This paper presents a research that emerges from a set of community-based outreach activities associated with a large-scale, interdisciplinary project, Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice (ICASP), which focuses on the social and pedagogical implications of improvised musical practices. Working from the premise that musical improvisation…

Students need more than just "any" lunch or breakfast to do well in school--the "quality" of these meals counts also. Studies have demonstrated the role healthy diets can play in students' academic achievement. That's why President Obama signed into law the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act in December 2010. This historic legislation provides free…

A systematic review of the prevalence rates of chronic health conditions in populations of children with intellectual disability was provided. We identified 2,994 relevant studies by searching Medline, Cinahl, and PsycINFO databases from 1996 to 2008. We included the 31 studies that had sufficient methodological quality. The 6 most prevalent…

Since the onset of No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) schools have been focusing on raising test scores in reading and mathematics, while at the same time feeling pressured to reduce subjects such as physical education and health. It seems for many educators finding time in the school day for students' physical activity has become increasingly…

The process of integrating visual information and planning a safe crossing is cognitively demanding for many young children. We assessed relations between traffic characteristics, aspects of children's executive functioning (EF), and pedestrian behavior, with the aim being to determine whether well-developed EF would predict safer pedestrian…

Objective: The Tooth Smart Programme is a hospital-based parent-counselling programme established to stabilize existing carious lesions and prevent new caries in children. The purpose of this qualitative study was to: explore participating parents' experiences of and views about parent counselling; identify and describe factors that influence the…

Maxwell and Cole (2007) showed that cross-sectional approaches to mediation typically generate substantially biased estimates of longitudinal parameters in the special case of complete mediation. However, their results did not apply to the more typical case of partial mediation. We extend their previous work by showing that substantial bias can…

Too many racial/ethnic minorities do not reach their full potential for a healthy and rewarding life. This paper addresses the social determinants that impact, either directly or indirectly, child and adolescent health disparities. Understanding the role social determinants play in the life course of health status can help guide educational…

Proposed new federal rules governing the meals served to school children across the country each weekday are causing a stir among food industry groups, cafeteria managers, parents, and students. The skirmish is over the U.S. Department of Agriculture's efforts, prompted by the recent passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, to rewrite the…

Proper nutrition, adequate amounts of physical activity, and sufficient amounts of sleep are three important variables for healthy children. Alternative certification teachers quickly enter the classroom at the beginning of their programs and may encounter disengaged students who lack the energy needed for quality learning and achievement.…

This article presents essential ideas from various people on how to cultivate healthy childhood. Amelia Gambetti says that in terms of young children, the element of complexity offers to them the possibility to have an opportunity to learn how to think and to generate ideas. Diane Levin shares how a three-year-old kid taught her that children do…

In the past 30 years, the prevalence of obesity in children has increased to epidemic proportions. The obesity rate among children ages 2 to 5 has more than doubled (from 5 percent to 10.4 percent); more than quadrupled (from 4.2 to 17 percent) among children ages 6 to 11; and more than tripled among adolescents ages 12 to 19 (from 4.6 to 17.6…

This list of resources offers promising strategies that communities and policymakers can use to make sustainable advances in achieving equitable transportation systems. Resources are organized into seven categories: transportation equity, Safe Routes to School, school siting, complete streets, non-motorized transportation, community design, and…

Healthy students perform better. Poor nutrition and inadequate physical activity can affect not only academic achievement, but also other factors such as absenteeism, classroom behavior, ability to concentrate, self-esteem, cognitive performance, and test scores. This toolkit provides information to help make schools the model for healthier…

There is an overwhelming amount of research and data on childhood nutrition due to drastic increases in childhood obesity (classified as a BMI index greater than the 95th percentile for their height/weight). Obesity amounts have tripled in the last 30 years for children who fall in the age range of the author's students. The effects of childhood…