Where To Search For Educational Stuff?

A good search engine lets you filter any content that may be offensive and inappropriate. This is a new feature that seems to be catching on and is proving to be effective. It can help you find high quality sites, relevant to what you are searching for.

Often we start browsing by entering any keyword at the provided box of a 'search engine'. Result is related to the words or terms we seek from the world wide web, but most of the site links don't provide reliable and FREE stuff. In case of educational or teachers stuff, it is my experience that I had to spend hours in search of the information I needed. Initial purpose of this personal blog was to place the information and links at one place for an easy access, but gradually I realized that there are lot of parents or teachers who are in the same situation and can't find the information easily from the world wide web. This post would help you search at the specific search engines offering the links and free resources for teachers, students and parents.

These are the posts which provide a full review of the search engines for educational stuff. At the bottom of the post there are links to other search engines or sites where you can search for the educational information.

* "Free search engine tutorial" - a short and easy guide to Web searching, search engines and directories. This little crash course will teach you how to explore the Net more efficiently.
A short and easy search engine tutorial By Pandia Search Engine

* "Ask Jeeves for Kids" is an educational based search engine. 'Ask for Kids' allows kids to ask questions and perform web searches, such as "When did Hawaii become a state?" etc.

Read more: Search at "Ask for KIDS" for educational stuff!

* "Kinder Search" is a directory plus search engine, which is focused on children 0-7 years on the net. It is the largest and most popular indexed directory and search engine for kids.

Read the review: Search for the kids sites at "Kinder Start"

* "Study Sphere.com" is a search engine based learning portal for students, families and teachers. It provides fast, easy and free access to a wide variety of research-quality child-safe websites organized for education online from home, school, study abroad and home school.

Read the review: "Study Sphere"- providing learning resources!

* "Child and family web guide" is a directory of the sites rated by experts from "Tufts University" which is one of the premimier universities in the United States. The goal of the WebGuide is to give the public easy access to the best child development information on the Web.

Read more: A "Child and Family Web Guide" about child development sites

* Teacher Tap is a free, professional development resource that helps educators and librarians address common questions about the use of technology in teaching and learning.

- Search Tools for Kids, Teens, and Teachers

* A list of education search engines from "Search Engine Guide"

* Kids.net.au Search engine with the option to search for web sites, encyclopedia, dictionary or thesaurus.

* How to find and use the Invisible Web and Meta Search Engines at the Educational CyberPlayGround.
- Edu-cyber PG.com

* How to choose a seach engine or directory?

Tips To Help Prevent Health Effects Due to School Backpack

This article would help you learn how 'school backpack' can be a cause of serious back pain or other injuries. You can learn 'how it happens, how to choose backpack and guideline of proper use of backpack.

Do you know that 'National School Backpack Awareness Day is September 17'?
National School Backpack Awareness Day is an annual event held in September. Across the country, events are being held to educate parents, students, teachers and school administrators, and communities about the serious health effects on children from backpacks that are too heavy or worn improperly.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission there were more than 21,000 backpack-related injuries treated at hospital emergency rooms, doctors' offices, and clinics in the year 2003. Injuries ranged from contusions, to sprains and strains to the back and shoulder, and fractures.

Back pain it a normal complaint among adults, but a new but disturbing trend is emerging. Young children are suffering from back pain much earlier than previous generations, and the use of overweight backpacks is a contributing factor, according to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA).

This new back pain trend among youngsters isn't surprising when you consider the disproportionate amounts of weight they carry in their backpacks - often slung over just one shoulder. According to Dr. Bautch, a recent study conducted in Italy found that the average child carries a backpack that would be the equivalent of a 39-pound burden for a 176-pound man, or a 29-pound load for a 132-pound woman. Of those children carrying heavy backpacks to school, 60 percent had experienced back pain as a result.

To help understand how heavy backpacks can affect a kid's body, it helps to understand how the back works. The spine is made of 33 bones called vertebrae, and between the vertebrae are discs that act as natural shock absorbers.

When a heavy weight, such as a backpack filled with books, is incorrectly placed on the shoulders, the weight's force can pull a child backward. To compensate, a child may bend forward at the hips or arch the back, which can cause the spine to compress unnaturally. The heavy weight might cause some kids to develop shoulder, neck, and back pain.

Few facts about back packs:

- In one study with American students, 6 out of 10 students, ages 9 to 20, reported chronic back pain related to heavy backpacks. Among students who carried backpacks weighing 15% of their body weight or less, only 2 in 10 reported pain.

