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How Early Math Helps Our Future

5/9/2017

 
It isn’t enough to learn formulas or memorize multiplication tables. Young minds need to experience math and have fun talking about it.
​

Starting Early is The Secret

Instead of treating math as a subject, parents and teachers can expose children to math concepts. The earlier, the better. As research proves, the earlier children become comfortable and competent with math concepts, the better they will perform in their academic career.

  • Children who have low math scores in the beginning of their kindergarten year continue to lag behind their better prepared peers through the 8th grade. [Source]
  • Early math skills have the greatest predictor of later success. Across 6 longitudinal studies, the top 3 predictors of later achievement are school-entry math, reading, and attention skills.[Source]
  • Research on children's learning in the first 6 years of life demonstrates the importance of early experiences in mathematics. [Source]
  • A child’s early encounters with math develops their confidence in their ability to understand and use math skills. These positive experiences can help develop traits which contribute to their future success in and out of school. [Source]

How to Use Math in Everyday Life

Children can be exposed to important concepts like scientific inquiry, spacial skills, problem-solving, language proficiency, reasoning, prediction and making connections by using everyday items and experiences.

What do early math experiences look like?
  • Sorting, matching & comparison: everyday items, toys, big vs. small- develop scientific inquiry skills
  • Building blocks: wooden blocks, legos, sculpting, building sets- develop spatial skills
  • Games: board games, card games, dice- develop problem-solving, addition, language skills
  • Patterns: puzzles, art, shape play and labeling, dance- develop prediction, connection making and reasoning skills [Source]
The infographic below highlights these important concepts on how important math is:
EarlyMath_infographic_final-v02.pdf
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The Digit Widgit® Helps Children of All Ages Learn Math Concepts 

Making math fun is our primary focus. By touching, experimenting and talking about what’s happening when using Digit Widgit®, students learn and develop skills in new, more memorable ways.

Move your body. Grow your mind.

4/29/2017

 
Sitting is the new smoking- and kids sit in class all day. Not only is sitting a health risk, this sedentary lifestyle also impacts a student’s academic performance.

Here are facts that should get your attention.

How Movement Improves Learning

2 hours of just sitting reduces blood flow, lowers blood sugar, and increases risk of: obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Source

The average U.S. 1st grader spends 943 hours a year in school. Source

Physical activity increases levels of neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine in the same way ADHD medications do.

Neurotransmitters, dopamine and norepinephrine, play a key role in sharpening focus and increasing attention. Source

10 minutes of activity equals an 8% increase in on-task behavior. Source

8 of 9 studies found positive associations between classroom-based physical activity and indicators of cognitive skills and attitudes, academic behavior, and academic achievement; none of the studies found negative associations. Source

11 benefits of increased movement include: increases engagement, better oxygen flow to brain, improves behaviour, develops core strength, improves overall posture, burns more calories, releases excess energy, improves metabolism, improves mental health, higher academic performance, better overall health. Source

The infographic below summarizes this data.

Movement_Infographic_final-v3.png
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Fidget While You Work: It May Be Good For Your Health

9/24/2015

 
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Forbes /  Pharma & Healthcare
By:  Alice G. Walton

If you’re concerned that the amount of sitting you do might one day kill you, as some studies have suggested, new research in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine may buck you up: It finds that fidgeting while you work may help offset the negative health effects of sitting for hours at the time, as so many of us do these days. At least in part — it’s certainly no alternative to actual physical activity. But since regular exercise itself can’t quite trump the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle, the study may bring some encouraging news for those of us who can’t seem to stop moving as we sit.

The researchers in Britain looked at data from 12,000 women who answered questions about their diets, alcohol use, exercise habits, fidgeting and many other lifestyle habits. They also provided information about their health, body weight and what, if any, health conditions they’d experienced over the years; the team was also informed about any participants who died during the course of the study. At the end of 12 years, the team looked for any relationships between the variables.

read entire article
“Our results support the suggestion that it’s best to avoid sitting still for long periods of time,” says Cade, “and even fidgeting may offer enough of a break to make a difference.”

