Online useful resources for teachers and learners Part-2

There is a vast knowledge available online relating to educational needs, educators, learners, students. I have started writing about useful links and resources for teachers and learners. This is part 2 which will be updated if required and I plan to add more sites and online links which can help us learn more.

* Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies (C4LPT) is a major resource site about Social Learning (ie the use of social media for learning)for those in Schools, Colleges, Universities and Business(profit- and non-profit making organisations)

Site offers very useful posts like:

• The FINAL Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010 List
• 30 Ways to use Social Media to Work Smarter
• 100+ Free Websites to find out about Anything and Everything

'100+ Free Websites to find out about Anything and Everything' is an alphabetical list of websites which provide information and/or instruction about a wide range of subjects. The websites cover a wide range of informational and educational topics and include general reference resources, how-to guides, wikis, how-to videos, podcasts, courses, lessons, tutorials (including open courseware), e-books as well as other reference resources and places to ask questions both online and on your mobile.

The resources are suitable for learners of all ages: students as well as workplace learners and lifelong learners - as well as teachers, educators and trainers.

Link: 100+ Free Websites to find out about Anything and Everything

Check 'resources' tab to discover more stuff.

Online useful resources for teachers and learners Part-2

There is a vast knowledge available online relating to educational needs, educators, learners, students. I have started writing about useful links and resources for teachers and learners. This is part 2 which will be updated if required and I plan to add more sites and online links which can help us learn more.

* Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies (C4LPT) is a major resource site about Social Learning (ie the use of social media for learning)for those in Schools, Colleges, Universities and Business(profit- and non-profit making organisations)

Site offers very useful posts like:

• The FINAL Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010 List
• 30 Ways to use Social Media to Work Smarter
• 100+ Free Websites to find out about Anything and Everything

'100+ Free Websites to find out about Anything and Everything' is an alphabetical list of websites which provide information and/or instruction about a wide range of subjects. The websites cover a wide range of informational and educational topics and include general reference resources, how-to guides, wikis, how-to videos, podcasts, courses, lessons, tutorials (including open courseware), e-books as well as other reference resources and places to ask questions both online and on your mobile.

The resources are suitable for learners of all ages: students as well as workplace learners and lifelong learners - as well as teachers, educators and trainers.

Link: 100+ Free Websites to find out about Anything and Everything

Check 'resources' tab to discover more stuff.

What parents can do to save their children from objectionable stuff on the internet?

Is there really that much pornography (or other objectionable content) on the Internet? and how parents can save their children from pornography and other objectionable stuff is discussed at this post.

There is a vast amount of pornographic material easily available on the Internet. Although many pornographic sites demand credit cards for full access, there are lots of free sites and “sneak peeks” available online.

Trying to control porn in a global medium like the Internet is difficult at best. Most Internet pornography, while offensive and distasteful to many users, is not illegal.

A research study shows that the older the kids, the more likely they are to pay purposeful visits to pornography sites (the figures almost triple between Grade 7 and Grade 11 for boys). Teens are more prolific and diverse Internet users than younger kids – and they are less likely to be supervised – which means they have more opportunities to encounter this sort of content through their online activities.

To contextualize pornography, we have to recognize that today’s children and youth live in a highly sexualized media culture where the lines between pornography and popular entertainment have become increasingly blurred.

Perhaps more importantly for most parents, is the reality that frequent unintentional exposure to pornographic sites is unavoidable. Once again, making sure your children know how to handle this is crucial.

A recent British study determined that the average teen there spent 87 hours/year, looking at porn on the Internet. That's an hour and 40 minutes a week.

What should parents do?

• Banning all access to the Internet is one solution. Unfortunately, this draconian approach carries with it a huge educational disadvantage; the Internet today is the greatest single educational reference resource available. More information, from more sources, is available here than in any library in the world.
• Personally supervising all Internet access is another solution. This is great, if you have the time.
• Installing a software filter, to provide a technology fix, is another possiblity.
• Block pop-ups, which are commonly used by pornographic sites.
• Set up the computer in a busy area of your home – never in a child’s bedroom.
• Use kid-friendly search engines and Web browsers or adult search engines that provide filtering options like Google. Test the different search engines to see which ones give the best results.
• Talk to librarians or teachers and create a directory of good kids’ sites by bookmarking them on your computer. But be aware that porn distributors often purchase expired domain names, including those of kids’ sites.
• At a minimum, make sure your children know your feelings about it, and what your expectations are for their behavior.

