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Re-Creating the Brain With a $1.6-Billion Supercomputer Project
Source: Globe and Mail, January 30, 2013
Excerpt: "There are seven billion human brains on the planet, but even the best minds in neuroscience aren’t really sure how they work. How does a network of a hundred trillion neural connections generate thoughts and feelings and motivate action? An international team of researchers is taking a crack at finding out by building a brain of its own."
Why Teen Pregnancy is on the Rise Again in Canada (and Spiking in These Provinces)
Source: Globe and Mail, January 29, 2013
Excerpt: "After steady declines in teen pregnancy rates since the seventies, Canada is now seeing dramatic increases in several provinces, with experts pointing to a tough socio-economic climate as a key factor in the local spikes. While the national rate rose just slightly from 27.9 per 1,000 teens to 28.2, four provinces have seen much more staggering increases between 2006 and 2010: Teen pregnancy rates, for women aged 15 to 19, jumped by nearly 40 per cent in New Brunswick, nearly 36 per cent in Newfoundland, more than 17 per cent in Nova Scotia and 15 per cent in Manitoba."
Ontario Has a New Premier
Source: People for Education, January 28, 2013
Excerpt: "Kathleen Wynne, Ontario's new Premier, brings a great deal of experience to the table - both with education and with conflict resolution. The current conflicts in education are not just about the details in contracts; they are also about the process for developing the contracts and, for some, about who was not at the table. To start the reconciliation process, there are a number of groups that will want to represented..."
Autism Linked to Gut Bacteria, Study Finds
Source: Toronto Star, January 28, 2013
Excerpt: "Researchers have identified a unique blood marker that shows a link between gut bacteria and autism in some children diagnosed with the neurodevelopmental disorder. In a new study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, they found evidence of abnormal energy metabolism in a group of autistic children as a result compounds produced by gut bacteria frequently found in people with autism."
UK: Early Years Sector Vents Anger as Childcare Proposals Leak Out
Source: Nursery World, January 28, 2013
Excerpt: "Anger and protest from the early years sector mounted over the weekend as apparent leaks to national press saw more details of the proposals expected in the Nutbrown response due out on Tuesday emerge.... Other rumoured proposals were for all childcarers to have GCSE English and Maths, a new two-year qualification for Early Years Educators, and the introduction of childminder agencies. The sector’s ire was further fuelled by minister for education and childcare Liz Truss's comments about the need for young children to be 'educated' – interpreted by the Sunday Times in an interview with Ms Truss as meaning that toddlers should be taught reading and maths at a younger age ‘reassuring mothers that their children are receiving an education and giving them the confidence to seek work'. The ST article was headlined 'Playtime is over in Britain's nurseries'."
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How Poverty Influences a Child's Brain Development
Source: Globe and Mail, January 25, 2013
Excerpt: "At first impression, the two groups of children were hard to tell apart: just regular kindergarten kids from different neighbourhoods in Kamloops, B.C. Yet, when they visited a mobile lab as part of population study he collaborated on, Clyde Hertzman remembers how their young brains revealed a striking contrast. Both groups were asked to focus their attention on a series of sounds while researchers monitored their neural activity. Not only did one group tend to have a harder time with the task, Dr. Hertzman recalls, it "had a systematically different pattern of brain responses to the test.""
AB: Promise of All-Day Kindergarten Pushed Back
Source: Calgary Herald, January 24, 2013
Excerpt: "A Tory pledge to fully fund all-day kindergarten will be delayed and the timeline to build 50 new schools may be stretched as the province faces a poor fiscal picture that threatens to tamper with key education promises. During a conference call with school councils Tuesday night, Education Minister Jeff Johnson called the province’s financial situation “bleak” and said the implications on major services such as health and education are uncertain. Johnson said the government remains committed to fully funded all-day kindergarten, but Alberta won’t be able to push ahead with it next school year. He said the province is still investigating how much it will cost and whether it should be mandatory or optional."
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The Neural Path to Self-Control
Source: Globe and Mail, January 23, 2013
Excerpt: " A study, published online by the journal Nature Communications, has found that people who are better at delaying gratification have more efficient brain-network activity than those who have less self-control. The findings offer a glimpse into the neural mechanisms that make some individuals better at resisting temptation than others, which researchers say may be an early step to developing ways to improve self-control. Marc Berman, a postdoctoral fellow at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, and his team of fellow scientists examined a group of people who, 40 years earlier, had taken part in the famous “marshmallow test'... "
Basic Education Coalition Releases Recommendations on Global Education Goals
Source: Basic Education Coalition, January 15, 2013
Excerpt: "The Basic Education Coalition (BEC) announces the release of its recommendations to shape a new set of global education goals. BEC is the leading coalition of U.S.-based organizations advocating for effective U.S. programs and policies in global basic education. Its 18 members have decades of experience working in over 100 countries with families, communities and governments to expand equitable access to quality basic education. With just a few years left before culmination of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Education for All (EFA) goals in 2015, there is increasing debate and discussion about a new set of global objectives to replace the expiring goals. In Each Child Learning, Every Student a Graduate, the Coalition stresses that education must remain a priority of any new global strategy. Basic education is essential to long-term poverty reduction, and is one of the most cost-effective proven solutions in global development."
