From papyrus to paper, via parchment and now arriving on screens, reading materials have evolved over time and continue to diversify in a society that is becoming increasingly digital. From smartphones to tablets or e-readers, writing is at the heart of our daily activities and our reading habits are changing. The rapid evolutions of these digital […] … learn more→

From an early age, boys and girls get closer to fauna through visits to zoos, stories and children’s movies. They know many animals, although they are usually species from faraway places and, basically, large mammals, such as the lion or the kangaroo. However, they present more limited knowledge about the animals in their environment and their value to […] … learn more→

Between March 2020 and June 2022, families in Toronto experienced some of the longest lockdowns in the world. Ontario schools closed for in-person learning for over 27 weeks, longer than any other province or territory, and government restrictions on public spaces lasted for months. Parents were left to figure out how to manage work, child care and virtual school. […] … learn more→

There has been a tenfold increase in sexual abuse imagery created with webcams and other recording devices worldwide since 2019, according to the the Internet Watch Foundation. Social media sites and chatrooms are the most common methods used to facilitate contact with kids, and abuse occurs both online and offline. Increasingly, predators are using advances in technology to […] … learn more→

In a major speech today, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said vaping has become “the number one behavioural issue in high schools”. The government today proposed a suite of reforms aimed at reducing vaping. But what does the evidence show about the prevalence of vaping in schools and the kind of behavioural issues associated with it? My colleagues and […] … learn more→

I’m on sabbatical for the next three months and have committed to doing a literature review on neurodiversity and PhD study. Ugh. I hate doing literature reviews. I’m just going to say it: most academic writing is BORING and doing a big review means reading lots of it. The thought of reading more than 200 […] … learn more→

The agricultural production sector is extremely dependent on weather conditions. From crop production to animal farming, farmers need favorable weather conditions to thrive. But the current effects of climate change are affecting the livelihood of millions of smallholder farmers. Extreme weather conditions like flood, drought, and heatwave, is slowly crushing the food production industry. The […] … learn more→

When the main character of a kids TV show can both listen and respond to viewers by using advances in artificial intelligence, youngsters learn more from the program. That’s what my colleagues and I found in a series of peer-reviewed studies. We are partnering with PBS Kids to incorporate conversational AI like Siri or Alexa into a popular science […] … learn more→

Mental Health Week, which runs from May 1 to 7, provides an opportunity to reflect on our collective well-being. In addition to rising mental health issues, there seems to be a general malaise across normally well individuals in society. This is manifesting as cognitive and physical exhaustion, limited patience, disinterest in work and a resentment of the stressors […] … learn more→

Most people think that empathy – or the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes – is an innate quality, but it’s not. We can learn it. Research has shown that reading can help children develop it , by allowing them to put themselves in situations very different from their own and reflect on those experiences. Another argument for teaching […] … learn more→