download information on talks - Aric Sigman
download information on talks - Aric Sigman
download information on talks - Aric Sigman
- No tags were found...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
PSHE<strong>talks</strong>forschoolsby Dr <strong>Aric</strong> <strong>Sigman</strong>The Facts about AlcoholA new approach to alcohol educati<strong>on</strong> based <strong>on</strong> Dr <strong>Sigman</strong>’s bookAlcohol Nati<strong>on</strong>: How to protect our children from today’s drinking cultureBody Image and the Pressuresof Physical Appearance‘Schoolchildren need body image less<strong>on</strong>s,’ recommends the House of Comm<strong>on</strong>s All PartyParliamentary Group <strong>on</strong> body image. Dr <strong>Sigman</strong> advises <strong>on</strong> how to prevent body dissatisfacti<strong>on</strong>and eating disorders based <strong>on</strong> his biology paper ‘A Source of Thinspirati<strong>on</strong>? - the biologicallandscape of media, body image and dieting’Managing Screen Time and Screen DependencyPupils of all ages are watching more recreati<strong>on</strong>al screen media than ever before and many arefinding it difficult to stop. But ICT or screen media should be a tool, not a burden or health risk,explains Dr <strong>Sigman</strong>Parenting the Demanding Generati<strong>on</strong>Based <strong>on</strong> his book The Spoilt Generati<strong>on</strong>, Dr <strong>Sigman</strong> explains how and why authoritativeparenting leads to better-adjusted and more competent children, the importance of authorityand boundaries in child development, and standing up to demanding childrenTalks for all year groups both single sex and co-ed,parents and teacherswww.aricsigman.com
What theschools say...MarlboroughCollege‘It was excellent andI’m delighted with thepositive feedback. We’dlike to have <strong>Aric</strong> again’T<strong>on</strong>bridge School‘<strong>Aric</strong>’s talk had themhooked. He did notpatr<strong>on</strong>ise them, nordid he preach. He gavethem the facts in anentertaining andthought-provokingway, with just the rightamount of science -some of it cutting edge’St Mary’s School,Ascot‘<strong>Aric</strong> was brilliant today- again’British School in theNetherlands‘Memorable. Thestudents said theyfound it “amazing,awesome, cool! Learntso many new facts!”’Bedford School‘Brilliant. You really wereinspiring’Drag<strong>on</strong> School,Oxford‘Impressive’Haileybury School‘All the groups foundhim engaging, funny’The Facts about AlcoholThe Government urgently wants schools, parents,children and young people “to have openc<strong>on</strong>versati<strong>on</strong>s about alcohol, to ultimately delaythe age at which young people start drinking”. Theearlier children learn about alcohol the less likelythey are to develop an alcohol problem later,research shows. Dr <strong>Sigman</strong> informs children of the dangers ofalcohol before it’s too late, with developmentally appropriatemessages that provide them with the skills to refuse alcohol.Pupils will understand:• Advertisers and the media want them to believe it’s cool to drink.• The truth behind celebrity drinking.• Why girls are at greater risk of health damage from drinking andmust always drink less than boys, even when they’re thesame size.• How drinking reduces judgment, increasing risk-taking and therisk of being killed or seriously injured <strong>on</strong> your bike.• Why alcohol reduces a boy’s strength, power and coordinati<strong>on</strong>.• How to understand and counter peer pressure.• The definiti<strong>on</strong> of ