Monday, March 22, 2010

“Games connect SMCC kids to Haiti relief (The Sandusky Register)” plus 2 more

“Games connect SMCC kids to Haiti relief (The Sandusky Register)” plus 2 more

Games connect SMCC kids to Haiti relief (The Sandusky Register)

Posted: 21 Mar 2010 10:16 PM PDT

‘It’s about the kids’ (Herald & Review)

Posted: 22 Mar 2010 04:35 AM PDT

DECATUR — Chelso Frescura is the first to admit he's not that great at bowling.

But on Sunday at Decatur's Pla-Mor Lanes, Frescura felt like every ball was a strike because it wasn't the game that mattered, it was being there for the right reason. With his little "brother" Dwain Johnson, 11, as part of his team, Frescura was playing his heart out in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Illinois Bowl for Kids' Sake tournament.

"It's not about the bowling, it's about the kids," said Frescura, 53, of Decatur. "And if you want to change the world," he adds, glancing over at Dwain, "Here's the best place to start."

Bowl for Kids' Sake is the major fundraiser for the Big Brothers Big Sisters operation in Macon County. Last year's tournament involving sponsored teams raised about $120,000, and that supported 250 active matches involving big brothers and big sisters. The agency pairs children with adults who offer everything from companionship and fun activities to help with homework and someone to talk to.

The bowling started Friday night, continued Saturday and finished up Sunday with the help of corporate sponsors such as Pizza Hut, which provided free food for the bowlers. "A lot of people have asked how the economy is affecting us, but we have 700 bowlers taking part and we're doing similar to last year, which was a record year for us," said Jeannie Stahlheber, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Illinois.

"I think that is because we are just a great charity and children's causes are always close to people's hearts."

Ward Lenart had started out as one of the players taking part to raise money and then decided to kick his game up a notch. "I thought about it and decided 'Why don't I be a Big Brother, too?' said Lenart, 43. "That was a year ago, and now I am a Big Brother."

He was bowling Sunday with 13-year-old Marlin Baker, who said his mentor joins him for pickup basketball games at the YMCA and is a lot of fun to be around. "He's a real good guy, and he helps me out with schoolwork, too," he added.

If you want to become a Big Brother or Big Sister, call 428-4240. There are 100 kids on the waiting list in Macon County.

treid@herald-review.com|421-7977

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Study says video games can hurt schoolwork (The Buffalo News)

Posted: 22 Mar 2010 04:21 AM PDT

SPOKANE, Wash. — Parents who fear that buying a video game system will hurt their kids' schoolwork might be right.

Young boys who receive their first video game system don't progress as quickly in school as boys who don't own such devices, a new study found.

The average reading and writing scores of the young gamers don't go down, but they don't improve either, said Robert Weis of Denison University in Ohio, co-author of the study.

"For children without games, scores go up over time," Weis said. "For boys with games, scores remain relatively stable. You don't see the typical development in reading and writing."

The study found that the young gamers averaged about 40 minutes per day on the PlayStation II system, likely cutting into study time and social activities. Children without the system in their homes still averaged nine minutes per day of video gaming, usually at the homes of friends, the study found.

An official for the Entertainment Software Association, a Washington, D. C., trade group for video game makers, said the study results were not a surprise, but no cause for alarm.

"Can anyone be surprised that kids tend to play more with new video games, or toys or bicycles, than with the older ones?" said Richard Taylor, senior vice president for communications for the group.

But that novelty can wear off and "the authors themselves note that they are not sure the effect would exist after four months," Taylor said.

Weis acknowledged the need for a study on the effects of long-term ownership of video games.

"Maybe after a year they become less interested or don't play them as often," Weis said, although the boys in his study did not show any drop off in the four months.

While the conclusion that owning a video game increases the time kids spend on such games might seem obvious, Weis, a clinical psychologist, said it was important to scientifically prove that conventional wisdom was correct. The study was published recently in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Weis and colleague Brittany C. Cerankosky used newspaper ads in central Ohio to recruit families with boys between the ages of 6 and 9 for the study. The families did not own video-game systems, and the parents were told their sons were participating in an "ongoing study of boys' academic and behavioral development." Girls were excluded from the study because researchers feared they would not play video games enough to produce meaningful results.

Parents of the 64 selected boys were promised a PlayStation II gaming system in exchange for their participation, plus three E-rated games. But half the families were given the video gaming system immediately and half were promised it after four months.

The children completed intelligence tests, plus reading and writing assessments, at the beginning and after four months. Also, parents and teachers filled out questionnaires relating to the boys' behavior at home and at school.

The study found that the boys who received the video-game system immediately spent more time playing video games (39.3 minutes versus 9.3 minutes) and less time (18.2 minutes versus 31.6 minutes) in after-school academic activities.

Taylor, from the software association, noted there was only a 13-minute difference between the two groups in the time spent in after-school academic activities.

But the new gamers had lower reading and writing scores after four months, and their teachers reported more learning problems, the study found. The biggest gap was in writing.

Weis believes the message from the study is that parents should limit the amount of time their children play video games.


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