other material which is taught in schools forms the foundation for complex skills and knowledge. Children are very innocent in their early days. Hence, they can retain lot of information in their brains. A child who has poor working memory will find it extremely difficult to take on activities and face problems in learning. A recent research claims that memory deficits, if not found in early childhood can lead to extreme conditions; that can affect the academic performance of the child.

Let us now see different activities that can boost the working memory in children:

Kim’s game: This is a very popular game played by young kids that provides memory building exercises for them. It contains various selections of objects and number of words. These things are displayed to the child and then the objects are covered up. Kids then have to determine which item has been removed. This game can be played with different sets of objects.Repetition: This activity ensures that children retain information for both short term and long term memories. It consists of reciting times tables, test questions and regularly viewing vocabulary cards. Study shows that with regular retrieval practice the child’s memory can be increased substantially. Number and letter sequences: If you want to teach your child a foreign language then number and letter sequences is a very probable answer. It comprises of short number sequence and then gradually builds up digit by digit. The child then gets a minute to revise it after which the number sequence is removed completely. The child then has to recall as much of the sequence as they can. This process is repeated for letters.

To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://hardik.practutor.com/

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States
http://www.practutor.com/

View the original article here

Children with internet access at home gain exam advantage, charity says

The e-Learning Foundation says children with computer access at home will be on average a grade higher in exams. Photograph: Paula Solloway/Alamy

A million children's exam results will be on average a grade lower than their peers this year because they do not have internet access at home, according to a leading charity.

The e-Learning Foundation says that children without access to a computer in the evening are being increasingly disadvantaged in the classroom. Research suggests that 1.2 million teenagers log on to revision pages every week and those using online resources were on average likely to attain a grade higher in exams.

The charity cites BBC research in which more than 100 students used the BBC Bitesize revision materials before their GCSE examination. The children were found to have achieved a grade lift compared to those who did not use the online revision guides. The BBC study says: "This is compared to factors such as teacher influence, which was found to produce no significant difference."

However, experts claim the Department for Education is now neglecting its duty to increase computer ownership among the most disadvantaged. The coalition government cut the Home Access scheme set up by Labour three years ago, which helped low-income families to buy a laptop computer.

And the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, which had responsibility for encouraging the use of technology in learning, was abolished in the Conservative-led government's so-called "bonfire of the quangos" earlier this year.

Meanwhile a study by Besa, the trade association for the educational supply industry, revealed that, due to budgetary pressures, schools plan to spend around 8% less on the provision of computers to pupils this year. Critics claim this will negatively affect after-school IT sessions, vital to those without the internet at home.

Only 60% of the 246 primary schools and 188 secondary schools surveyed said they were able to maintain their current spending. Yet nearly a third of schools will make extensive use of home access to the curriculum through the internet.

The e-Learning Foundation said it feared the gap between rich and poor pupils' performance would widen unless more was done to ensure that every child can use a computer at home. The charity's previous studies show the poorest families were two-and-a-half times less likely to have an internet connection at home than the richest ones.

Valerie Thompson, chief executive of the e-Learning Foundation, said: "Without home access to the internet many pupils struggle to complete their homework and coursework and, at this time of year, miss out on the benefits of online revision sites. The digital divide is having a truly damaging impact on children's prospects and causing the most disadvantaged to fall further behind.

"We know that online revision sites can help young people to get the best possible results. But we have to tackle the digital divide so that all young people can benefit from the opportunities that online learning has to offer."

Young people's access to the internet at home and in school has been growing in recent years and even seven years ago the UK Children Go Online study, which investigated 9 to 19-year-olds' uses of the internet, found that most children use it daily or weekly. The study also found that, among the daily or weekly users, 90% of the children surveyed use the internet for homework.

The e-Learning Foundation claims that access has still not been broadened to the poorest households and that this had a significant impact on levels of attainment during exams.

Last night the former Labour schools minister, Lord Knight, said the government appeared to be losing the battle to bridge the "digital divide". He said: "We had a scheme where people on tax credits could apply for a pre-charged visa card which could be used in a number of high street stores to buy a laptop. As a result 500,000 low-income families buy a computer. It delivered for a lot of kids and the government is continuing to fund it for children with special educational needs but not for everyone.

"People may think it is a luxury and times are hard, but the times are changing and the next generation need to know how to use the latest technology."

View the original article here

3 Activities That Boosts the Working Memory in Children

Children are the future of human mankind. Hence; it is very important to boost the working memory, which is an integral part of brain development process for children. In this article; we look at different activities which can boost the working memory in children.

A well known scholar once said “A good memory is like a bagful of gold.” Therefore it is very important to build the + memory of children in their formative years. Working memory stores crucial information, while other material which is taught in schools forms the foundation for complex skills and knowledge. Children are very innocent in their early days. Hence, they can retain lot of information in their brains. A child who has poor working memory will find it extremely difficult to take on activities and face problems in learning. A recent research claims that memory deficits, if not found in early childhood can lead to extreme conditions; that can affect the academic performance of the child.

Let us now see different activities that can boost the working memory in children:

Kim’s game: This is a very popular game played by young kids that provides memory building exercises for them. It contains various selections of objects and number of words. These things are displayed to the child and then the objects are covered up. Kids then have to determine which item has been removed. This game can be played with different sets of objects.Repetition: This activity ensures that children retain information for both short term and long term memories. It consists of reciting times tables, test questions and regularly viewing vocabulary cards. Study shows that with regular retrieval practice the child’s memory can be increased substantially. Number and letter sequences: If you want to teach your child a foreign language then number and letter sequences is a very probable answer. It comprises of short number sequence and then gradually builds up digit by digit. The child then gets a minute to revise it after which the number sequence is removed completely. The child then has to recall as much of the sequence as they can. This process is repeated for letters.

To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://hardik.practutor.com/

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States
http://www.practutor.com/

View the original article here

3 Activities That Boosts the Working Memory in Children

Children are the future of human mankind. Hence; it is very important to boost the working memory, which is an integral part of brain development process for children. In this article; we look at different activities which can boost the working memory in children.

A well known scholar once said “A good memory is like a bagful of gold.” Therefore it is very important to build the + memory of children in their formative years. Working memory stores crucial information, while other material which is taught in schools forms the foundation for complex skills and knowledge. Children are very innocent in their early days. Hence, they can retain lot of information in their brains. A child who has poor working memory will find it extremely difficult to take on activities and face problems in learning. A recent research claims that memory deficits, if not found in early childhood can lead to extreme conditions; that can affect the academic performance of the child.

Let us now see different activities that can boost the working memory in children:

• Kim’s game: This is a very popular game played by young kids that provides memory building exercises for them. It contains various selections of objects and number of words. These things are displayed to the child and then the objects are covered up. Kids then have to determine which item has been removed. This game can be played with different sets of objects.
• Repetition: This activity ensures that children retain information for both short term and long term memories. It consists of reciting times tables, test questions and regularly viewing vocabulary cards. Study shows that with regular retrieval practice the child’s memory can be increased substantially.
• Number and letter sequences: If you want to teach your child a foreign language then number and letter sequences is a very probable answer. It comprises of short number sequence and then gradually builds up digit by digit. The child then gets a minute to revise it after which the number sequence is removed completely. The child then has to recall as much of the sequence as they can. This process is repeated for letters.

To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://hardik.practutor.com

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States
http://www.practutor.com