K-12 Education News

September 19, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Reverse Stroke Damage with Stem Cells

Sep. 16, 2025 — Scientists in Zurich have shown that stem cell transplants can reverse stroke damage by regenerating neurons, restoring motor functions, and even repairing blood vessels. The breakthrough not only healed mice with stroke-related impairments but also ...

Why so Many Young Kids with ADHD Are Getting the Wrong Treatment

Sep. 16, 2025 — Preschoolers with ADHD are often given medication right after diagnosis, against medical guidelines that recommend starting with behavioral therapy. Limited access to therapy and physician pressures drive early prescribing, despite risks and reduced ...

Experts Warn: Smartphones Before 13 Could Harm Mental Health for Life

Sep. 6, 2025 — Getting a smartphone before age 13 may drastically increase the risk of poor mental health later in life, according to data from more than 100,000 people. Early use is linked to suicidal thoughts, aggression, and detachment, largely driven by social ...

9 in 10 Australian Teachers Are Stressed to Breaking Point

Aug. 26, 2025 — Australian teachers are in crisis, with 9 in 10 experiencing severe stress and nearly 70% saying their workload is unmanageable. A major UNSW Sydney study found teachers suffer depression, anxiety, and stress at rates three to four times higher than ...

Doctors Used Music Instead of Medication—what They Saw in Dementia Patients Was Remarkable

July 19, 2025 — A groundbreaking pilot in NHS dementia wards is using live music therapy—called MELODIC—to ease patient distress without relying on drugs. Developed by researchers and clinicians with input from ...

The Brain’s Sweet Spot: How Criticality Could Unlock Learning, Memory—and Prevent Alzheimer’s

June 25, 2025 — Our brains may work best when teetering on the edge of chaos. A new theory suggests that criticality a sweet spot between order and randomness is the secret to learning, memory, and adaptability. ...

Guardrails, Education Urged to Protect Adolescent AI Users

June 3, 2025 — The effects of artificial intelligence on adolescents are nuanced and complex, according to a new report that calls on developers to prioritize features that protect young people from exploitation, manipulation and the erosion of real-world ...

Singing to Babies Improves Their Mood

May 30, 2025 — Singing to your infant can significantly boost the baby's mood, according to a recent study. Around the world and across cultures, singing to babies seems to come instinctively to caregivers. Now, new findings support that singing is an easy, safe, ...

Hitting the Right Notes to Play Music by Ear

May 27, 2025 — A team analyzed a range of YouTube videos that focused on learning music by ear and identified four simple ways music learning technology can better aid prospective musicians -- helping people improve recall while listening, limiting playback to ...

New Research Highlights Health Benefits of Using Heritage Art Practices in Art Therapy

May 19, 2025 — To better understand the potential therapeutic benefits of heritage art practices, researchers examined the impact of these practices on mental and physical ...

The Key to Spotting Dyslexia Early Could Be AI-powered Handwriting Analysis

May 14, 2025 — A new study outlines how artificial intelligence-powered handwriting analysis may serve as an early detection tool for dyslexia and dysgraphia among young ...

New Survey Shows Privacy and Safety Tops List of Parental Concerns About Screen Time

May 13, 2025 — As kids spend more time on screens, a new national survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of The Kids Mental Health Foundation, founded by Nationwide Children's Hospital, identifies parents' greatest ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:21pm EDT

Krakencoder Predicts Brain Function 20x Better Than Past Methods

June 9, 2025 — Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed a new algorithm, the Krakencoder, that merges multiple types of brain imaging data to better understand how the brain s wiring underpins behavior, ...

Music Therapy Helps Brain-Injured Children

May 8, 2025 — Music could provide a breakthrough in assessing consciousness levels in children who have suffered significant brain injuries, according to new ...

Study Suggests We Don't Just Hear Music, but 'Become It'

May 6, 2025 — Your brain and body literally “sync” with music, according to new research. Instead of just understanding rhythm, our neural circuits physically resonate with it—shaping how we feel and move to ...

Spanking and Other Physical Discipline Lead to Exclusively Negative Outcomes for Children in Low And Middle-Income Countries

May 5, 2025 — Physically punishing children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has exclusively negative outcomes -- including poor health, lower academic ...

STEM Students: Work Hard, but Don't Compare Yourself to Others

May 4, 2025 — A new study shows how damaging it can be for college students in introductory STEM classes to compare how hard they work to the extent of effort put in by their ...

Missed School Is an Overlooked Consequence of Tropical Cyclones, Warming Planet

May 1, 2025 — New research finds that tropical cyclones reduce years of schooling for children in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in areas ...

Essay Challenge: ChatGPT Vs Students

May 1, 2025 — Researchers have been putting ChatGPT essays to the test against real students. A new study reveals that the AI generated essays don't yet live up to the efforts of real students. While the AI essays ...

Using ChatGPT, Students Might Pass a Course, but With a Cost

Apr. 22, 2025 — With the assumption that students are going to use artificial intelligence and large language models such as ChatGPT to do their homework, researchers set out to learn how well the free version of ...

