August 2001

Welcome to the Alite newsletter, August 2001

We hope you are taking some time out for a break, and bring you a short Summer newsletter just to keep you up to date with the latest developments in the world of Brain-based and Accelerated Learning.

Women on Top?

You may have seen Alistair Smith on the programme Women on Top which went out as part of the BBC's new 4X4 series last month. As we mentioned in July's newsletter, Alistair worked with John Williams of MENSA to devise and interpret tests which show differences in the performances of boys and girls. Alistair then went with presenter Sally Magnusson to Horsenden School in Ealing to oversee and comment on the tests.

The 7 minute feature could only scratch the surface of this important subject, and many people have contacted us to ask how they can find out more. We recommend the following books for anyone wanting to investigate the subject in more depth:

Raising Boys by Steven Biddulph
Sex and Cognition by Doreen Kimura
Brain Sex by Anne Moir and David Jessell
Men are from Mars, Women are … just joking!

Childcare controversy

Controversy has broken out over the significance of childcare in developing children's personalities. A major US study looked at 1,300 children who have been followed since birth at 10 places around the United States. The US study, led by Dr Martha Cox and Dr Margaret Burchinal of the University of North Carolina, suggests that the more time toddlers spend in "nonparental childcare" the more likely they are to be more aggressive than average by the age of 11. But it also suggests that those who had "quality" childcare - that is, active structured play and frequent interactions with adults - acquire better language and memory skills than average.

"We saw that three times as many kids with extensive child care had behavioural problems compared with the children who had little childcare," Dr Burchinal said. Extensive childcare was defined as 30 or more hours a week, while little childcare was defined as less than 10 hours a week. "At the same time, though, we want to emphasise that these were not extreme behaviours. [They] were well within the normal range and might or might not disappear entirely later on." It was unclear from the research whether childcare was the cause of the increased aggressiveness or whether more aggressive children tended to be placed in childcare.

The research showed clearly, however, that high-quality childcare led to the greatest intellectual development of the children. Dr Cox said: "This work documents more strongly than ever before that better educated and trained teachers are providing more language stimulation so that the children they take care of do better on tests, regardless of family background."

Stephen Burke, director of the Day Care Trust, the national British childcare charity, said: "These results [on aggressiveness] are very surprising. I don't know of any equivalent research in the UK. Our experience is that quality child care contributes to child development and positive behaviour. The key thing is the quality of the child care and, especially, having trained staff."

Stem cells improve memory

Stem cell research provides one of the brightest rays of hope for the treatment of conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease. Aged rats with poor memory improved their recall after human stem cells were implanted in their brains.

The research, at the University of Illinois in Chicago, tested rats on their ability to remember the way out of a "water maze". Older rats tended not to perform as well at the task compared to younger rats. However, after the laboratory-grown stem cells were implanted in their brains, their performance improved radically - in one case, the older, memory-impaired rat was able to exit the maze faster than the younger counterpart.

Stem cells are the body's master cells, having the ability to "differentiate" into a wide variety of different cells used for different purposes in the body. If the way the cells differentiate could be controlled, scientists believe they could prove a potent way of replacing certain types of cell - such as brain cells - previously thought irreplaceable. However, the idea of inserting new cells to replace old ones received a setback recently when transplanted neural foetal tissue failed to help Parkinson's patients in many cases.

However, the latest research, along with dozens of other projects, uses stem cells which have not yet differentiated into a particular cell type. Lead researcher Kiminobu Sugaya said that this "malleable" quality meant that it could be easier for them to migrate to the part of the brain where they were needed most, and change into the necessary cell types. Examination of the rat's brains after death showed that the cells had differentiated and grown dramatically in areas associated with spatial memory.

Lead researcher Sugaya said: "The transplanted stem cells may have helped both directly and indirectly. Previous studies have failed to produce working brain cells from transplants of stem cells." However, there remains widespread concern about the safety of stem cells transplantation in humans, although early human trials have so far revealed no direct cause for concern.

Just for fun!

Think you want to be a teacher? Take this test first.
Part Three: August 2001

1. Go to London underground or similar . Select longest, narrowest and busiest of corridors there. Spend ten minutes in every forty bumping into people whilst carrying more books and papers than is safe.

2. Seal up with paint every window in your house. Wait for hot day and turn heating back on. Attempt to open windows whilst balancing on furniture.

3. Drive dilapidated minibus or similar at 70 mph whilst football is bounced off back of your head. Keep bus within lanes at all times.

Think you want to be a parent? Take this test first.
Part Three: August 2001

1. From a large tub of Lego spread all contents over the hall stairs and into your bedroom. Wait until it is dark and now try to walk barefoot to the bathroom.

2. Make video cassette recorder share your breakfast

3. Before going to the supermarket visit the local farm and borrow a small goat. Take it shopping with you. Stay 20 minutes and pay for everything it eats and everything it knocks over in that time.

Twilight Accelerated Learning sessions

Would you like your staff to learn more about Accelerated Learning, but find it difficult to get cover for a full INSET day? We are now able to offer 2 hour twilight sessions in some areas of the country. The sessions cover the essentials of AL, as well as giving practical examples of how to use AL tools and techniques.

To learn more, please contact Melanie on 01628 810700, or email office@alite.co.uk