- The way backpacks are worn has an impact. Lower positioning of the backpack approximates the body's center of gravity and has the least effect on posture.

- In a study on the effect of backpack education on student behavior and health, nearly 8 out of 10 middle-school students who changed how they loaded and wore their backpacks reported less pain and strain in their backs, necks, and shoulders

Warning signs a backpack is too heavy:

- Change in posture when wearing the backpack
- Struggling when putting on or taking off the backpack
- Pain when wearing the backpack
- Tingling or numbness
- Red marks

Kids who wear their backpacks over just one shoulder — as many do, because they think it looks better — may end up leaning to one side to offset the extra weight. They might develop lower and upper back pain and strain their shoulders and neck.

According to Dr. Bautch, preliminary results of studies being conducted in France show that the longer a child wears a backpack, the longer it takes for a curvature or deformity of the spine to correct itself. "The question that needs to be addressed next is, 'Does it ever return to normal?'" Dr. Bautch added.

According to a University of Michigan study, up to 60% of children will experience back pain by the time they reach age 18. Keeping kids healthy is a full time job. Reducing the stress on their spine can help make that job a little easier. Here are a few simple guidelines to follow when picking out the backpack for the year.future problems from developing.
Functionality and safety are much more important than fashion. Your children may not like your decision right now, but tell them they will appreciate it when they are 40. You can always blame it on us too!

What Can You Do?
The ACA offers the following tips to help prevent the needless pain that backpack misuse could cause the students in your household.

TIPS:

* Make sure your child's backpack weighs no more than 5 to 10 percent of his or her body weight. A heavier backpack will cause your child to bend forward in an attempt to support the weight on his or her back, rather than on the shoulders, by the straps.

* The backpack should never hang more than four inches below the waistline. A backpack that hangs too low increases the weight on the shoulders, causing your child to lean forward when walking.

* A backpack with individualized compartments helps in positioning the contents most effectively. Make sure that pointy or bulky objects are packed away from the area that will rest on your child's back.

* Bigger is not necessarily better. The more room there is in a backpack, the more your child will carry-and the heavier the backpack will be.

* Urge your child to wear both shoulder straps. Lugging the backpack around by one strap can cause the disproportionate shift of weight to one side, leading to neck and muscle spasms, as well as low-back pain.

* Wide, padded straps are very important. Non-padded straps are uncomfortable, and can dig into your child's shoulders.

* The shoulder straps should be adjustable so the backpack can be fitted to your child's body. Straps that are too loose can cause the backpack to dangle uncomfortably and cause spinal misalignment and pain.

* If the backpack is still too heavy, talk to your child's teacher. Ask if your child could leave the heaviest books at school, and bring home only lighter hand-out materials or workbooks.

* Although the use of rollerpacks - or backpacks on wheels - has become popular in recent years, the ACA is now recommending that they be used cautiously and on a limited basis by only those students who are not physically able to carry a backpack. Some school districts have begun banning the use of rollerpacks because they clutter hallways, resulting in dangerous trips and falls.

If you or your child experiences any pain or discomfort resulting from backpack use, call your doctor of chiropractic. Doctors of chiropractic are licensed and trained to diagnose and treat patients of all ages and will use a gentler type of treatment for children. In addition, doctors of chiropractic can also prescribe exercises designed to help children develop strong muscles, along with instruction in good nutrition, posture and sleeping habits.

Source: American Chiropractic Association (ACA)

Related studies and articles:

- Backpack safety tips at 'Kids health'

- A useful article from "Web md": Which backpacks are safest for kids, and how to wear backpacks to avoid aches and pains?

- Backpack-related injuries in children

- AOTA has produced a homework tip sheet for parents, to provide strategies that assist families manage the ever-increasing load of homework. We want to show how practitioners can help families live life to its fullest.
Get the pdf version of : Home work tips sheets

- School backpack purchasing guidelines

Learn Doodling to Make You More Creative

Doodles are simple drawings of just a few meaningless lines. You add your own lines -and colour if you like - to create a sketch of anything you like. The point of doodles is not to create art, simply to use your creative vision.




These two picture show you how to do it.

Doodles are a terrific exercise to help you...

- think more creatively

- brainstorm design ideas

- unlock creative mental block

You can use it for:

- General creative exercise
- Getting started on a project when you lack ideas
- Developing into logos

doodles even make a great party game for kids

This is best accomplished by forcing yourself to complete a doodle no matter how inspiring or uninspiring it may be.

