How many adolescents are truly satisfied with their lives? Quite a few, if we believe the new youth survey from Norway.
Researchers have identified the reasons behind the decline in students' academic performance Much of it is due to the composition of the students.
Knitting came back, but not hairpin lace. Why? Some types of needlework disappear, while others become popular again. Have you heard about hairpin lace and the Viking technique of nålebinding?
What do boys want to be when they grow up? ASK A RESEARCHER: Do boys really want to become firefighters and football players?
Gender differences are increasing in higher education In all Norwegian municipalities, there is a larger proportion of women with higher education than men, according to Statistics Norway.
Researcher: Personality is a lottery that affects how we perform in school Researchers have looked at siblings with different personalities to find out what works best – and worst – in the classroom.
Writing by hand activates more areas of the brain than typing on a keyboard Should pupils and students go back to pen and paper?
Summons 446 signatures: Should all PhD candidates learn Norwegian? We are concerned OPINION: According to the Action Plan for Norwegian Academic Language, all temporary employees are required to attend Norwegian courses, and all permanent employees must become proficient in Norwegian within 3 years. Over 400 researchers assess the implications this will have on the sector.
Student survey: Reading comprehension is better on paper than on screens It is important that screen use in school does not replace reading in print, according to the Norwegian Screen Use Committee, in its first memorandum to the government.
Highly educated people drink more, yet they face fewer alcohol-related health problems Individuals with higher education generally have better health habits than those with less education, except when it comes to alcohol.
Teachers are exposed to considerable violence and threats at work Studies show that being exposed to violence and threats increases the risk of psychological problems and illness, a researcher says. In the worst case, these teachers could disappear from working life.
Teaching is a profession in crisis OPINION: Teachers need help to regain pride, status and professionalism around the world. This article offers 5 steps to help teachers as well as students meet changing society.
First-graders in Norway prioritise friendship and play Most first-graders are doing well in school, and the school day is varied and inclusive.
Failing an exam led to higher risk of psychological problems and substance abuse for students A new study shows that pupils who failed the final exam in upper secondary school more often saw their GP with mental health problems afterwards. They were also less likely to complete upper secondary school and pursue higher education.
Study: Every sixth person over 70 had dementia — low educational levels gave a 3- to 6-times greater risk Women and the elderly with only a primary education are much more at risk than the highly educated. “Fortunately, there’s a great deal people can do preventatively,” a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) says.
Anxious students need to face their fears; accommodations in school have gone too far, says researcher Anxious students are permitted to avoid doing things they find uncomfortable by teachers. This is becoming a big problem in many schools, according to researcher.
The future of artificial intelligence in education SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: Using ChatGPT, the students reports surpassed the quality of many research papers. How can subject matter experts stay relevant for software engineers?
More stress hormones found in children cared for at home than in kindergartens Does the research finding flip our understanding of stress in the nursery and kindergarten setting?
Lowest proportion of men admitted to higher education in 15 years Not since 2008 has such a small proportion of men been offered higher education placements as this year. In this year's admissions, the proportion of men is 38.7 per cent.
Thousands of Norwegian pupils have had two teachers in the classroom at the same time. How did it go? A lot of money is being spent on increasing the teacher-student ratio for Norwegian pupils. But researchers have found the benefits to be limited.
Twice as many women as men have completed higher education among young adults Over 62 per cent of young women in Norway aged 25-30 have completed higher education. Less than 40 per cent of young men have attained a university or college education. The figures specifically apply to young adults aged 25-30.
Has digitisation destroyed our ability to read long and complicated texts? Experts disagree about whether something has happened to our ability to read for a long time. In any case, it is entirely possible to learn to improve your concentration, says one researcher.
Let’s not vilify our students over chatGPT OPINION: With the advent of ever-more capable artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as chatGPT, we once again have an opportunity to choose a rational, humane future over clinging to an irrational, suspicious past.
Shy children are more likely to be sad and more anxious than other children Children who find it particularly difficult to get close to others are often sad, says the researcher behind a new Norwegian study.
Different maturity between boys and girls can lead to social inequality and poor health A new research project from the Health Gap project conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has found that social inequality in schooling is linked to the probability of dying young.