Study Shows Addressing Working Memory Can Help Students With Math Difficulty Improve Word Problem-Solving Skills

Apr. 22, 2025 — Working memory is like a mental chalkboard we use to store temporary information while executing other tasks. Scientists worked with more than 200 ...

Father's Mental Health Can Impact Children for Years

Apr. 21, 2025 — Five-year-olds exposed to paternal depression are more likely to have behavioral issues in grade school, researchers ...

Favorite Music Sets the Brain's Opioids in Motion

Apr. 16, 2025 — A new imaging study showed that listening to favorite music affects the function of the brain's opioid ...

Viewing Art Can Boost Wellbeing by Giving Meaning to Life

Apr. 16, 2025 — The simple act of looking at a piece of visual art can boost your wellbeing, a new research study has found, and this benefit can be gained in a hospital setting as well as an art ...

Early Education Impacts Teenage Behavior

Apr. 8, 2025 — Researchers explored the long-term effects of preschool expansion in Japan in the 1960s, revealing significant reductions in risky behaviors amongst teenagers. By analyzing regional differences in ...

'Ugh, Not That Song!' Background Music Impacts Employees

Apr. 7, 2025 — Have you ever gone to a store or a restaurant where the music was so annoying that you walked right out? Now imagine what it must be like for the employees. In a new study, researchers found that ...

Fear of Rejection Influences How Children Conform to Peers

Apr. 4, 2025 — The fear of rejection -- familiar to many children and adults -- can significantly impact how kids behave in their peer groups, according to new ...

Nurture More Important Than Nature for Robotic Hand

Apr. 3, 2025 — How does a robotic arm or a prosthetic hand learn a complex task like grasping and rotating a ball? Researchers address the classic 'nature versus nurture' question. The research ...

How GPS Helps Older Drivers Stay on the Roads

Apr. 3, 2025 — New research shows that Sat Nav systems are helping keep older drivers on the roads for longer. The study reveals that over 65s with a poorer sense of direction rely more on help from GPS navigation ...

Genes May Influence Our Enjoyment of Music

Apr. 1, 2025 — Does our ability to enjoy music have a biological basis? A genetic twin study shows that music enjoyment is partly heritable. Scientists uncovered genetic factors that influence the degree of music ...

Classroom Talk Plays a Key Part in the Teaching of Writing

Mar. 27, 2025 — The way teachers manage classroom discussion with pupils plays a key role in the teaching of writing, a new study ...

A Simple Way to Boost Math Progress

Mar. 24, 2025 — Scientists investigated whether email interventions informed by behavioral science could help teachers help students learn ...

How Family Background Can Help Lead to Athletic Success

Mar. 20, 2025 — Americans have long believed that sports are one area in society that offers kids from all backgrounds the chance to succeed to the best of their abilities. But new research suggests that this belief ...

Re-Purposed FDA-Approved Drug Could Help Treat High-Grade Glioma

Mar. 13, 2025 — A study shows that high-grade glioma tumor cells harboring DNA alterations in the gene PDGFRA responded to the drug avapritinib, which is already approved by the United States Food and Drug ...

More Than Marks: How Wellbeing Shapes Academic Success

Mar. 11, 2025 — A world first* study of more than 215,000 students, researchers found that while standardized tests measure academic skills, different dimensions of wellbeing -- emotional wellbeing, engagement, and ...

AI-Based Math: Individualized Support for Schoolchildren

Mar. 10, 2025 — Researchers have developed an AI-based learning system that recognizes strengths and weaknesses in mathematics by tracking eye movements with a webcam to generate problem-solving hints. This enables ...

Clinical Trial Tests Novel Stem-Cell Treatment for Parkinson's Disease

Mar. 9, 2025 — A recently launched Phase 1 clinical trial is examining the safety and feasibility of a groundbreaking treatment approach for Parkinson's disease in which a patient's stem cells are ...

The Art of Well-Being: Group Activities Shown to Ease Depression and Anxiety in Older Adults

Mar. 5, 2025 — Group arts interventions, such as painting, dance, or music, significantly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in older adults, offering a powerful alternative to traditional treatments. The ...

Exercise and Healthy Eating Behavior Together Provide the Best Protection Against Cardiovascular Diseases

Mar. 5, 2025 — Researchers have found that women who exhibit disturbed eating behaviors and engage in low physical activity tend to have more central body fat and a higher risk of metabolic low-grade inflammation. ...

Creativity Boosts Standardized Literacy and Numeracy Test Scores: Australia

Mar. 4, 2025 — A groundbreaking study shows that creativity plays an essential role in academic success, suggesting that students who think outside the box are more likely to excel in literacy and numeracy ...

Teaching Kids How to Become Better Citizens

Mar. 3, 2025 — In our polarized society, a new study offers hope for the future: Even young children can learn to discuss and argue about meaningful problems in a respectful and productive way. Researchers found ...

Problem-Based Learning Helps Students Stay in School

Feb. 26, 2025 — Education experts are encouraging schools to consider problem-based learning (PBL) in a move to improve engagement and creativity among high school students. New research demonstrates how hands-on, ...