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Call for Nominations: Ruth Atkinson Hindmarsh Award
Source: Atkinson Charitable Foundation, January 31, 2013
Description: "If you know of an Ontario-based charity that deserves special recognition for its work with children, we want to hear about it! Every day, hundreds of Ontario organizations marshal their resources and make outstanding efforts to enrich the lives and improve the wellbeing of vulnerable children. These organizations, small and large, old and new, are often the source of innovative ideas, programs, policies, and collaborative engagements that support children and their families to succeed. In different ways each does its part to address the myriad of challenges facing vulnerable children with creativity, ingenuity and compassion.
The Ruth Atkinson Hindmarsh Award provides a grant of $50,000 to a charitable organization, in recognition of their efforts to significantly improve the lives of vulnerable children in Ontario. This award celebrates organizations that lead with passion, inspire others to action and whose innovative efforts have a lasting impact on building better futures for children. It seeks to bring to light organizations whose efforts may go virtually unnoticed outside of their immediate communities. The award is jointly sponsored by the Atkinson Charitable Foundation and representatives of the Hindmarsh Family. The deadline for nominations is April 12, 2013."
Ontario Tories Would Delay Full-Day Kindergarten, Slash Thousands of Education Jobs
Source: Toronto Star, January 24, 2013
Excerpt: "An Ontario Tory government would slash thousands of jobs in the education system and delay the implementation of full-day kindergarten until the budget is balanced, according to the party’s latest policy paper on education released Thursday. Among other things, the paper calls for eliminating 10,000 non-teaching jobs and putting the brakes on rolling out full-day kindergarten, which is not to be completed for a couple more years. The latter is a complete about-face for the Tories who, as recently as the 2011 election campaign, supported all-day kindergarten."
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Tories Would Halt Full-Day Kindergarten, Cut Thousands of Jobs
Source: Ottawa Citizen, January 24, 2013
Excerpt: "The ambitious plan for the province’s publicly-funded school system is laid out in a new white paper, which will be released Thursday in Toronto by party leader Tim Hudak.... The 25-page Paths to Prosperity: Preparing Students for the Challenges of the 21st Century is the party’s boldest statement yet on public education, a file the Tories have largely shied away from since the disastrous 2007 provincial election, which former leader John Tory lost after suggesting he would extend public funding to Ontario’s faith-based schools.... But the idea of saving money by putting the brakes on full-day kindergarten — a popular initiative that is currently partway through a five-year rollout — already has the Tories on the defensive."
Editorial: PQ Should Use Private Daycares to Expand Public System
Source: Montreal Gazette, January 23, 2013
Excerpt: "While there are lengthy waiting lists for spots in subsidized daycares, with some parents frozen out even though they signed onto a waiting list when their children were conceived, spaces in private facilities are apparently going begging. The private operators’ association says these daycares are operating at only two-thirds of capacity. Along with some economic commentators, the association suggests that the government could create thousands of new $7 spaces immediately, as well as save millions of dollars in new constructions costs, by absorbing private facilities that wish to join the public system. After all, these private daycares have already been built. This suggestion has been flatly rejected by the premier and the minister responsible for family issues...."
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NL: Hike Population by Fixing Daycare, NDP Critic Says
Source: CBC, January 21, 2013
Excerpt: "A New Democratic MHA says Newfoundland and Labrador's population strategy must focus on helping young couples with being able to afford becoming parents in the first place. "In tough economic times, couples choose to not have children," St. John's North Dale Kirby told CBC News. "We have a situation where the sky-high cost of child care is creating tough economic times for … couples that want to have children." Premier Kathy Dunderdale last week announced that she had appointed Ross Reid to serve as the deputy minister of a population strategy. Dunderdale described the province's demographics as "scary" because so much of the population is aging and requiring many public services."
