Society & Culture

The Psychology of S3X Slave Rings

In Britain, malaise is afoot. After news hit that a gang of Pakistani men sexually abused 1,400 girls in one northern town—the fifth such group of Pakistani or Muslim heritage to materialize in just four years—one question lingers: are grooming rings endemic within certain cultures? These rings—groups of men who befriend and establish emotional connections [...]

The Seven Dangerous Neuro-Temptations

Do you like brain science? Sure, we all do. It looks cool, it sounds exciting, it tickles our intellect, and it promises to solve all of life’s questions. Why do we do the things we do? We've all seen the pulsating red, yellow and blue brain scans from laboratories of people doing any number of things [...]

Is booze-free becoming the new black?

Sales of alcohol-free alternatives to beer, wine and liquor are on the increase. In fact, research published recently showed that almost half of British adults believe alcohol-free beer is more socially acceptable than it was five years ago. Numerous alcohol-free bars in the UK and US are starting to pop up and provide alternatives for [...]

Why Everyone Should Read Harry Potter

A growing body of evidence suggests that the pro-Potter camp might be on to something, and that reading Rowling’s work, at least as a youth, might be a good thing. For decades it's been known that an effective means of improving negative attitudes and prejudices between differing groups of people is through intergroup contact – [...]

Putting Profits Before Health

Can you remember watching Jamie’s School Dinners and being horrified at what UK and US schools were serving up to kids on a daily basis? Can you remember shaking your head in disbelief as school principals, canteen supervisors and local administrators continually argued that healthy food wasn’t financially viable in a school setting? I mean, [...]

Australian Students Lack Skills To Cope With Life’s Problems

More than half of Australian students lack the skills to deal with life's difficulties, a survey has found, with many citing depression, stress and a lack of confidence. The study of more than 16,000 students in years 4 through to 12 by Resilient Youth Australia, a not-for-profit organisation promoting the mental health of young people, [...]

The Death Of Privacy

When schools ask me to chat to parents, one of the things I often cover with them is how to – or how not to – use social media. I urge parents not to vent their anger around a school on Facebook as, if we’re being honest, it’s often an issue that has been blown [...]

How a Kit Kat is classified as ‘healthy’

Food companies are advertising products such as Kit Kats and Coco Pops to children because they are classified as healthy by their own nutritional standards. A NSW Cancer Council analysis found that 63 per cent of food that appeared in television advertisements was considered unhealthy under Food Standards Australia New Zealand nutrient profiling. The analysis [...]

Should We Tell Kids Things Don’t Always End “Happy Ever After?”

Lets face it, watching the evening news bulletin rarely makes for cheery viewing, but in the last few months it seems to have been particularly harrowing. Plane crashes, war zones, suicides and urban shootings have seemingly dominated the headlines. As an adult I’ve found it hard to watch. As an educator I’ve found it harder [...]

Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop

Technology offers innovative tools that are shaping educational experiences for students, often in positive and dynamic ways. The research by Mueller and Oppenheimer serves as a reminder, however, that even when technology allows us to do more in less time, it does not always foster learning. Learning involves more than the receipt and the regurgitation [...]

Go to Top