Boys don’t need to get as good grades as girls Boys’ grades, on average, are lower than girls’. But researchers found some good reasons they don't need to be as concerned about good grades as the girls.
Why are highly educated people taller? The taller you are, the more likely it is that you are highly educated. But folks with less education are catching up, according to a new study.
Born late in the year? Then it's much more likely that you will pursue a vocational track Norwegian researchers have found a strong correlation between our birth month and the educational choices we make.
Highly educated people drink alcohol more often than those with less education The oldest and the most highly educated drink the most, according to new survey.
Slightly fewer students report having mental health problems 35 per cent of Norwegian students respond that they struggle mentally, but their physical health is better, according to this year's health and well-being survey.
Norway is the country where you get the least return in terms of income from getting a higher education People with a higher education level from university or college in Norway earn 19 per cent more than individuals with an upper secondary school diploma.
Almost all the students who received top grades in maths have parents with a high level of education Although the gap has narrowed somewhat in recent years, differences in academic performance due to family background persist.
One in four children between the ages of 10 and 12 use painkillers weekly As many as 29 per cent of girls in the 7th grade in Norway use painkillers every week. Researchers are surprised by the high figures.
Many immigrants in Norway are overqualified for their jobs Around 40 per cent work in occupations with lower competency requirements than their education dictates.
Children's school results are more related to parents' income than before “This may indicate that kindergartens and schools in Norway are not able to even out social differences well enough,” researcher believes.
Binge drinking: When dads get drunk on the weekends, the kids are more likely to drop out of school Parents' alcohol use seems to affect the children even when the adults have no substance abuse disorder, according to a new Norwegian study.
Adolescents living with pain experience more stress in everyday life Norwegian researchers have looked more closely at young people's own experiences with pain.
From grassroots to government: far-right threats to academic freedom In recent years, and particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, far right forces have increased efforts to systematically undermine the principles of academic freedom. Léonie de Jonge, Iris Beau Segers and Cathrine Thorleifsson highlight the urgency of defending academic freedom against governmental interference and protecting researchers from threats and intimidation.
Maybe now we know why girls perform better in school than boys Gender is not what matters, say researchers.
Have we lost a generation of children during the Corona pandemic? OPINION: I fear that we are neglecting the children most in need because of a Eurocentric focus on the Covid-19 pandemic.
A two-censor-system will be a disappointing setback for higher education in Norway OPINION: From a scientific perspective, the proposed law revision should be rejected.
Fewer and fewer men want to become doctors More than twice as many women as men want to become doctors in Norway. The development is worrying, says the leader of the Younger doctors' union.
What do teachers need to feel confident about addressing sexual violence with students? New perspectives on school leadership and solutions in teacher education and the school curriculum are what’s needed, says the researcher.
Pupils rarely transmitted COVID-19 to others, according to Norwegian study Children in primary school very rarely pass the virus on to others, according to a new study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
Pupils’ skills no better after more math and science classes Pupils in Denmark receive more mathematics instruction than their Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish counterparts. Yet they still do worse in the subject than Norwegian and Finnish students.
Record numbers apply to nursing and medical studies during the coronavirus pandemic Never before have so many people applied to universities and university colleges in Norway. Almost every tenth applicant wants to become a nurse. Many also want to become doctors.
Fewer educators want to become school principals Has the principal's job become so burdensome that no one wants it?
Teachers don't know how to accommodate the smartest pupils In every elementary school classroom, one to two pupils on average need faster and more challenging instruction than their classmates. Teachers interviewed in a new Norwegian study say these pupils are not prioritized in schools.
Government wants Norway’s universities to compete to be best on environment and climate issues The Ministry of Education and Research wants to see how students, researchers and other staff measure up when it comes to cutting climate impacts. Not everyone is equally excited.
These four types of cancer are more likely to be detected in highly educated people Norwegian women and men who are highly educated are more likely to be diagnosed with four types of cancer. More sunbathing and postponed childbirth may be part of the explanation. It may also be because people with more resources are more likely to go to the doctor when they suspect something’s wrong.
Should children be allowed to choose teams in gym class? ASK A RESEARCHER: Or should the teacher do it? We ask the experts.
