Numeracy News

June 25, 2025

Top Headlines

AI Is Here to Stay, Let Students Embrace the Technology, Experts Urge

May 26, 2025 — A new study says students appear to be using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) responsibly, and as a way to speed up tasks, not just boost their ...

Brain Scans Reveal What Happens in the Mind When Insight Strikes

May 15, 2025 — That 'aha' moment when you come back to a puzzle and immediately figure it out? Something fascinating is going on in your brain. A new study using functional magnetic resonance imaging shows that these flashes of insight aren't just satisfying -- ...

How We Think About Protecting Data

May 14, 2025 — A new game-based experiment sheds light on the tradeoffs people are willing to make about data ...

Neuroscientists Pinpoint Where (and How) Brain Circuits Are Reshaped as We Learn New Movements

May 7, 2025 — Brain researchers have identified a bridge between the thalamus and the cortex as the key area that is modified during motor learning functions. They found that such learning does much more than ...

STEM Students: Work Hard, but Don't Compare Yourself to Others

May 4, 2025 — A new study shows how damaging it can be for college students in introductory STEM classes to compare how hard they work to the extent of effort put in by their ...

Children's Reading and Writing Develop Better When They Are Trained in Handwriting

Apr. 30, 2025 — Researchers explored how manual and keyboard practice influenced children's abilities in their reading and writing learning process. 5-year-olds were taught an artificial alphabet using different ...

Using ChatGPT, Students Might Pass a Course, but With a Cost

Apr. 22, 2025 — With the assumption that students are going to use artificial intelligence and large language models such as ChatGPT to do their homework, researchers set out to learn how well the free version of ChatGPT would compare with human students in a ...

Study Shows Addressing Working Memory Can Help Students With Math Difficulty Improve Word Problem-Solving Skills

Apr. 22, 2025 — Working memory is like a mental chalkboard we use to store temporary information while executing other tasks. Scientists worked with more than 200 elementary students to test their working memory, ...

Early Education Impacts Teenage Behavior

Apr. 8, 2025 — Researchers explored the long-term effects of preschool expansion in Japan in the 1960s, revealing significant reductions in risky behaviors amongst teenagers. By analyzing regional differences in the rollout of the program, the study identified ...

Childhood Experiences Shape the Brain's White Matter With Cognitive Effects Seen Years Later

Apr. 7, 2025 — Investigators have linked difficult early life experiences with reduced quality and quantity of the white matter communication highways throughout the adolescent brain. This reduced connectivity is ...

Nurture More Important Than Nature for Robotic Hand

Apr. 7, 2025 — How does a robotic arm or a prosthetic hand learn a complex task like grasping and rotating a ball? Researchers address the classic 'nature versus nurture' question. The research demonstrates that the sequence of learning, also known as the ...

How the Brain Evaluates Rewards

Apr. 2, 2025 — Researchers have gained a new understanding of how the brain processes reward and risk information. Neuroscientists show how nerve cells in the so-called amygdala not only encode the probability and magnitude of rewards, but also dynamically process ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:12pm EDT

When Did Human Language Emerge?

Mar. 18, 2025 — Humans' unique language capacity was present at least 135,000 years ago, according to a survey of genomic evidence. As such, language might have entered social use 100,000 years ...

More Than Marks: How Wellbeing Shapes Academic Success

Mar. 11, 2025 — A world first* study of more than 215,000 students, researchers found that while standardized tests measure academic skills, different dimensions of wellbeing -- emotional wellbeing, engagement, and ...

AI-Based Math: Individualized Support for Schoolchildren

Mar. 10, 2025 — Researchers have developed an AI-based learning system that recognizes strengths and weaknesses in mathematics by tracking eye movements with a webcam to generate problem-solving hints. This enables ...

Creativity Boosts Standardized Literacy and Numeracy Test Scores: Australia

Mar. 4, 2025 — A groundbreaking study shows that creativity plays an essential role in academic success, suggesting that students who think outside the box are more likely to excel in literacy and numeracy ...

Teaching Kids How to Become Better Citizens

Mar. 3, 2025 — In our polarized society, a new study offers hope for the future: Even young children can learn to discuss and argue about meaningful problems in a respectful and productive way. Researchers found ...

We Need a New Definition of Dyslexia, Research Says

Feb. 28, 2025 — A new definition of dyslexia is needed to more accurately describe the learning disorder and give those struggling with dyslexia the specific support they require, says new ...

Associative Learning: Primary School Children Outperform All Other Age Groups

Feb. 28, 2025 — The ability to make the connection between an event and its consequences -- experts use the term associative learning -- is a crucial skill for ...

Problem-Based Learning Helps Students Stay in School

Feb. 26, 2025 — Education experts are encouraging schools to consider problem-based learning (PBL) in a move to improve engagement and creativity among high school students. New research demonstrates how hands-on, ...

Like Human Brains, Large Language Models Reason About Diverse Data in a General Way

Feb. 19, 2025 — Researchers find large language models process diverse types of data, like different languages, audio inputs, images, etc., similarly to how humans ...

