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Children's Learning & Development

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Air pollution linked to children's low GPAs
  • A large study links high levels of motor vehicle emissions around the home to poorer academic performance in children.
  • The findings support other studies that found similar results looking at vehicle pollution around schools.

Data from 1,895 fourth and fifth grade children living in El Paso, Texas has found that those who were exposed to high levels of motor vehicle emissions had significantly lower GPAs, even when accounting for other factors known to influence school performance.

Eating fish linked to better sleep and higher I.Q. for kids

A largish Chinese study, involving 541 9-11-year-olds, has found that those who ate fish at least once a week slept better and had higher IQ scores, on average, than those who ate fish less frequently or not at all.

Picture overload hurts preschooler's word learning
  • A study has found that having more than one illustration results in poorer word learning among pre-schoolers — but this can be mitigated if the reader draws the pre-schooler’s attention to each illustration.

When you're reading a picture book to a very young child, it's easy to think it's obvious what picture, or part of a picture, is being talked about. But you know what all the words mean.

Concussion not well understood, but widely feared
  • A survey of US adults suggests worry about concussion goes hand in hand with a lack of understanding.

An online national survey of 2,012 adult Americans (of whom 948 were parents) has found that, while the vast majority (87%) don’t know the definition of a concussion and many don’t know the injury is treatable, there is a high level of concern and even fear across the country.

Prenatal exposure to common chemicals linked with drop in child IQ

Following a previous study linking higher maternal levels of two common chemicals with slower mental and motor development in preschoolers, a new study has found that this effect continues into school age.

Air pollution during pregnancy linked to cognitive impairment in children
  • A largish study involving school-age children not at any particular risk has found that higher levels of air pollution experienced by the mother during pregnancy are linked to less gray matter in some brain regions.

Research using data from a population-based birth cohort from Rotterdam, in The Netherlands, has found that children exposed to higher levels of air pollution when they were in womb had significantly thinner cortex in several brain regions.

Childhood concussions impair brain function two years later
  • A small study found children who had experienced a sports-related concussion two years earlier still showed cognitive impairments, with younger children showing greater deficits.

A study involving 30 children (aged 8-10), of whom 15 had experienced a sports-related concussion two years earlier, and all of whom were athletically active, found that those with a history of concussion performed worse on tests of working memory, attention and impulse control, compared to the c

Physical fitness helps children think, read, learn

Several recent studies add to the evidence that physical fitness boosts cognitive processing in children.

Air pollution exposure walking to school linked to slower growth of working memory
  • A large study has found higher levels of traffic-related air pollution, still within the EU safe limits, are associated with slower growth in working memory capacity in primary/elementary school children.

A Spanish study investigating the effects of traffic-related air pollution on children walking to school has found higher levels of particulate matter and black carbon were associated with decreased growth in working memory capacity.

Finger tracing helps children doing geometry problems
  • Finger tracing key elements in worked problems seems to help some students better understand and apply mathematical concepts.

I've reported before on studies showing how gesturing can help children with mathematics and problem-solving. A new Australian study involving children aged 9-13 has found that finger-tracing has a similar effect.

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