Students receiving follow-up support in upper secondary school less likely to quit Absenteeism in lower secondary school increases students’ risk of dropping out from upper secondary. A social contract and close monitoring of 16-year-old at-risk pupils is showing promising results in a study in Northern Norway.
What happens to Norwegian children of immigrants as adults? Their performance is a bit weaker than that of other children in elementary school, and somewhat fewer students complete upper secondary school. Compared to their parents, the difference is considerable. Many Norwegian-born persons with immigrant backgrounds are also doing far better financially than their parents. Some earn more than other Norwegians.
For high-ability students it can be lonely at the top Gifted children feel separate them from their peers. At worst, they develop social problems and drop out of school, and they rarely receive help.
Children who stutter should get help as early as possible One in ten pre-school children has a stutter. The sooner they get help, the more likely they are to overcome it.
Physical education: What if we took away the pressure to be good at sports? A researcher believes that’s how physical education should be. He’s been studying what gym class could be like when physical skills don’t count for students’ grades.
Finnish method helps Norwegian first-graders who struggle with maths Problems with maths plague nearly 20 per cent of all school children. Offering children extra help right from the start can make a huge difference, according to Norwegian and Finnish research.
Poker players aren’t like other gamers Poker is a game played primarily by boys who get good grades in school. It’s an intellectual martial art, according to a researcher.
Norway prioritises aid to support girls’ education, but forgets the jobs Can education meet girls’ challenges in development countries? Not on its own, according to researchers behind a new report. They call for more goal-oriented measures to combat inequality.
Twice as many Norwegian boys as girls start school late More boys than girls begin school a year late and more girls than boys begin a year early. But researchers are not certain whether maturity is the explanation.
Easing the transition from kindergarten to primary school Most children successfully make the leap from kindergarten to primary school. But not every six-year-old is looking forward to this change. Researchers say there is much that can and should be done to make the transition smoother.
This stresses pupils at school Is school the problem? Is it parents? Or the pupils themselves? Norwegian researchers have compiled and compared information from over 2,000 international studies on the theme of stress in school. They found a variety of answers.
International PISA tests show how evidence-based policy can go wrong OPINION: PISA gives scores to participating countries so they can be ranked from best to worst for the skills measured, as well as measuring how they stand globally over all skills. Too much importance is being given to these scores and rankings.
Norwegian textbook calls Mexicans “wetbacks” Mexicans and indigenous people get short shrift in four English-language textbooks for Norwegian ninth graders.
What motivates high school kids to choose a higher education? Suprisingly, parents and friends have little say in the matter, according to one researcher.
Creative crisis in the university lecture hall Passive teaching techniques scare creative thinkers from the classroom, a Norwegian study suggests.
Punctuality more important than grades for apprenticeships Getting to work on time. An interested and cheerful manner. These matter more to employers than an apprentice’s school grades.
Teens with ADHD need more sleep Sleep issues are more common among teenagers with symptoms of ADHD. And although they need more sleep, they tend to get way less than they need.
Highly educated teachers don’t translate into high student grades Good grades in primary school and highly educated parents matter more than having highly educated teachers, according to a new study.
The power of popularity: impact of the cool kids on teaching Pupils who are popular dominate more than the halls and yards of the school campus. They also have the greatest influence on teaching in the classroom.
Offering free kindergarten is only a first step Low-income families in Norway are offered 20 hours of free kindergarten a week, but more services are needed to even out inequalities among school children, says researcher.
Students who master two written dialects do better in school Researchers from neuroscientists to sociologists have spent the last several decades documenting the positive effects of bilingualism on cognitive development in children. But do children who grow up with two closely related written versions of the same language get the same benefits?
Women and men still study completely different university subjects In the past decade few changes have occurred in the uneven gender distribution of Norwegian college and university students.
Nerd camp with hands-on science Some Norwegian pre-teen children spend a week of their summer holiday to learn more about maths and science. Their instructors hope what they mostly learn is that science is fun.
Norwegian higher education costs vary wildly across disciplines and institutions Norway is one of the few remaining countries in the world without tuition fees, but that doesn’t mean education is free. Per student costs at Norway’s older universities can be more than twice those of more recently established institutions.
Third-graders write faster on tablets A study conducted in two Norwegian primary schools shows that children write considerably faster on computer tablets than on paper.