• All 7 families allowed their children to eat “bars” (a category we defined to include “milk and cereal bars”, “granola bars”, and “health/diet/protein bars”).
• Only 2 of the families gave their children health/diet/protein bars. The reasons both families gave was that these bars were “healthier”.
• 5 of the 7 families said they regularly bought only 1 flavor, and all 5 of those included chocolate in some form.
• All 7 families said they would allow their child to have one bar a day if the children so desired.
• 6 of the 7 families said they would NOT allow their child to have one chocolate bar a day if the children so desired.
• 2 of the 7 families said that they considered a peanut bar such as Payday to be a healthy alternative.

There is surprisingly little advertising for “bars” on television. The popularity of the bars seems to come from word of mouth or print advertisements directed at adults, touting the nutritional aspects.

The fact remains, however, that the bars are far less healthy than most adults believe.

What were your experiences with and feelings with bars as snacks and meal substitutes?  Please share your thoughts below.

• 9 of the 12 families said they planned to assist their children with the acquisition of their first car.
• Of those 9, 4 expected to pass on or sell to their child a vehicle the familiy currently owned. 3 planned to assist with the purchase of a used car, and 2 planned to assist with the purchase of a new car.
• Of the 5 intending to help their child obtain a vehicle, safety and cost were the two most highly rated factors in choosing a vehicle.

This topic became the subject of an unScientific Study when some of our staff, with a 12 year-old child, mentioned that they were looking to buy a new car and were factoring into the purchase the expectation that it would become their child’s car in 5 years. This caused them to rule out certain types of cars, and they find themselves shopping for a fairly conservative sedan instead of the more “fun” vehicles they might have purchased. Similarly, their anticipated passing on of the vehicle is a factor in the options they are selecting.

What were your experiences with and feelings about a child’s first car?  Please share your thoughts below.

• 8 of the 9 families plan to view fireworks between July 2 and July 4.
• 3 of the 9 famlies plan to view fireworks between July 5 and July 10 (2 of the families will be viewing fireworks a second time)
• 4 of the 9 famlies plan to launch “fireworks” of their own at some point in July.
• 5 of the 9 famlies live in states where the law permits the launching of fireworks.
• 0 of the 9 famlies had ever been inovled in a “fireworks-related accident”.
• 3 of the 9 families said concerns about potential fireworks-related accidents weighed on their minds at this time of year.
• 6 of the 9 famliies said firework displays were made less special by how prevalent they are on other occasions.

Not too many surprises in this week’s unScientific study. It’s good to know people are keeping fireworks safety in their minds, and that all the families plan to celebrate in some way.

What were your plans and experiences this holiday weekend? Please share them below.

• 5 of the 7 parents said their children were assinged summer work by their local school district.
• 4 of  those 5 said they felt the schoosl’ assignments were poorly designed.
• 3 of the 5 called the schools’ assignments “not worthwhile”.
• Only 1 of the 7 parents said they planned to have their students do any formal academic work beyond the summer assignments given by their local school district.

Apparently families are not buying into the “use it or lose it” mantra when it comes to academics.

Unfortunately, there is little consequence for taking the summer “off” or not coming into school at your peak form. Most schools spend quite a bit of time shaking the rust off, and all it takes is a small group of unprepared students to hold the whole class back.

Educators we spoke to mentioned concerns about trying to enforce summer work, and several said they were required by their districts to provide an adequate amount of September time for students to complete any required summer work.  Still others say they are told not to grade the quality of the work, only whether it is completed or not.

We wrote earlier about the wasted time at the end of the school year. Here too, we are seeing a chance to improve student understanding and achievement that is not being well utilized.

There has to be a better way.

What were your experiences with summer work?  Please share your thoughts below.

1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1-1+1+1+1+1+1+1×0 =?

As of noon PST on Tuesday June 14, the correct answer was NOt the most popular answer.

781,143 people believe the expression is equal to 0.

[These people are forgetting their order of operations. The 0 is multiplied by the final 1 and this takes place before any addition or subtraction.]

185,218 people belive the expression is equal to 16.

[These people are simply being careless and not noticing that there is a minus sign mixed in with the addition signs.]

34,805 people believe the expression is equal to 17.

[We can only assume these people miscounted the number of ones or counted all the digits. Either way, the answer is wrong.]

Only 663,922 people (barely 40% of the sample) would make their math teachers proud because they recognize the correct answer to be 14.

The most troubling part to us is the fact that the question is treated as an opinion problem as opposed to having a single correct answer.

• 8 of the 9 parents said they feel they cannot help their child with their homework
• 0 of the 9 parents said they looked through their child’s math notebooks at least once a week

This troubles us to no end.

If your child is in an Algebra 1, Geometry, or Algebra 2 class, then they should have both a textbook and a set of class notes designed to illustrate how to solve homewok problems. Not to mention that the topics students learn in each of the three courses are progressive and build upon previously learned material, so any child who needs help on Day Q, should have an understanding of days A – P and those resources to help parents understand well enough to make a reasonable attempt at helping with homework. If this is not true, then the issue was allowed to fester too long.

We will run our unScientific study of parent conference comments in the coming weeks, but we will tease that “I can’t help my child with their homework anymore” and “I was never good in [Subject]” topped the list for high school instructors.