Source: 'Super Kids'

Useful links and resources:

* Exposure to pornography

* Internet porn stats: should parents be concerned?

* 'Safe Families.org' helping you keep children safe online.

* PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM PORNOGRAPHY AND SEXUAL PREDATORS ON THE INTERNET

Early head injuries can have long term effects among young children

Every year, millions of people suffer from head injury symptoms. Most of these are minor because the skull is designed to protect the brain. Most closed head injury symptoms will usually go away on their own. However, more than half a million head injuries a year, are severe enough to require hospitalization.

Seek professional medical attention immediately for severe or penetrating head injuries. Knowing the signs of head injury symptoms can save a life.

'Dr. Goodman' (clinical assistant professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia) says, "kids and sports have been around for a long time. It is up to the adults who are involved in children's sports to keep a balance between safety and competition."

Head injury symptoms will vary depending on the type of injury. There are two types of head injury, closed or penetrating.
A closed head injury is caused by a hard blow to the head by striking an object. These closed head injuries can be either minor or severe, each having a different set of head injury symptoms.

- Minor blunt head injury symptoms (sometimes referred to as a concussion) can include headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and a general feeling of instability.

- Severe head injury symptoms can include loss of consciousness for longer periods. Some symptoms can mimick those of a stroke and can lead to permanent damage if not treated immediately by medical professionals.

Early Head Injury Can Have Long-Term Effects

Although young children with brain injury usually recover their mental abilities quite rapidly, they can have serious problems later. "These kids have incredible learning deficits even when the IQ returns to normal," said Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, a University of Texas neurologist. She noted that 70% of children's brain injuries affect the frontal cortex.

Because growth in the brain's frontal regions continues throughout young adulthood, early injury there can damage formation of the protective myelin insulation around neurons . This can impair their ability to control emotions and inhibit inappropriate behavior. These kids have trouble responding to subtle social cues and planning difficult tasks.

Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), also known as concussion , can damage your brain at the cellular level.

"Concussions are caused by a blow to the head," says Michael Goodman. "They can occur when a child falls and during any sport that can involve a collision of the head with another object – be it a head, a ball, or the ground."

All concussions are cause for concern, but not all concussions are the same. Symptoms can include confusion, headache, concentration problems, mood swings, or sleep difficulties.

Parents and children should heed the guidance of medical and athletic professionals during these situations.

Source: 'Watch your head'

Useful links: ''Brain Injury' is a site dedicated to provide medical, legal informations about traumatic brain injury.

* ''The brain injury Information network'

* Children who suffer a head injury are much more likely to have another one within six months, researchers reported. More at: At Risk: One Head Injury Sets the Stage for a Second One in Children

* Child brain injury blog

* A very useful post at 'Parent24' about head injury.

Get origami projects or crafts ideas online

Origami can be used for skill development for educational, developmental, and therapeutic aspects. Origami is good for any age as it provide an entertaining and creative feeling when you are busy doing it.

For kids at preschool or kindergarten stage you need to teach them easy origami which they can learn themselves. Your instructions should be clear and easy to follow. You can find lot of sites and links online where you can get ideas, projects details and even step by step tutorial helping you learn origami projects or crafts ideas yourself or for your kids. This post is helpful for teachers, parents who are interested to start teaching this creative activity for kids.

* 'How to origami' is full of easy projects for children. You can get an idea from the pictures I have loaded here. These easy instruction are enough to start learning with basic folds. As you can see that the 3rd picture shows a table chair made with origami folds which seems difficult to make, but as first two pictures show easy steps to follow, you can easily learn it. Even your kids can follow these instructions by watching these pictures or online videos.

