Reading Aloud to Children Study

 Reading aloud to children, even after they can read independently, provides benefits beyond literacy, according to a recent study. It found that just 15 minutes of shared reading each night helped strengthen children's empathy and creativity, Furthermore, it doesn't matter if the reader asks questions or not. 

Winter, M. et al. (2026). Keep the bedtime story: A daily reading ritual improves empathy and creativity in children. PlusOne. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0340068

Virtual Reality and Children

According to a report by Common Sense Media, the concept of virtual reality and how it impacts children’s development was discussed. The report’s key findings include:

1.     Virtual reality (VR) is likely to have powerful effects on children because it can provoke a response to virtual experiences similar to a response to actual experiences.

2.     The long-term effects of children’s use of immersive VR on their still-developing brains and health are unknown, but most parents are concerned, and experts advocate moderation and supervision.

3.     Only one in five U.S. parents (21 percent) today report living in a household with VR, and the majority (65 percent) are not planning to purchase VR hardware. However, the interest levels of U.S. children are high, while parent interest is mixed.

4.     Characters in VR may be especially influential on young children, even more so than characters on TV or computers. This can be good or bad depending on the influence.

5.     Students often feel more enthusiasm for learning while using VR, but they do not necessarily learn more through VR than through video or computer games.

6.     VR can potentially be an effective tool for encouraging empathy among children, though most parents are skeptical.

7.     When choosing VR content, parents should consider whether they would want their children to have the same experience in the real world.

Common Sense Media (2018). Virtual reality 101: What you need to know about kids and VR. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/pdfs/csm_vr101_final.pdf

Teacher empathy impact study

A new study suggests that even a minor attitude adjustment among teachers can have a dramatic effect on those rates: Middle school math  teachers encouraged to be more empathetic saw student suspensions drop by half. How teachers view their students’ needs can have a direct impact on student performance. The study also highlighted the importance of teacher expectations. The study suggests that “by changing the mindset of just one of their teachers, students had better behavior across all of their classes.”

Okonofua, J., et al. (2016). Brief intervention to encourage empathic discipline cuts suspension rates in half among adolescents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the USA,10; 113:5221.

http://www.pnas.org/content/113/19/5221?ijkey=03daa151200c89d2c72730e5c31ed6c3a8a7d13a&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Theory of mind selectively predicts preschoolers’ knowledge-based selective word learning

Preschoolers who scored higher on "theory of mind" tests were better at discerning between accurate and inaccurate sources of information, according to a study published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology. Study co-author Patricia Brosseau-Liard notes empathy is only one factor contributing to selective learning.

Abstract:
Children can selectively attend to various attributes of a model, such as past accuracy or physical strength, to guide their social learning. There is a debate regarding whether a relation exists between theory-of-mind skills and selective learning. We hypothesized that high performance on theory-of-mind tasks would predict preference for learning new words from accurate informants (an epistemic attribute), but not from physically strong informants (a non-epistemic attribute). Three- and 4-year-olds (N = 65) completed two selective learning tasks, and their theory-of-mind abilities were assessed. As expected, performance on a theory-of-mind battery predicted children's preference to learn from more accurate informants but not from physically stronger informants. Results thus suggest that preschoolers with more advanced theory of mind have a better understanding of knowledge and apply that understanding to guide their selection of informants. This work has important implications for research on children's developing social cognition and early learning.

Brosseau-Liard, P., Penney, D. and Poulin-Dubois, D. (2015), Theory of mind selectively predicts preschoolers’ knowledge-based selective word learning. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 33: 464–475. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12107