Doodles are great creative thinking exercises because they force you to use your creative vision in order to devise a completed picture from a few lines. In addition, they force you to think visually rather than textually as most people do at work. As a result you are thinking in new ways. You are thinking more creatively.

Doodles are also effective brainstorming tools for graphic designers. Designers looking for an image for a project, a logo or a design concept will find that working through a handful of doodles encourages taking a lateral approach to the problem. The result will almost certainly be new ideas and new images.

Art Doodles are more sophisticated doodles with colours and textures. They are especially designed for graphic artists to complete with their favourite graphics programme.

Link: JPB.com

-_Articles about creativity

What Is "Vision therapy" And How It Can Help in Visual Problems?

If your child is struggling to read or finding it difficult to remain on task, the cause may be an undetected vision problem, even if your child's eyesight is 20/20 and he's passed a routine eye exam.

Current research shows that about 20% of school-aged children have undetected vision problems which are hindering their school performance. Many of these children have passed their school's vision screening, which is only designed to check children's distance vision as measured by the 20/20 line on the eye chart.

Parents and teachers often have difficulty recognizing some visual problems because children don't necessarily know how or what they're supposed to be seeing, so it is the duty of teachers or parents to learn 'how to detect early visual problems of your child?'. Early detection can save years of struggling. We can help our child by identifying the underlying vision deficits that are hindering the child’s ability to perform at his or her potential. "Vision Therapy" is the process which can help resolve vision problems without any medication or surgical help.
As this term 'vision therapy'is new to us, so this post would help you understand 'what is vision therapy and why is is adviced?'

There are many visual skills which are important for academic success. One of the least important skills is termed visual acuity (clarity, sharpness). This is the so-called 20/20, 20/400, etc., eyesight. All that is meant by the notation 20/20 is that a person is capable of seeing clearly at a distance of twenty feet. Unfortunately, how well a child sees at twenty feet has little to do with how his vision functions at the reading and learning distance -- aproximately eleven to sixteen inches from the face. There are many other important visual skills that might not be developed even though visual acuity at distance is normal.

Vision therapy

It is a type of physical therapy for the eyes and brain. A highly effective non-surgical treatment for many common visual problems such as lazy eye, crossed eyes, double vision, convergence insufficiency and some reading and learning disabilities. Many patients who have been told, "it's too late," or "you'll have to learn to live with it" have benefited from vision therapy.

In the case of learning disabilities, vision therapy is specifically directed toward resolving visual problems which interfere with reading, learning and educational instruction.

Optometrists do not claim that vision therapy is a direct treatment for learning disabilities.

Vision therapy is:

- a progressive program of vision "exercises" or procedures;
- performed under doctor supervision;
- individualized to fit the visual needs of each patient;
- generally conducted in-office, in once or twice weekly sessions of 30 minutes to one hour;
- sometimes supplemented with procedures done at home between office visits ("homework");

(depending on the case) prescribed to --
- help patients develop or improve fundamental visual skills and abilities;
- improve visual comfort, ease, and efficiency;
- change how a patient processes or interprets visual information.

Vision Therapy Is Not Just Eye Exercise

Vision Therapy is not to be confused with any self-directed self-help program of eye exercises which is or has been marketed to the public. Vision Therapy is supervised by optometric vision care professionals and many types of specialized and/or medical devices are used in Vision Therapy programs,
such as:
- prescription lenses (regulated medical devices);
- therapeutic lenses (regulated medical devices);
- prisms (regulated medical devices);
- optical filters;
- eye patches or occluders
- electronic targets with timing mechanisms;
- computer software;
- vestibular (balance) equipment
- visual-motor-sensory integration training devices

The first step in any Vision Therapy program is a comprehensive vision examination. Following a thorough evaluation, a qualified vision care professional can advise the candidate as to whether Vision Therapy would be appropriate treatment.

To get more information: Vision therapy.org

Other articles on vision:
From: Optometric Extension Program Foundation

Free and helpful Resources:

* The Children's Vision Information Network is created to raise public awareness about potential vision problems in children. The goal of this website is to educate parents and teachers about frequently overlooked vision problems in the hopes of helping those children who struggle unnecessarily because of undiagnosed vision disorders.