* 'Free Homemade bookmarks, crafts and gifts' 

* 'Origami Resources' Helps you make Origami crafts, Origami Crafts for children, free videos on Origami, Origami Aeroplane, Origami Flowers, Origami Animals etc.

* 'Simple Kids Crafts': Daily, Easy, Educational, Functional Children Arts and Crafts projects for children of all ages using easy to find materials such as recyclables, egg cartons, cardboard, paper, boxes, string, crayons, paint, glue, fabric and pompoms, pipe cleaners, beads, ribbons, construction paper and more. They offer toys, games, school crafts, experiments, FREE printable coloring pages/templates and craft recipes.

* 'Easy origami forkids'

* Paper the World offers simple origami of models that focus on endangered animal species.
It educates and teaches some charming origami animal figures to children so that they can enjoy the art and creativity of folding paper and making beautiful things from such common material.

Why you need to help your child build self esteem?

Self esteem or self confidence is one of basic skills which play an important role in the life of a person. This basic skill is nourished and developed from the early childhood and parents plus teachers can help build self esteem among children. As a parent or a teacher, you have a great influence over the self-esteem of your child.

What is self esteem?

Self-esteem refers to how you feel about yourself. It includes such things as your self-confidence, self-respect, pride in yourself, your independence and your self-reliance. All the ways you feel about yourself and your abilities are wrapped up in the term "self-esteem".

In general, the more positive your self-esteem, the more successful you will be at dealing with life. The same holds for your children. The more positive their self-esteem, the more confident and proud they will be. They will try harder, be happier and have greater self-respect. They will make friends easier and will be more giving. Children with positive self-esteem are more secure and loving than children with negative self-esteem.

Negative self-esteem is related to low self-confidence, insecurity, underachievement, anxiety, depression, acting-out behavior, sleep problems and being a loner.

Self-esteem is your child's passport to lifetime mental health and social happiness. It's the foundation of a child's well-being and the key to success as an adult. At all ages, how you feel about yourself affects how you act. Think about a time when you were feeling really good about yourself. You probably found it much easier to get along with others and feel good about them.

Factors affecting child self esteem:

* How much the child feels wanted, appreciated and loved
* How your child sees himself, often built from what parents and those close say
* His or her sense of achievement
* How the child relates to others

Self-image is how one perceives oneself:

The child looks in the mirror and likes the person he sees. He looks inside himself and is comfortable with the person he sees. He must think of this self as being someone who can make things happen and who is worthy of love. Parents are the main source of a child's sense of self-worth.
Lack of a good self-image very often leads to behavior problems:

Most of the behavioral problems that I see for counseling come from poor self-worth in parents as well as children. Why is one person a delight to be with, while another always seems to drag you down? How people value themselves, get along with others, perform at school, achieve at work, and relate in marriage, all stem from strength of their self-image.

Healthy self-worth doesn't mean being narcissistic or arrogant; it means having a realistic understanding of one's strengths and weaknesses, enjoying the strengths and working on the problem areas. Because there is such a strong parallel between how a person feels about himself and how a person acts, helping your child build self-confidence is vital to discipline.

Throughout life your child will be exposed to positive influences builders and negative influences breakers. Parents can expose their child to more builders and help him work through the breakers.

Useful links:

* Building Your Child's Self Esteem

* 12 ways to help your child build self confidence

* 16 Techniques For Parents And Teachers

Why you should choose alternative therapy for your kid with asthma?

There are various reasons to choose alternative healing or therapy for you or your kid. I am a mother of asthmatic child who is suffering from asthma from the age of 3 and now he is 11. With my experience with alternative therapies, I can assure you that whatever therapy you select, it can help you in healing process. I am practicing acupressure therapy for common ailment myself and it is really effective, easy to apply and without any side effects.

The best side of these alternative therapies is that you don't have to worry about side effects. These alternative therapies may include acupressure, acupuncture, aromatherapy, homeopathy etc. Remember whatever therapy you use for the prevention or healing of asthma, don't discontinue the use of medicines prescribed by your health practioner.

Now I want to explain the side effects of medication which are commonly used for the treatment and healing of asthmatic patients.