We are not suggesting that every adult needs to be at the top of their game in high school mathematics for the rest of their lives; however, they should certainly be able to read the child’s notes and skim the textbook and get the gist of it. Alas, none of the parents we surveyed regularly looked through their child’s math notebooks. As one staffer at J2 Content puts it “A notebook should read like a textbook. Teachers create lesson narratives that students are to either copy verbatim or take notes from. They are creating a resource. If a student cannot open to any page in their notebooks and explain to anyone [especially their parents] what is being illustrated there and describe the concept, then the child is not being an active participant in their education and that issue should be addressed immediately by the parent and teacher.”

What were your experiences with parents helping or being unable to help children with high school mathematics? Please share your thoughts below.

4 of the 6 children, including the youngest, had no problem opening a childproof pill bottle.
All 6 of the children were familiar with the push-before-turning mechanism, but only 4 of the children could actually implement the move and successfully open the bottle.

This raises a number of questions.

1. Are childproof bottle caps truly worth their cost?  Most likely the answer is “yes,” in that they did stop 2 of the 6 children from opening the bottle and we were working with a very small and unScientific sample.
2. Is there a more effective childproof cap to be developed? Again, the answer is most likely “yes.” There is no excuse for our 4-year-old to have been able to open the bottle. Similarly, it is sickening to hear someone assert that “if she is smart enough to open the bottle, she is probably smart enough to not mistake the pills for candy.”
3. Are childproof bottle caps environmentally sound? They have an extra layer of rubber or plastic or some such thing inside the threads. One would assume there is more plastic involved in the creation of these bottle caps than in others.

You can find many examples of mini-experiments testing the effectiveness of childproof caps online. For example, we found this 2009 report from Seattle’s King 5 News. Their results were, sadly, similar to ours.

What are your experiences with childproof caps on medicine bottles?  Please share your thoughts below.

• Only 2 of the 13 children could name more than three types of apples
• Only 4 of the 13 children had ever heard a discussion of whether a tomato was a fruit or a vegetable
• None of the 13 children had ever attempted to crack open a coconut
• Only 3 of the 13 children had ever used a melon baller
• While 10 of the 13 children reported having eaten or drank “kiwi-flavored” foods, only 1 of the 13 had ever eaten a kiwi
• 5 of the 13 children believed “pina colada” was a type of fruit
• Only 4 of the 13 children had ever seen a a citrus fruit tree with fruit on it
• Only 5 of the 13 children had ever picked strawberries
• Only 2 of the 13 children had ever tried grapefruit
• 5 of the 13 children believed “most raspberries are blue”, and 1 of those 5 believed “‘blueberry’ is another name for a raspberry”
• None of the 13 children had ever seen a peach tree

Admittedly, some of these results are influenced by age and geographic location: a 6-year-old growing up in Vermont is not going to see many lemon trees. However, as we try to get our children to eat healthier, it seems foolish to not better inform kids about fruit.

Perhaps a fourth-grade class would be better served going on a field trip to the local “pick your own strawberry” farm and learning from the farm owners than taking a trip to the local museum or amusement park.

What are your experiences with children and their knowledge of and exposure to fruits and vegetables?  Please share your thoughts below.

More important than their opinions of the games, however, are the clarity of their recollection of the games. All seven could vividly describe the gaming experience and topics covered. Two of the students used the phrase “like we do in class” when describing the content.

The data seems to indicate a value in exposing students to $5 discount rack software from Marshalls or Staples. Whether students appreciate the experience or not, they do appear to be learning from those games and retaining much of the educational experience.

What are your experiences with educational software? Please share your thoughts below.

The surveys each consisted of 30 seemingly unrelated questions about preferred foods, favorite television shows, and opinons about various current events. 5 of the 30 questions were common to both tests.

1. Do you consider your mother or father a role model?
2. If you saw someone cheating on a test would you confront them about it?
3. Would you rather eat dinner at home than at a restaurant?
4. Do you read front page of the newspaper at least 4 times  week?
5. Do you think video games are a bad influence on children?

We saw a noticeable difference in the responses to these questions depending on whether or not the surveys were answered anonymously.

1. Named Surveys: 85% said “Yes”; Anonymous Surveys: 45% said “Yes”
2. Names Surveys: 75% said “Yes”; Anonymous Surveys: 25% said “Yes”
3. Names Surveys: 60% said “Yes”; Anonymous Surveys: 35% said “Yes”
4. Names Surveys: 60% said “Yes”; Anonymous Surveys: 25% said “Yes”
5. Names Surveys: 65% said “Yes”; Anonymous Surveys: 15% said “Yes”

It seems unlikely that so many of the students changed their perspectives in the 7 days between the administration of the surveys. Our theory is that the students sought to give the “correct” response when their names were linked to the surveys. When answering anonymously, the students gave a more “honest” answer, or at least a less guarded response.

With all the attention given to peer pressure, we wonder if there shouldn’t be more attention given to the pressure students feel to please their parents, teachers, and other authority figures. The importance of being yourself and holding true to your own values and desires is no less important. We also wonder how many adults fail to realize theya re often simply being told what they want to hear.

What are your experiences children trying too hard to give the “right” answer instead of an honest one? Please share your thoughts below.