Link: The Children's Vision

- This checklist shows common symptoms children with hidden vision problems can exhibit. It is an excellent screening tool to evaluate if your child is at-risk for vision-based learning or attention problems.
Sypmptoms checklist


* Child and family eyes

* Important information about why your child may be struggling: Vision and reading

Benefits Of Distance Learning And How To Upgrade For Your Career Opportunities

Distance Learning is named as Distance Education, Distributed Learning, or Remote Education. Distance education aims to deliver education to students who are not physically "on site". This post would help you learn the benefits and importannce of Ditance Learning and how to get information from online resources to upgrade for your career opportunities especially to learn about their online mba, online mba programs, online business degree etc.

A majority of academic leaders (57%) already believe that the learning outcomes for online education are equal to or superior to those of face to face instruction."

Distance or elearning has its own benefits including convenience, flexibility, effectiveness, and efficiency.

- Convenience: Distance learning technologies can provide convenient locations for both students and instructors. Many of the technologies, such as the Internet, videotape, and telephone, are easily accessed at home.

- Satellite transmissions can be viewed at specified sites, or the transmissions can be videotaped for later viewing at home or school.

- Flexibility: Many forms of distance learning provide students the option to participate whenever they wish, on an individualized basis. For example, some students may want to review a videotape in the middle of the night or read their e-mail during early morning hours. In addition, one student may wish to spend 30 minutes reviewing a Website, while another spends an hour.

- Effectiveness: Not only is distance learning convenient, it is also effective. Several research studies have found that distance learning is equally or more effective than traditional instruction when the method and technologies used are appropriate to the instructional tasks, when there is student-to-student interaction, and when there is timely teacher-to-student feedback. In a study conducted at California State University, students who participated in a Web-based course, achieved significantly higher test scores.

Affordability: Many forms of distance learning involve little or no cost. For example, over 99% of the homes in the United States have televisions and 65% are connected to a cable-TV service. For these homes, it is relatively easy for the students to watch a videotape or a public broadcast television show. In addition, almost all homes have access to a telephone, enabling the use of voicemail and audioconferencing.

Multi-sensory: One of the benefits of distance learning is that there is a wide variety of materials that can meet everyone's learning preference -- at least part of the time. For example, some students learn from visual stimuli, such as video, and others learn best by listening or interacting with a computer program. If distance learning courses are well designed, they will likely offer learners a wide range of choices, thereby providing the optimal combinations of interaction and media.

Interactivity: Distance learning courses can offer increased interactions with students. In particular, introverted students who are too shy to ask questions in class will often "open up" when provided the opportunity to interact via e-mail or other individualized meand. Through the increased interactions, teachers can better meet individual student's needs.

Distance learning is gaining popularity among adults who are keen to upgrade themselves for better career opportunities. "elearners" provides solution for people who want to earn online business degree, or want to get online mba, online mba programs, online business degree.
etc.

The business section of the site provides information about 174 online business & MBA certificates & online mba programs from 29 Training Providers.

You can not only find information for higher degree programs but you can search for 2000+ online degrees, online colleges & online universities at the site.

Benefits Of Recreational Activities For Children

Hobbies, leisure or recreation activities are not only beneficial for adults, but they are very important for children. Participation in recreation activities leads to well-balanced, healthy and physically-active children.

Recreation activies provides fun learning environments for children. I take Nursery year classes and more I am learning about the importance of play and recreation activities, more convinced I am, that recreation and fun activities play a positive role in development of a child.

The early years are critical. Considerable evidence exists that circumstances in the first years of a child’s life have lifelong impacts on their health, learning, and coping skills.

Participation in recreation programs and activities benefits children in many ways:

* Promotes good physical and emotional development in children; develops motor skills and stimulates intellectual, emotional and social growth

* Develops social skills; i.e. relating to others, learning social roles and reinforcing behavioral norms

* Builds positive self esteem and self worth; children gain a sense of achievement from mastering skills which leads to higher achievement and better results in school

* Develops life and leaderships skills by participating in team and sport activities, being group leaders, making decisions and solving problems

* Facilitates long term health benefits; i.e. physical activity

* Reduces the risk of disease such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis

* Stimulates children’s minds and creative thinking through play, games and creative
programs

* Fosters an awareness of the larger community and cross cultural understanding

* Enables children with disorders to achieve the same level of social, physical and
academic competencies as their peers

* Develops positive attitudes towards the importance of recreation and leisure in
contributing to healthy, active lifestyles

Other benefits to children and families include:

* Recreation provides positive role models for children

* Recreation is a strong mitigating factor in reducing child and family poverty

* Recreation contributes to a healthier, stable family life when parents participate in their children’s recreation activities

Providing recreation for children is associated with good outcomes for mothers
Subsidizing recreation for children who cannot afford to pay, pays for itself through reduced use of social and health services.

