Minnis Journals

ET News Digest

Your Weekly Education Newsletter

Social media a new influence on boys’ body expectations
The deluge of images of fit muscular men on social media is quite understandably influencing how young boys view themselves in the modern age.
Boys between nine and 10 years of age have been found to think that having ‘abs’ and a ‘six-pack’ provides a number of opportunities that may not otherwise be afforded to those without. Read more

Tech and teens not so bad
It’s been a common refrain; tech and social media are bad for teens’ mental health, but those assertions have been made without the backing of research largely and actual studies into the area have indicated that it might not be true.
Reports of mental health symptoms were collected from adolescents three times a day and they also reported on their daily technology usage each night. Read more

2019 NGS Super Scholarship awards winners
This year’s NGS Super Scholarship award winning applications will see six recipients embark on a range of professional development courses focused on enriching student wellbeing, upskilling in vital areas of learning, innovating student workspaces and forging connections with overseas schools.
The Judges’ Choice award winner, Yvonne Terweeme, and the recipient of $5000 said “Instilling High-Expectations Relationships will be vital to improving educational outcomes for school children, particularly for indigenous students."
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Minecraft helps creativity
The very thing that confounds older people about Minecraft is the key to its enhancing creativity in players; the open-ended nature of the game makes problem solving necessary which enhances inventiveness.
Playing Minecraft, with or without instruction, when compared to watching a TV show or playing a race car video game was shown to enhance creativity and imagination. Those given the freedom to play Minecraft without instruction were noted to be the most creative and the effect is enhanced if there is no instruction.
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Prime Minister's Prizes for Science awarded soon
The Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science are Australia’s most prestigious awards for outstanding achievements in scientific research, research-based innovation, and excellence in science teaching.
This year’s awards will be given at a ceremony on October 16. They are very generous, the teaching segment offers cash prizes of $50,000 which isn’t nothing.
The prizes recognise achievements across diverse disciplines and career stages. Recipients share $750,000 in prize money, and have the opportunity to showcase work. Read more

School swim programs floundering
It’s summer soon and that means swimming but as it turns out many children won’t be fully water safe if they’re relying on school swim programs alone.
Swimming is a crucial skill to learn in Australian culture, but is seems 36.7% of parents intended to persist with lessons only if their child expressed interest to continue.
A combination of intensive school swim programs in conjunction with regular lessons to be the most effective mode for swim skill retention, but the retention of skills learned in intensive school programs was level-dependent.
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