Among women sat for more than seven hours per day and who didn’t fidget much, their risk of mortality was 43% higher than those who sat for less than five hours. 

ADHD Kids Must Fidget To Learn; Sitting Still Hurts Concentration And Performance

8/31/2015

 
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By Chris Weller

Hyperactivity in kids with ADHD may not be what hurts their ability to learn, but rather what helps them cope. A new study from the University of Central Florida has found that when kids are free to fidget and squirm, they see a marked increase in the memory skills necessary for learning.

The research validates what occupational therapists have been doing for some time, namely, allowing kids with ADHD to express their hyperactivity, rather than suppress it, with small toys that can keep them busy. Typically, these toys offer a stimulating tactile experience, such as the squish of Silly Putty or the pointiness of spiky balls. The function of the toys is to let the kids’ brains idly enjoy the sensation while their executive functions focus on the task at hand.

Dr. Mark Rapport, study co-author and head of the Children's Learning Clinic at the University of Central Florida, says these toys already do a sufficient job. “Many children manage without medication if they are allowed to use non-disruptive mechanisms that facilitate movement,” he told Medical Daily. Unfortunately, acknowledging the needs of kids with ADHD isn’t the standard. Some 11 percent of children between 4 and 17 years old have been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011, and prevalence is rising year over year. For many of these kids, the sentiment they hear most often is to sit still and be quiet.
read entire article
kids with ADHD performed significantly better on the task when they were free to engage in extraneous activities: tapping their feet, moving their hands, playing with the objects around them. 
... Dr. Rapport
What we've found is that when they're moving the most, the majority of them perform better, Rapport said. They have to move to maintain alertness.
Telling them to sit still, in other words, would only make things worse.

Fidgeting May Benefit Children With A.D.H.D.

6/24/2015

 
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New York Times
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS JUNE 24, 2015 5:45 AM
Past studies had suggested that children with A.D.H.D. concentrate better and improve academically if they are physically active during the school day. But that research had focused primarily on how to re-channel the children’s hyperactivity.

Dr. Schweitzer, who treats many children with A.D.H.D., had begun to wonder whether that emphasis was misplaced. Perhaps experiments should look into why the children were so hyperactive in the first place.

To find out, she and her colleagues gathered 26 boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 17 who had a diagnosis of A.D.H.D.; the researchers independently confirmed the diagnosis. Then they recruited an additional 18 children without A.D.H.D.

All of the children visited the group’s lab and were outfitted with an unobtrusive activity monitor on one ankle that could track how often and how intensely the children bobbled their leg, which is a good marker of fidgeting. 

They found that the more intensely that the children with A.D.H.D. wiggled and fidgeted — the more ferociously they bobbled their legs — the more accurate their answers were.
let them squirm and fidget and bounce and jiggle and generally maintain that constant, disconcerting restiveness, if you want them also to be better able to concentrate.
read entire article

The Benefits of Fidgeting for Students With ADHD

6/22/2015

 

Children performed better on cognitive tasks when allowed to move freely

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By SUMATHI REDDY
June 22, 2015 1:33 p.m. ET

School children with ADHD should be encouraged to fidget in class, two new studies suggest.

The research showed that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder perform better on cognitive tasks when allowed to fidget or move more freely than is typically allowed in many classrooms. The theory: Moving increases their alertness.

“Parents and teachers need to stop telling children [with ADHD] to sit still,” said Julie Schweitzer, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis, who was senior author of one of the studies. “We know that some activity can be disruptive to others, but we need to find ways to make it less conspicuous and to integrate socially appropriate ways of moving.”

Interestingly, one of the studies found that fidgeting, while boosting performance in ADHD children, resulted in a performance decline in children with typical behaviors.

read entire article
If they move their bodies while they’re working it doesn’t disturb anybody but it fills their own neurological need for motion and activity.
- Ms. Keller, Guidance Counselor
What we found was that when the children with ADHD had intense movement—the kind of movement a teacher or another child would notice in the classroom—they did better on the task,
... Dr. Julie Schweitzer, 

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