Welcome to the March 2024 Learning Brain News.

Did you see the recent publicity about the "Reading Guarantee" report from The Grattan Institute (an Australian public policy think tank)? This month we take a detailed look at its recommendations for teaching reading, and for a change in university education courses. See Unlocking Literacy: The Case for Phonics in Every Classroom.

Plus there are interesting articles about how ADHD can be an advantage for entrepreneurs, and how pre-term births don’t cause autism.

Kind regards,
The Learning Brain News Team

Why We Learn Better From People We Like

Our brains favour learning from individuals we like over those we dislike. A study at Lund University in Sweden demonstrated that our ability to connect information and form new inferences is affected by our personal feelings towards the information provider.

Wearable Tech Reads Human Emotions

A technology that can recognize human emotions has been developed at Korean University, UNIST. Could next-generation wearable devices that detect emotions be used in education?

Study Debunks Preterm Birth Autism Link

A new study challenges the controversial notion that preterm births contribute to autism spectrum disorder development. Researchers analysed over 114,000 deliveries in Israel from 2005-2017, finding no significant association between preterm delivery and autism after adjusting for factors like ethnicity and maternal age.

Good News on ADHD?

Your child’s ADHD may give them an advantage if they want to embark on an entrepreneurial career. Recent research indicates entrepreneurs with ADHD demonstrated heightened levels of alertness, adaptability, and entrepreneurial intent, key factors for business success.

Unlocking Literacy: The Case for Phonics in Every Classroom

In the heart of the ongoing "Reading Wars" in Australian education, the battle lines are long drawn, and now the evidence is clear – the key to unlocking literacy lies in the systematic and explicit teaching of phonics. 

University teaching courses must prioritize the science of reading, with a strong emphasis on the role of phonics, so future educators know how best to teach all our children to read.