Sign Up for a Free Trial

Research -- StepUp to Learn

Puzzle Play Helps Boost Math Skills 

Puzzle Play Helps Boost Math Skills 

Researchers have found that children who played with puzzles at a young age later perform better on tasks utilizing spatial skills.
Posted in Education, Engagement, Language, Learning & Memory, Mathematics, Memory, Neuroscience

Paper Notebooks vs. Mobile Devices

Paper Notebooks vs. Mobile Devices

Unique, complex information in analog methods likely gives brain more details to trigger memory.

Posted in Education, Engagement, Handwriting, Learning & Memory, Memory, Neuroscience, Technology

New Experiences Enhance Learning by Resetting Key Brain Circuit

New Experiences Enhance Learning by Resetting Key Brain Circuit

A study of spatial learning in mice shows that exposure to new experiences dampens established representations in the brain’s hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, allowing the mice to learn new navigation strategies.

Posted in Engagement, Learning & Memory, Memory, Motivation, Neuroscience

Blink! The Link Between Aerobic Fitness and Cognition

Blink! The Link Between Aerobic Fitness and Cognition

Researchers have found evidence that spontaneous eye blink activity, which reflects activity in the dopaminergic system, explains the connection between fitness and cognitive function.

Posted in Education, Engagement, Language, Learning & Memory, Mathematics, Memory, Motivation, Movement & Exercise, Neuroscience

Scientists Identify Specific Brain Region and Circuits Controlling Attention

Scientists Identify Specific Brain Region and Circuits Controlling Attention

New research on our understanding of focus and impulse control, two different factors affecting attention.
Posted in Attention, Engagement, Neuroscience

How Our Brains Know When Something's Different

How Our Brains Know When Something's Different

Scientists discovered how a set of high frequency brain waves may help us unconsciously know when something's different by comparing memories of the past with present experiences.
Posted in Attention, Engagement, Learning & Memory, Memory, Motivation, Neuroscience

Worth it? How the Brain Decides to Make an Effort

Worth it? How the Brain Decides to Make an Effort

A new understanding of motivation: How your brain weighs the costs versus the benefits of making a physical effort.
Posted in Engagement, Motivation, Movement & Exercise, Neuroscience, Technology

Playfulness Can Be Trained - Here's Why You Should Do It

Playfulness Can Be Trained - Here's Why You Should Do It

Playfulness is a personality trait that is expressed differently in people. "Particularly playful people have a hard time dealing with boredom....
Posted in Engagement, Health & Wellness, Motivation, Social Development, Social Skills

What Jigsaw Puzzles Tell Us About Child Development

What Jigsaw Puzzles Tell Us About Child Development

New research shows that children only learn to do jigsaw puzzles once they have reached a certain stage of development. Three-year-olds use trial and error, but four-year-olds are able to use information in the picture to complete the puzzles. The research team say this understanding is the foundation of learning to draw and paint.
Posted in Education, Engagement, Learning & Memory, Memory

Young Children Would Rather Explore Than Get Rewards

Young Children Would Rather Explore Than Get Rewards

Young children will pass up rewards they know they can collect to explore other options, a new study suggests. Researchers found that when adults and 4- to 5-year-old children played a game where certain choices earned them rewards, both adults and children quickly learned what choices would give them the biggest returns. But while adults then used that knowledge to maximize their prizes, children continued exploring the other options.
Posted in Attention, Engagement, Motivation, Social Skills

Academic Achievement Is Influenced by How Pupils 'Do' Gender at School

Academic Achievement Is Influenced by How Pupils 'Do' Gender at School

Pupils' achievements at school are often shaped by the way that they 'act out' specific gender roles, according to a new study which warns against over-generalizing the gender gap in education.
Posted in Attention, Education, Engagement, Motivation, Social Development

A Fair Reward Ensures a Good Memory

A Fair Reward Ensures a Good Memory

By studying the brain’s reward and memory networks, neuroscientists find that memory requires a system of reward delivery. A new finding highly relevant for a variety of learning situations.

Posted in Education, Engagement, Learning & Memory, Neuroscience