Money can’t buy you happiness, but it could motivate you to live a better life. A new study featuring researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York found that viewing wealth and material possessions as a sign of success yields significantly better results to life satisfaction than viewing wealth and possessions as a sign […]
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Develop your personal skills: New research offers lessons for young people heading for university
New research on the importance of non-cognitive skills — such as conscientiousness, self-esteem and feeling in control of one’s life — for graduates’ earnings potential offers important lessons for young people receiving their A-level results. The study by Gerda Buchmueller and Professor Ian Walker, of Lancaster University Management School, confirms previous evidence on the importance […]
Measurement of thoughts during knowledge acquisition
In a recent learning study they were able to show that new conceptual information is stored along spatial dimensions in form of a mental map located in the hippocampus. Together with colleagues from the Donders Institute at Radboud University in Nijmegen, they observed brain activity patterns that support the idea that the neural mechanisms that […]
How does the brain learn by talking to itself?
Human beings, like other animals, possess an enormous learning capacity that allows for the apprehension of new sensory information to master new skills or to adapt to an ever-changing environment. However, many of the mechanisms that enable us to learn remain poorly understood. One of the greatest challenges of systems neuroscience is to explain how […]
Imaginary worlds of children reflect positive creativity
Children who create imaginary parallel worlds, alone or with friends, are more found more commonly than previously believed, according to new research. In a project designed to probe the dynamics of such behavior among children 8-12 years old, researchers found that about 17 percent of them, in each of two separate studies, described imaginary worlds […]
Attending the ‘best’ high school may yield benefits and risks for students
Parents often go to great lengths to ensure that their children attend top schools, surrounded by high-achieving peers who often come from advantaged backgrounds. But data collected from individuals over a span of 50 years suggests that these aspects of selective schools aren’t uniformly beneficial to students’ educational and professional outcomes in the following decades. […]
Link between childhood adversity, burnout and depression
A study on childhood adversity at The University of Texas at El Paso School of Nursing found that undergraduate nursing students who were exposed to a higher number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) — such as abuse, neglect or family dysfunction — encountered higher levels of burnout and depression. ACEs can have negative, lasting effects […]
Having an online social forum for class networking gives physics students a boost
Grasping the impulse-momentum theorem during a 100-level physics lecture is one thing, but what if it doesn’t make as much sense once you start your homework assignment? Andy Gavrin, IUPUI physics department chair and associate professor, first added an online social forum to his courses to help students stay engaged in the coursework and assist […]
Asking questions, testing improves student learning of new material
Jason Chan makes a point to periodically interrupt his lecture and ask students a question about the material they’ve covered. The associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University does this to regain students’ attention, but more importantly, to enhance their ability to learn new information. Researchers know the retrieval process is beneficial for new […]
Steep decline in student belief that God created humans, 32-year Australian study reveals
Australian university students give far more credit than the previous generation to the science of human evolution and far less to creationism or divine guidance, according to a landmark new study. In an overview of the last 32 years of annually-assessed student opinions, it is clear that belief among students that a god is the […]