The mainstay of conventional treatment is medication, primarily with oral or inhaled bronchodilators like albuterol (Proventil, Ventolin), isoetharine (Bronkometer, Bronkosol),isoproterenol (isuprel), metaproterenol (Alupent), and terbutaline (Brethaire, Brethine, Bricanyl).These medications work to open up the airway, easing breathing. They can cause a variety of side effects, including nervousness, increased heart rate, tremors, increased blood pressure, and dizziness.

In more advanced or chronic case of asthma, corticosteroids may be prescribed, in either oral or inhaled form. Inhaler forms include beclomethasone (Beclovent, Vanceril, Vancenase, Beconase), fluticasone (Flovent), and triamcinolone(Azmacort, Nasacort), Prednisone is the most commonly prescribed oral form. These medicines work by decreasing the swelling and inflammation of the airways, but they do have several disadvantages. First, they have an adverse affect on the functioning of the immune system and the adrenal glands. Oral yeast infection can be a problem with inhaler forms. All steroids have the potential to cause significant side effects, especially when taken over the long term, that need to be understood. Talk this over with your doctor or pharmacist.

Theophylline and related drugs, once commonly prescribed for asthma, are less often used today because they are more likely to cause side effects such as restlessness, insomnia, headache, loss of appetite, increased heart rate, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. Long-term use of theophylline may also be associated with behavioral problems and learning disabilities, although the evidence for this is not conclusive.

Source: 'Mother nature'

Useful links:

A useful post about the acupressure therapy: 'Healing and cure from asthma with the help of acupressure therapy'

* 'acupressure for asthma'

Are there any natural remedies for ADD and ADHD ?

I have experience of facing kids at school who display poor sustained attention to tasks or were impulsive or were excessively active and restless. We know that they all suffer from ADHD, which is characterized by destructibility, impulsiveness and hyperactivity.

Although, these symptoms are found in varying degrees in most, this condition becomes a medical disorder, if they’re excessive, long-term and pervasive. About one-half to two-thirds of children suffering from ADHD will continue with this disorder as adults.

It is thought that diet with refined sugar and food additives can causes children to become hyperactive and inattentive. Though there’s some truth in it, scientists at the National Institutes of Health conclude this may apply to only about 5% of either very young children or children with food allergies.

Treatment of ADD or ADHD

Most of the medications have a lot of side effects.
However, there are some excellent natural remedies that are perfectly safe and effective, without any side effects. These remedies can be adopted for the treatment of ADD and ADHD for the relief of these neurological disorders.

List of natural natural remedies:

• Ginkgo biloba: It’s effective in restoring the functioning of the circulatory system and improving blood flow to the brain. Its active ingredients include flavone glycosides, bioflavins, sitosterol, lactones and anthocyanin.
• Skullcap (Scuttellaria laterifolia): This is a relaxing nerve tonic and anti-spasmodic, which reduces excitability and relieves depression. Its active ingredients are flavonoids, tannins, bitter, volatile oil and minerals.
• German chamomile (Matricaria recutita): This has traditionally been used tocalm and soothe nervous tension. Its active ingredients include volatile oil, flavonoids, valerianic acid, coumarins, tannins, salicylates and cyanogenic glycosides.
• Gotu cola (Centella asiatica): It is used to revitalize the brain and nervous system, increase attention span and concentration, and combat ageing.
• Green Oats (Avina sativa): Also called Hawer, it’s used to treat nervous exhaustion and as a general nerve tonic. It’s active ingredients are saponins, flavonoids, minerals, alkaloids, steroidal compounds, Vitamins B1, B2, D, E, carotene and wheat protein.
• Umbabazane (Urtica Urens): This circulatory stimulant is effective in lowering blood sugar levels. Its active ingredients are histamine, formic acid, acetylcholine, glucoquinones, minerals, Vitamins A, B and C and tannins.
• Massage therapy: According to a study published in 1998, massage therapy has proven especially effective for children. A daily massage makes them happier, less fidgety and hyperactive, and more focused on their tasks.

Natural remedies have proven quite effective in treating ADD or ADHD. But it is important to consult your physician before adopting any of them.

Source: www.natural-remedies-for.com