2014’s Best Science Stories from UCSF

It was an amazing year for science at UCSF! Here are some of our most-read stories from 2014: – Gut Bacteria Pull Our…

Posted by UCSF on Tuesday, December 16, 2014

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Increased Physical Activity Linked to Improved School Performance

…”You can express it that two hours of extra physical education each week doubled the odds that a pupil achieves the national learning goals. We did not see a corresponding improvement in the control schools, where the pupils did not receive extra physical activity – rather the contrary, a deterioration,” said scientist and neurologist Thomas Linden at the Sahlgrenska Academy.
Read more: http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/18048/20141015/increased-physical-activity-linked-to-improved-school-performance.htm#ixzz3GKq5RCuG

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26 Amazing Facts About Finlands Unorthodox Education System – Business Insider

26 Amazing Facts About Finlands Unorthodox Education System

via 26 Amazing Facts About Finlands Unorthodox Education System – Business Insider.

Finnish elementary school students get 75 minutes of recess a day versus an average of 27 minutes in the US.  Teachers in Finland spend 4 hours a day in the classroom and take 2 hours a week for professional development.

 

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Universal preschool winning more advocates

Can universal preschool improve education outcomes?

Can universal preschool improve education outcomes?

Universal preschool winning more advocatesBy Adrienne Lu Fri, Oct 3, 2014 @ 10:09 am | updated Fri, Oct 3, 2014 @ 10:10 am WASHINGTON | From Seattle to New York, elected officials are calling for more children to attend publicly funded preschool.President Barack Obama, lawmakers and local officials from both sides of the aisle agree on the benefits of prekindergarten — the catch is how to pay for it.

via Universal preschool winning more advocates | members.jacksonville.com.

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Study Finds That Brains With Autism Fail to Trim Synapses as They Develop – NYTimes.com

child-on-swingStudy Finds That Brains With Autism Fail to Trim Synapses as They Develop – NYTimes.com.

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Thinking Persons Guide to Autism: A Critical Response to “The Kids Who Beat Autism”

A Critical Response to “The Kids Who Beat Autism”Steven Kapp, M.A.I critically lectured on autism and “outcomes” like “recovery” for my UCLA Autism and Neurodiversity class the day the New York Times article The Kids Who Beat Autism came out, then saw a related statement I wrote* for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network shared widely later that same day — so I mulled over how much more attention to give the NYT story.

via Thinking Persons Guide to Autism: A Critical Response to “The Kids Who Beat Autism”.

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Globalization and Human Rights – Nicholas Kristof Blog – NYTimes.com

There’s been this remarkable push for global health over the last 15 years, and it’s had a revolutionary effect on child mortality, on AIDS, on malaria, on neglected tropical diseases. The number of children dying before the age of 5 has dropped almost in half since 1990. But we need a similar drive to improve educational outcomes, and that somehow hasn’t attracted the same enthusiasm.

via Globalization and Human Rights – Nicholas Kristof Blog – NYTimes.com.

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Adult Obesity May Have Origins Way Back In Kindergarten : Shots – Health News : NPR

“Kids who started off kindergarten overweight actually had about four times [the risk] of becoming obese by eighth grade, compared with normal-weight kindergartners,” says Cunningham, an assistant professor in the department of global health at Emory University. And nearly half of the obese eighth-graders , she says, had been overweight kindergartners.

via Adult Obesity May Have Origins Way Back In Kindergarten : Shots – Health News : NPR.

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The key to a more productive classroom is more recess – Quartz

child-on-swingLike a zombie, Sami—one of my fifth graders—lumbered over to me and hissed, “I think I’m going to explode! I’m not used to this schedule.” And I believed him. An angry red rash was starting to form on his forehead.+Yikes, I thought. What a way to begin my first year of teaching in Finland. It was only the third day of school and I was already pushing a student to the breaking point. When I took him aside, I quickly discovered why he was so upset.

via The key to a more productive classroom is more recess – Quartz.

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Putin the Not So Great – Michael McFaul – POLITICO Magazine

Vladimir Putin is everywhere in the Western media these days – glaring at us from the cover of magazines, psychoanalyzed daily on television, lampooned as a bullying tyrant in cartoons. Most portrayals assign sinister intentions to the Russian ruler. Yet, a subtext in many accounts is that Putin is also succeeding. As Time magazine put it, “each new crisis makes him stronger.” Putin may be a bad guy, so this story goes, but he is also shrewd, tough, strategic and smart, outmaneuvering the hapless Western alliance seeking to counter this judo master in the Kremlin.

via Putin the Not So Great – Michael McFaul – POLITICO Magazine.

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