Read the full report from Canadian site 'toronto': Pdf version

- The Campus of University of Cincinnati provides some recreational program which can be adopted by schools: Recreation Enriches Children

- According to NSW Child Health Survey 2001 at Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Department of Health, 'Favourite activity among children aged 4-12 years', as reported by parents or carers, NSW, 2001 (per cent of parents or carers):

The question "What is [child]’s favourite activity when not at school or in day care?” was asked of parents or carers.

Just over 70% of parents or carers said their child’s favourite activity was
either:

- playing sport
- watching television, videos, movies and using a computer
- riding a bike, scooter, skateboarding or rollerblading


Related posts:

- Recreation, hobbies and leisures providing refreshment to life

- Benefits of hobbies and leisures

- The role of hobbies in our lives

Join the Social Network For Learning - 'ePals'

ePals is a community of connected classrooms, which is equally beneficial for students and teachers.

It is fastest growing K-12 online community for meaningful learning. More than half a million educators and millions of learners across 200 countries and territories safely connect, collaborate and build community.

It offers classroom e-mail, blogs, online literacy tools and Web-based collaborative projects on subjects like global warming and habitats.

EPals says 125,000 classrooms around the world are using at least some of its free tools, reaching 13 million students, and its ambition is to become a global “learning social network.”

What you can do at ePals:

1- Collaborate with another classroom
2- Find great projects and instructional materials at ePals
3- Chat with other teachers
4- Share your successful lessons and resources
5- Connect Your Families
6- Have a say! Cast a vote in the Polls
7- Connect with Email
8- Protect your students with Monitored Accounts
9- Create a Blog - We want to hear what you have to say
10-Ask an ePals Teacher

There are many forums where teachers or students where you can ask questions, read the other member's opinions and place comments.

I could see many posts which are about learning a foreign language. Especially for the people who learn English as a second language

Click on the "support" link to see what you can get from ePals and how to start discovering what ePal is.

Teachers and schools can now create blog at ePal.

"ePals is now making SchoolBlog available at no cost to schools, districts, and learners globally. ePal wants to partner with the education community to speed the rate of safe and collaborative learning around the world.

How to detect early visual problems of your child?

This post would help you understand how to detect if your child is having visual
problems. Earlier you notice vision problem, easier is to cure. I learned this important lesson from my life, because my vision problem was not detected earlier and I spent about one years without realizing it. Later my mother noticed my watching tv from a closer place and consulted an optometrist.

Parents and teachers often have difficulty recognizing some visual problems because children don't necessarily know how or what they're supposed to be seeing, so it's unlikely they will clearly describe visual problems. A child who has never known normal vision or depth perception doesn't know what he or she is missing.

Early detection of visual problems greatly increases the chances of successful rehabilitation. Children should be examined by an eye doctor during infancy and preschool years to detect potential problems with binocular vision. This is particularly important if any member of the family has had ambylopia or strabismus. Testing of binocular teaming skills should be a part of every child's comprehensive eye examination.

Children should be examined by an eye doctor during infancy and preschool years to detect potential vision defects

Look for these signs and symptoms!

You observe the following behavior in your child:

- one eye drifts or aims in a different direction than the other (look carefully -- this can be subtle). This is significant even if it only occurs when the child is tired or stressed.
- turns or tilts head to see
- head is frequently tilted to one side or one shoulder is noticeably higher
- squinting or closing of one eye
- excessive blinking or squinting
- poor visual/motor skills (often called, "hand-eye coordination")
- problems moving in space, frequently bumps into things or drops things

While reading or doing close work your child:

- holds the book or object unusually close
- closes one eye or covers eye with hand
- twists or tilts head toward book or object so as to favor one eye
- frequently loses place and fatigues easily
- uses finger to read
- rubs eyes during or after short periods of reading

Your child frequently complains of:

- only being able to read for short periods of time
- headaches or eyestrain
- nausea or dizziness
- motion sickness
- DOUBLE VISION!

If your child reports seeing double, please take your child for a binocular vision evaluation immediately.
Source: Children special needs.org A site from "The Optometrists Network" which educates the public about visual health and spreads the word about unique aspects of optometric care. Provides patient education free to the public.

Helpful articles:

* Parents' Guide to Children's Normal Visual Development from Infancy to Preschool