The Atkinson Centre is pleased to welcome a new team member:
Emis Akbari, PhD
Research Associate & Lecturer
Emis’s research experience began during her undergraduate studies, where she completed her thesis under Dr. James Pfaus’s supervision at the Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology (CSBN) at Concordia University in Montreal. During her graduate studies at U of T under the guidance of Dr. Alison Fleming, she examined the effects of early isolation on the hormonal, experiential and neurobiological regulation of sexual behaviour in rats with a focus on the dopamine (DA) and androgen systems. Her interest in this field began with results from the Fleming laboratory demonstrating the long-lasting effects of early-life adversity on the quality of mothering in adulthood. During the course of her research, she has developed a keen interest in early life adversity, neural plasticity and its effects on brain and behaviour development.
Currently, she is translating her experience of early life adversity on behavioural development in animal models into human research. It is here at OISE she hopes to lend her knowledge in this field. At the Atkinson Centre, Emis’ goal is to investigate different available early intervention strategies for families at risk in their effectiveness to alter developmental trajectories and ultimately produce long-lasting changes in child social, emotional and cognitive outcomes.
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AB: Budget Woes Could Delay Fully Funded, Full-Day K
Source: Global TV Edmonton, January 16, 2013
Excerpt: "Alberta's budget woes could delay Premier Alison Redford from making good on her promise to bring in fully funded full-day kindergarten.... Now with warnings of a tough budget ahead, the Alberta School Boards Association says it's been told by the province that education funding is being reviewed, including the kindergarten pledge."
SK: Province Committed To Expanding Pre-Kindergarten
Source: Regina Leader-Post, January 15, 2013
Excerpt: "In the coming years, the provincial government is aiming to have pre-k classrooms like this one available to every four-year-old in Saskatchewan. There's no indication about how much that will cost, but given only about one-third of children aged three to four currently attend pre-k, it's likely to be a fair chunk of change. As things stand, pre-k is only available for children considered vulnerable; those with socialization issues or whose families have language or socio-economic barriers.... The aims of pre-kindergarten education include socialization, speech, physical and language development, and family involvement."
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Early Language Skills Linked with Later Self-Control
Source: Eye on Early Education, January 9, 2013
Excerpt: "New research finds another social-emotional advantage of strong early language skills. Toddlers with better language skills are better able to manage frustration once they are preschool-age. "Angry outbursts like temper tantrums are common among toddlers, but by the time children enter school, they’re expected to have more self-control," MedicalXpress reports. "To help them acquire this skill, they’re taught to use language skills like 'using your words.' This study sought to determine whether developing language skills relates to developing anger control. Does developing language ability reduce anger between ages 2 and 4?""
Province Imposes Contracts, Repeals Bill 115
Source: People for Education, January 3, 2013
Excerpt: " The Minister of Education announced today that the government will impose two-year contracts on over 300 local bargaining units in Ontario school boards. The Minister also announced that she would allow support staff represented by CUPE just under two weeks to ratify local agreements. If those agreements are not ratified, contracts will be imposed on support staff as well.... The biggest surprise in today’s announcement was that the province plans to repeal Bill 115 before the end of January. Repealing the Bill after contracts are imposed will not affect the contracts, but it will mean that the contracts cannot be extended beyond 2014 and it means that no new Minister of Education will have the extraordinary powers the Bill granted."
Full story and more on this topic from P4E>
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Parents Clued Out About Daycare: Study
Source: Montreal Gazette, January 2, 2013
Excerpt: "Despite placing their children in daycare seven, eight or even nine hours a day, five days a week, many parents know little about the people who look after their children. They tend to base their choice of a centre on its location and "reputation." "Whatever 'reputation' means," said Nina Howe, professor in Concordia University’s department of education and author of a new study on how much, or little, Canadian parents know about their children’s care. Howe said she and her fellow researchers had their doubts about whether many parents know how well-trained or educated their children’s caregivers were, or what kinds of activities were offered by the centre. The researchers were, in large part, right. Most parents had no idea. They hoped for the best, but didn’t have much on which to base their optimism."
AB: Many Albertans Struggle to Find Day Care
Source: Calgary Herald, December 24, 2012
Excerpt: ""The number of licensed child care spaces has grown, but it has not been anywhere near the growth in population," said Bill Moore-Kilgannon, executive director of Public Interest Alberta. The group recently launched a campaign calling on the provincial government to invest more in child care. Moore-Kilgannon said it’s important to make the issue a priority as the province continues to work on its social policy framework — a broad plan for how the government, community agencies and individuals will tackle issues such as housing and employment. "It has got to include a complete re-thinking of how we approach child care," he said. The government has wrapped up public consultations for the framework and it’s now in the hands of Human Services Minister Dave Hancock.
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