Previous research has shown a consistent positive correlation between the arts and both children’s and adolescents’ intellectual development. Specifically, musical education and participation have shown the strongest association, as creating music is a complex task that engages multiple brain systems. 

This article explores whether this positive association between music and learning is causal or not, as existing research is speculative at best. Using data from a large, nationally representative sample, researchers found that there is no evidence that education in the arts causes better academic or personal outcomes (higher GPA, self-esteem, etc.). However, children who chose to engage in arts when they were younger are more likely to stay engaged in the arts later in life, meaning it is good to encourage children to get involved in the arts at a young age.

 

To read more, click here!

 

Alexandra Lagaros, UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

The answer to last week’s Trivia Tuesday is… 6-7 years old! This is usually when children are in first or second grade. At this age, children are able to recognize common words, use phonics to decode new words, and are able to read simple sentences smoothly.

 

This week’s question is: At what age are children able to recognize and label different gender groups?

1. 6-12 months
2. 12-18 months
3. 18-24 months
4. 24-30 months

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this week’s question!

Children’s language development is essential for children, as it helps them develop communication skills and the ability to understand the world around them. It is also a communication tool that is important in shaping a child’s character. Good language skills allow children to build healthy interpersonal relationships, understand differences, and adapt to their environments.

 Implementing character education through language development is essential in primary education. Character education includes activities that combine the development of children’s language with character learning, such as reading stories, singing, and group games. It plays a key role in shaping elementary school children’s development, helping them build the skills needed to navigate various obstacles that will come up in their lives. Additionally, it fosters self-reliance and encourages them to contribute positively to society. However, integrating character education in primary schools faces several obstacles, including teachers’ limited understanding and expertise, heavy curriculum demands, and time constraints. This article goes into detail about the potential solutions in order to overcome these challenges. 

It was found that the implementation of character education through language development can be accomplished by combining language development activities with character learning activities such as storytelling, singing, and group games that involve all students. In addition, the results showed that through language development, children can learn communication and social skills that help them build good character. This means that language development can be an effective medium for implementing character education in primary schools.

To read more, click here!

Alexandra Lagaros, UConn KIDS Research Assistant

There is no such thing as a perfect parent; mistakes and struggles are just part of the job. That being said, there is almost nothing as impactful as interpersonal relationships, as repair can be. Repair can be defined as the act of going back in a moment of disconnection, taking responsibility for your behavior, and understanding the impact it had on the other person. This is different from an apology, which aims to shut a conversation down due to the desire to move on, while a good repair opens a conversation up. 

Repair also helps to avoid self-blame, which is something that works in childhood, as it is a survival mechanism in which a child feels safer internalizing the blame and thinking that they are bad rather than perceiving their parents and the world as unsafe. This helps them build a sense of security. However, this is not healthy going on in adulthood, as it fuels feelings of unworthiness, anxiety, and depression Recognizing that self-blame might be an old, adaptive story rather than a current truth is the first step towards healing, allowing us to understand our past and strive for a more self-compassionate present without needing to achieve perfection.

Learning how to repair allows for compassion and understanding, models emotional regulation for your child, and is a model that is ideal to pass down to the next generation!

To watch the full Ted Talk, click here!

Alexandra Lagaros, UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

The answer to last week’s Trivia Tuesday is… theory of mind! Theory of mind refers to the capacity to understand and anticipate others’ actions by recognizing they have their own thoughts, feelings, and intentions. This ability to grasp that others have different perspectives is fundamental to social interaction and communication.

This week’s question is: At what age do babies begin to say their first words?

1. 6-12 months
2. 12-18 months
3. 18-24 months
4. 24-30 months

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this week’s question!

Children all around the world are struggling with their education. In order to allow young kids to thrive, more emotional management skills need to be taught to students by their educators. 

Speaker Olympia Della Flora begins her TedTalk with an anecdote of one particular student from her school who was struggling. This student would regularly disrupt class, throw chairs, and regularly have fits, which would escalate so much to the point where the entire school would have to go on lockdown. The only options were to throw him out of the school, which would only make his behavior worse, or find out the root of the problem. 

Della Flora then mentions how the education system often looks for a solution that is outside of the box instead of looking at what they already have inside the box. She found out that this child’s father was not in his life and his mother was working long shifts, so he had no stable adult figure in his life to connect with. As a result, he was really struggling to transition into the school system, so she figured out some techniques to ease his transition from home life into school life, such as creating a calm space for him in their time-out space and allowing him to help mentor the younger children at school

Other teachers started to incorporate these techniques that Della Flora was using in their classrooms and were able to be more proactive in their approaches. By teaching young kids coping strategies in order to help them regulate their strong emotions, you are setting them up with the skills to be able to self-regulate. 

 

To watch the full Ted Talk, click here!

Alexandra Lagaros, UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Preschool is a big adjustment for many children, and it changes their lives significantly. The preschool period is a very important stage in a child’s development, as they learn how to function within a school setting, understanding and practicing the behaviors required for successful interactions with peers and adults, and participating in classroom activities.

This study focuses on the extent to which theory of mind abilities and the quality of peer relationships contribute to preschool children’s success in adapting to being in a school environment. The theory of mind is defined as “a child’s ability to predict and understand that the behavior of others is meaningful and intentional” (Rowe et al., 2001). Acquiring the ability of theory of mind allows for children to have a better understanding of what children are thinking. Theory of mind skills are crucial for children to build healthy social connections, navigate social challenges, and successfully adjust to school.

To read more, click here!

Alexandra Lagaros, UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Parents want what is best for their children, regardless of age, socioeconomic status, and marital status. Despite this, parenting books send conflicting messages about whether tiger parenting or free-range parenting is the best approach. The one thing all of the parenting books do have in common is the fact that they all say that if your child isn’t succeeding, then you are doing something wrong. 

However, parenting isn’t about controlling a child’s future; it is much more complex than that. The speaker, Yuko Munakata, describes trying to predict how a child will turn out based on the parents’ choices as like trying to predict a hurricane from the flap of a butterfly’s wings. In reality, children can be shaped by many forces that are often intertwined, such as successful parents, successful genes, successful peers, and growing up in a culture of success.

Growing up in the same house does not make children more alike in how successful, happy, or self-reliant you are. A meta-analysis done in 2015 found a pattern across 14 million twin pairs that every single outcome they measured in the twins was heritable, meaning genes influence who children become. Environment also matters; however, it isn’t the actual parenting that has a direct influence on the child’s outcome. The same parent could shape children in different ways. Just because an event doesn’t shape people in the same way does not mean it didn’t have any affect at all. Parenting could be shaping children, but just not in ways that result in them becoming more alike! Parents have influence, not control. 

 

To watch the full Ted Talk, click here!

Alexandra Lagaros, UConn KIDS Research Assistant

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday!

 

 

 

 

 

The answer to last week’s Trivia Tuesday is… 1-2 months! Typically, during this age, an infant only smiles in response to another person smiling at them first. This phenomenon is called a social smile!

This week’s question is: In what stage of Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development are children able to understand and take the perspectives of other people?

1. Sensorimotor 
2. Preoperational
3. Concrete Operational 
4. Formal Operational

Tune in next week to find out the answer to this week’s question!

 

Alexandra is a research assistant for UConn KIDS from New Canaan, Connecticut. She is a junior Psychological Sciences major with minors in Human Development and Family Sciences and Cognitive Science. She is excited to be a part of UConn KIDS because it gives her the opportunity to be more involved with the research going on at UConn.

After graduating, she plans on pursuing a Masters in School Psychology, as she enjoys working with children. In her free time, she likes to go hiking, read, and bake!