A major study published this month in the journal Pediatrics explored the links between recess and classroom behavior among some 11,000 eight- and nine-year-old children. It found that students who had more than 15 minutes of recess per day showed better behavior in class than those who had little or none. Lead researcher Dr. Romina Barros said the findings are important, because many schools do not view recess as essential to education.

The study also confirmed previous findings that schools are cutting back on recess, despite all the research showing its benefits. School administrators justify the cuts by citing potential lawsuits from playground injuries, a shortage of qualified playground supervisors, and the pressure to spend more time on academics to improve performance. Aside from its obvious benefits for physical health, regular recess results in better behavior in class, better attention span, better academic performance, and better social skills.

In addition to cutting back on recess, many schools allow teachers to take away a student's recess privileges as punishment. To those who believe recess should be part of the curriculum, taking away recess makes no more sense as punishment than making a child miss math class.

Has your child's school eliminated or cut recess? How do you and your child feel about that?

A study published in the latest issue of Social Science Quarterly (Volume 90 Issue 1) found a correlation between unpopular first names and crime. Researchers David Kalist and Daniel Lee cross-referenced a popularity name index against the names of kids in the juvenile justice system, and found that both white and black juveniles with unpopular names were more likely to be delinquents.
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According to the Chinese lunar calendar, we recently entered the Year of the Ox. The Ox is one of the 12-year cycle of animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. You may know what your animal sign is, and what traits are supposed to go along with your animal sign. But those same traits can be applied to the general forces at work during your year. And the Year of the Ox is a doozy.
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Heads up, everyone! There's a nasty computer worm infecting millions of computers, and it has yet to activate the payload of the Conficker virus. The worm is spreading through low-security networks, memory sticks, and PCs that don't have current security updates. U.S. software protection firm F-Secure says that Conficker had infected more than nine million computers by Tuesday, and that it is spreading at the rate of one million machines daily.
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