Study in India Shows Kids Use Different Math Skills at Work Vs. School

Feb. 5, 2025 — A study by economists shows a wide gap between the kinds of math problems kids who work in retail markets do well and the kinds of problems kids in school do ...

A Simple Way to Boost Math Progress

Mar. 24, 2025 — Scientists investigated whether email interventions informed by behavioral science could help teachers help students learn ...

Regular Access to Therapy Dogs Boosts First-Year Students' Mental Health

Feb. 13, 2025 — College students who spent a little bit of free time each week interacting with therapy dogs on campus during their first semester experienced fewer signs of stress and depression than those who did ...

COVID Lockdowns Disrupted a Crucial Social Skill Among Preschoolers, Trailblazing Study Finds

Jan. 29, 2025 — Researchers discovered children ages 3 to 5 tested before and after COVID lockdowns had a significant gap in a key cognitive skill, particularly for children from homes with low financial resources ...

The Benefits of Speaking Multiple Languages

Jan. 29, 2025 — New psychology research indicates that multilingual children may have enhanced executive function and perspective taking ...

A Team With Diverse Expertise Produces Novel Ideas -- But Are They Practical?

Jan. 21, 2025 — A first-of-its-kind study shows that while teams with differing skill sets and perspectives bring fresh, unique ideas to the table, they often struggle to create practical, workable solutions -- ...

Education Scholar Calls for Ecological Shift to 'School Within a School' to Give Students Autonomy Needed for Success

Dec. 12, 2024 — An international education expert, argues in a new study for an ecological shift to a 'school within a school' approach that would give students, teachers and parents the ability to guide ...

How Neighborhood Enhances Cooperation

Dec. 6, 2024 — Helping out your neighbor or minding your own business? A challenging choice with different benefits for each decision. Game theory provides guidance in making such choices -- from a theoretical ...

Preschool Education: A Key to Supporting Allophone Children

Nov. 28, 2024 — A Canadian study reveals that allophone children often face learning and communication difficulties in kindergarten, which can negatively impact their educational ...

Need a Landing Pad for Helicopter Parenting? Frame Tasks as Learning

Nov. 22, 2024 — Parents are much less likely to intervene when their young children are getting dressed or performing other simple chores if those tasks are framed as learning opportunities, according to a new ...

Animal Characters Can Boost Young Children's Psychological Development

Nov. 22, 2024 — A study has shown that iconic characters such as Peter Rabbit -- or Toad and Ratty from The Wind in the Willows -- can also play an important role in the development of children's theory of mind ...

The Chilling Sound of the Aztec Death Whistle

Nov. 19, 2024 — The Aztec skull whistle produces a shrill, screaming sound. A study shows that these whistles have a disturbing effect on the human brain. The Aztecs may have deliberately used this effect in ...

National Poll: Some Parents Need Support Managing Children's Anger

Nov. 18, 2024 — Some parents may find it challenging to help their kids manage intense emotions. One in seven think their child gets angrier than peers of the same age and four in 10 say their child has experienced ...

Gaming for the Good!

Nov. 18, 2024 — It turns out gaming is good for you! New research indicates massive multiplayer online gamers learn by gaming and their skills in the workplace are enriched by those seemingly endless hours ...

Debunked: Children Aren't Quicker at Picking Up New Motor Skills Than Adults

Nov. 12, 2024 — Contrary to popular belief, children aren't better at learning new skills than adults. Indeed, young adults seem to learn faster than kids -- but also tend to forget more quickly. Here, better ...

Meta-Learning of Motor Skills in the Dorsal Premotor Cortex of the Brain

Oct. 31, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that the dorsal premotor cortex serves a 'meta-learning' function, overseeing and regulating physical movements. Once believed to be limited to movement ...

Adapting GenAI for the Next Generation of Learning

Oct. 23, 2024 — A new study by learning analytics researchers presents key considerations for generative AI (GenAI) educational tools so they are carefully developed to support, rather than replace, human ...

Comprehensive Efforts Needed to Develop Health-Promoting Learning Environments

Oct. 15, 2024 — Mental ill-health among students in higher education is a growing problem globally. Most efforts implemented to address ill-health involve individual treatment and adjustments to pedagogy. But more ...

How Do You Remember How to Ride a Bike? Thank Your Cerebellum

Oct. 15, 2024 — Researchers have shown that, just like declarative memories, short-term and long-term memories for motor skills form in different regions of the brain, with the cerebellum being critical for the ...

Students Who Feel More University Connection May Be More Likely to Binge Drink, Study Finds

Oct. 10, 2024 — Mentally healthy college students who felt connected to their university were more likely to binge drink than those who did not feel connected to their university, according to a new ...

People With Dyslexia and Dyscalculia Show Less Bias, Study Shows

Oct. 9, 2024 — Dyslexia and dyscalculia are most commonly acknowledged as posing challenges linked to people's literacy and numeracy. However, a new study has shown those with the conditions may have ...