Many board games strengthen the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of the brains of players. This results in improved cognitive functions such as IQ, memory, information retention and problem-solving.
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From dyslexia, to dementia to schizophrenia, there is evidence that playing games can help, while boosting family connections and emotional wellbeing.
In 2016, the Ontario government promised the province’s schools would teach all students about residential schools and add more Indigenous perspectives into the provincial curriculum. The newly elected Conservative government has scrapped those plans.
Library and Archives Canada
Ontario’s move to ignore the calls of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to add Indigenous content to its history and social studies curriculum is foolish and dangerous.
Peter Thomas of the Winnipeg Art Gallery (left), Marcel Dionne of Roarockit (centre) and Jaimie Isaac, curator for Indigenous/Contemporary at the Winnipeg Art Gallery (right), are seen building a skateboard using a do-it-yourself kit in this 2017 photo. Art and design schools should reward those who actually build and create more than they do design theorists.
(Author provided)
Even as our world goes digital, there will always be an appetite for craftsmanship, for art and for the work only human hands can truly bring to life. Art and design schools should celebrate creators.
Recent research shows that many students who are using cannabis for medicinal reasons are also replacing their prescription medications with it.
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Obesity and malnutrition now coexist across sub-Saharan Africa thanks to a transition to Western diets. “Gamifying” nutrition programs can help nudge youth towards healthier eating patterns.
Debates over the history of colonialism have sparked controversies on university campuses in recent years, as illustrated by the removal of a statue honoring Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town in 2015.
Desmond Bowles
Would an academic work that makes a case for genocide be fair game for publication, or is it beyond the ethical bounds of legitimate scholarly debate?
Excess screen time for children and adolescents is linked to many negative outcomes such as obesity, language delays and antisocial behaviour.
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School is out and screens make tempting babysitters. Follow these recommendations to allow your child some screen time without compromising their health and development.
‘…Everything Remains Raw,’ a show at the McMichael gallery blends traditional art spaces with fresh ideas from hip hop culture such as this piece by Patrick Nichols, 10013 Michie Mee, 1993.
Hip hop is a vibrant cultural art form that Canadian public institutions need to embrace. Our aging institutions can get a new life by integrating hip hop with and into traditional art displays.
Giving a TED talk and/or tweeting are becoming expected parts of an up-and-coming digital professor’s job.
(William Saito)
With Doug Ford Nation taking over Ontario, our school curriculum, especially sexual education, is at risk of being censored and being thrown back to a time when diverse sexualities was a mystery.
Math Catcher volunteer, Janelle Dobson-Kocsis from the Kwanlin Dun Band, works with a student to build an object called “tensegrity.” This is one of Math Cather’s hands-on activities developed by volunteer and former PhD student, Alejandro Erickson.
Math Catcher Program
The Math Catcher Program aims to encourage youth - with an emphasis on Indigenous students - to consider mathematics as a field of study but also to have them appreciate mathematics in everyday life.
Management academics often face students in their classrooms with more practical experience in the business world than they have. But management is an important inter-disciplinary field that has a lot to offer business executives.
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Those who study, research and teach management are often viewed skeptically, even by their students, who might have more experience than they do in the business world. Here’s why that’s wrong.
Research shows that students who engage in inquiry-based learning perform better on standardised tests than students in more traditional learning environments.
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Research shows that ‘discovery learning’ does have limited educational value; many other forms of inquiry-based learning, however, have excellent results.
Refugee Journeys is a board game designed to help front-line workers and educators confront their bias towards refugees.
Michelle Lam
Many Canadians have volunteered to help newcomers adjust to society. This board game was developed to help these volunteers understand what it feels like to enter a new country and build a new life.
A new study shows that one in five children between the ages of nine and 17 report having accidentally seen sexual material online. Parents and educators can help their kids use the internet in a safe and responsible way.
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Our experts offer 12 tips to parents and educators – to protect their kids from sexual solicitation online and encourage safe and responsible internet use.
Summarizing research on more than 50,000 teens from the United States, Europe and Asia, researchers found that online solicitations come from other youth as well as adults.
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A shocking number of kids between the ages of nine and 17 are accidentally exposed to sexual content and solicitations online when using computers and tablets.
Rapper Drake watches the action at an NBA game in Toronto in 2016. A recent battle between Drake and Pusha-T brought the issue of blackface back into the headlines.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Is blackface ever innocent? Is it less racist when a Black person enacts it as a statement of resistance? Because of our history of deep and ongoing racism in Canada, the answer is no.
New curriculum resources in Manitoba, Canada, integrate Indigenous perspectives through inquiry, video, images, quotes, arts, activities and exemplars.
(New World Ideas)
Innovative teaching resources in the province of Manitoba, Canada, introduce schoolchildren to concepts of interdependence and reciprocity with the land.
Unpaid interns protests in Geneva in 2016. Activism has played a big part in how unpaid internships are now being regarded with disdain.
(Global Intern Coalition)
Global activism has played a big role in outlawing unpaid internships. Here’s how protests and social media shaming spurred negative media coverage of unpaid internships.
A recent report from RBC Royal Bank predicts increasing workplace demand for foundational skills such as critical thinking, coordination, social perceptiveness, active listening and complex problem solving. Here graduands attend spring convocation at the University of British Columbia in 2015.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A report from RBC Royal Bank reaffirms what thought leaders keep insisting – there will be more and more demand for a liberal arts education in our increasingly digital world.
With the legalization of cannabis in Canada just around the corner, there’s still too much panic over drug education. There’s no need to rush awareness campaigns in advance of legalization; it’s better to start doing them right.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
When it comes to cannabis legalization, we don’t need more education, we need to do education better.
A Simon Fraser University student wears a First Nations Coast Salish woven cedar hat as she and other students wait to receive their degrees during the fall convocation ceremony at the university in Burnaby, B.C., on October 11, 2013.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Wilful under-funding of Indigenous education is producing an Indigenous underclass.
Preliminary research into the Chess for Life Program in Alberta, Canada, shows that youth who are sentenced to chess instruction after committing non-violent crimes are learning useful life skills.
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In Alberta, an alternative initiative sees youth who commit non-violent crimes sentenced to 25 hours of chess instruction with a University of Lethbridge professor.
Supporters of President Nicolás Maduro hold drawings of him and late President Hugo Chávez during a closing reelection campaign rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, May 17, 2018.
(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
As Venezuela’s May 20 election approaches, scholars and students at the country’s autonomous universities continue the fight for knowledge and freedom.
Research from around the world shows that at least one in eight teens has had a sexually explicit image of themselves forwarded, without consent.
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Sex-education curricula that openly discuss sexting, consent and other online behaviours have never been more important for teens – in Ontario and globally.
