Kids Use Coding Skills to Hack Online Games
Kids as young as 11 are using coding skills to hack accounts on social media and gaming sites, according to one report. Antivirus firm AVG says children are writing malware to steal data and virtual currency from friends.
We Are All Born Scientists, Study Finds | Popular Science
Young kids think and learn about their surroundings much the way that scientists think and learn in advanced experiments, a new study says. They form hypotheses, test them, analyze their findings and learn from their actions and the actions of others — all in child’s play.
A growing body of evidence about this style of learning shows yet again that early childhood education is crucial — but it also shows making preschool more academic could actually be detrimental, according to scientists at the University of California, Berkeley.
Children who live in walkable areas, with a child-friendly park nearby and access to healthy food have 59% lower odds of being obese. More on This Big City.
兒童若居住在適合步行的環境，住家附近又有兒童公園，亦有商家販售健康食品，肥胖機率會下降59%。更多內容請見《城事》。
via thisbigcity:
I pulled some data from a presentation from the K5 Learning Blog. Kids today are amazingly connected, but less involved in the physical world:
- More US kids aged 2-5 can play a computer game than ride a bike.
- 19% of kids aged 2-5 know how to play a smartphone app; 9% know how to tie their shoelaces.
- More kids aged 2-5 can open a browser than swim unaided.
- Kids aged 0-8 spend an average of 1 hour 44 minutes watching TV or video daily, 29 minutes reading, 29 minutes listening to music, 25 minutes playing computer or video games, and 5 minutes using new mobile devices.
- Kids aged 8-18 spend 7 hours 38 minutes using entertainment media daily: more than 53 hours per week. That’s an hour more than 2004 (6 hours 30 minutes). Because they multitask [non-rivalrous media] they pack 10 hours 45 minutes into those 7 hours and 38 minutes.
- 65% of kids aged 0-8 watch TV at least once per day. That’s 37% of kids aged 0-1, 73% of kids aged 2-4, and 72% of kids aged 5-8.
- Kids under 2 spend twice as much time watching TV and videos than being read to (1 hour 54 minutes versus 53 minutes per day).
- For kids aged 8-18, live TV consumption declined by 25 minutes from 2004 to 2009, but total TV consumption went up thanks to the Internet, cell phones, and iPods. 59% (2 hours 39 minutes) consisted of watching live TV, and 41% (1 hour 50 minutes) consisted of time-shifted TV, DVDs, online, or mobile.
- 53% of kids aged 2-4 have used a computer, 90% of kids aged 5-8 have.
- 25% of kids are going online daily by age 3, 50% by age 5.
- Cell ownership among kids 8-18 rose from 39% in 2004 to 65% in 2009.
- 7-12th graders spend an average 1 hour 35 minutes per day sending and receiving texts.
- 51% of kids aged 0-8 have played a console game, 81% of kids aged 5-8. 17% of kids aged 5-8 play console games at least once a day, 36% play then at least once per week.
- 27% of kids aged 2-5 screen time is used with new digital devices.
- 29% of parents have downloaded apps for their kids aged 2-5 to use.
- iPod ownership for kids aged 8-18 rose from 18% in 2004 to 76% in 2009.
- 23% of kids aged 0-8 watch educational TV shows, 8% use educational programs on the computer, 7% play education games on new mobile devices.
via stoweboyd:
(via stoweboyd)
“According to Cathy N. Davidson, co-director of the annual MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions, fully 65 percent of today’s grade-school kids may end up doing work that hasn’t been invented yet.”
“In three new studies published in the May issue of the journal Health Affairs, Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers reveal the staggering economic impact of toxic chemicals and air pollutants in the environment, and propose new legislation to mandate testing of new chemicals and also those already on the market.”
Estimated costs of environmental disease in children at $76.6 billion per year
Source: Medical Xpress
(N.B. These economic “externalities” reveal the true cost of ineffective regulation or control of toxic chemicals and environmental pollution. While businesses may resist such requirements, the data reveals that society pays for the problem anyway. Proper controls could be one of the least expensive ways to reduce the growth of healthcare costs in the U.S….the ultimate kind of preventative care.)
80% of Children Under Age 5 Use the Internet Weekly
Source: Mashable
Nearly 80% of children between the ages of 0 and 5 who use the Internet in the United States, do so on at least a weekly basis, according to a report released Monday from education non-profit organizations Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Sesame Workshop. The report, which was assembled using data from seven recent studies, indicates that young children are increasingly consuming all types of digital media, in many cases consuming more than one type at once.
“It is estimated that 90 percent of brain development occurs in the first three years of a child’s life. Children that are unprepared for kindergarten have a 10 percent chance of being able to read in the first grade. If you cannot read at grade level in the first grade, you have a 12 percent chance of reading at grade level in the fourth grade. And if you can’t read at grade level in the fourth grade, you have only a 2 percent chance of graduating from college.”
To put the percentages above into real numbers, only 16 of every 1,000 kids who are unprepared for kindergarten will graduate from college. Some states and districts, in an effort to prevent this from happening, are evaluating students prior to kindergarten so they know where students need to be supported in their academic and social development. Chicago Public Schools, for example, recently rolled out a kindergarten readiness assessment that was administered by students’ preschool teachers at the end of the school year.
» via GOOD
The Green Children Foundation is committed to helping the poor of the world. We are proud to be working with Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, supporting microcredit, education and healthcare
