Dear Reader,
As you probably know, International Children’s Day is celebrated on the 1st of June in big parts of the world. The idea behind this holiday is to raise public awareness of the welfare, protection, and rights of the youngest members of our society.
Science, of course, also plays an essential role in this. Researchers and teachers around the world are studying the effects of mindfulness and meditation [1], physical activity [2], and cognitive training [3] on children’s well-being. We want to support this important movement and give the necessary attention to people who work for children every day. We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Léo Pittoni, a Swiss school teacher who uses NeuroNation brain training with his students. We would like to share it with you.
NeuroNation: Mr. Pittoni, why did you decide to use the NeuroNation training?
L. Pittoni: NeuroNation works in the browser regardless of the operating system. Since our students are equipped with Windows tablets, this is ideal for us. The simple, clear interface, which is absolutely clear for the children to use, is also convincing. The exercises are varied and visually appealing. The direct feedback during practice is also clearly understandable and motivating for the pupils.
NeuroNation: What successes did you hope for?
L. Pittoni: Concentration, memory, speed (etc.) are important skills in everyday school life. There are no exercises or methods in classical teaching materials to train these skills in a targeted way. NeuroNation is ideally suited for this purpose. We hoped for a positive influence on these competencies.
NeuroNation: How often and in which environment was the training used by the pupils?
L. Pittoni: The students trained with NeuroNation once or several times a week for about 3 months. They could do this at school or at home. Training with NeuroNation” was a weekly homework assignment for all students.
NeuroNation: How did the students find the training?
L. Pittoni: The students liked the training very much. Of course, the fact that the training is done digitally on a tablet is also motivating. They also liked the fact that the training is very playful, for many it was more like a game than homework. All the children enjoyed training with NeuroNation very much.
NeuroNation: What positive effects did you or the pupils notice?
L. Pittoni: All the pupils made progress with the NeuroNation exercises and were able to improve. In everyday life, no specific findings could be made regarding memory or concentration, as we do not empirically examine this.
However, it was good for the students to focus on the exercises for a quarter of an hour during the training and to direct 100% of their attention to the exercises.
It also gave the students an understanding that these skills (such as memory) can be trained, just as mathematical skills etc. need to be practiced.
NeuroNation: What would you recommend to other parents, teachers, or educators?
L. Pittoni: I would definitely recommend NeuroNation. Children love to work with it and are motivated thanks to the playful exercises. I am convinced that the training has a good influence on the trained competencies.
NeuroNation: Thank you very much for the interview, Mr. Pittoni.
We hope you have been inspired by this reading. Researchers also keep delighting us with good news. For example, scientists at Yale University studied the effect of a five-minute warm-up brain training session on the learning success of schoolchildren [3]. The result: the trained children performed better than their comparison group both immediately after the session and after a 4-month training course.
It is interesting that the observed improvement effect is more pronounced than it is known from studies that have investigated the influence of personal learning support by a tutor. These findings may suggest that brain training can be even more effective in boosting children’s school performance than individual tutoring sessions.
Warming up the brain and staying on top of things
Of course, let’s not forget the observed warm-up effect: the human brain can be better prepared for the cognitive challenges ahead with just 5 minutes of brain training. So not only your children but also you can warm up your mind and get fit in just 5 minutes before an important task that requires your full concentration and brainpower.
Feel the study-proven effect yourself and get your brain up to speed – with brain training from NeuroNation, you have a reliable partner at your side.
Sources:
[1] Altner, N., Erlinghagen, M., Körber, D. et al. Achtsamkeit in den Grundschulen einer ganzen Stadt fördern – ein NRW-Landesmodellprojekt. Gr Interakt Org 49, 157–166 (2018).
[2] Stück, M. Wissenschaftliche Grundlagen zum Yoga mit Kindern und Jugendlichen. Schibri Verlag, 104 Seiten. ISBN: 978-3-86863-066-4.
[3] Wexler, B. E. et al. Training: Immediate and far transfer to academic skills in children. Scientific Reports 6, (2016).
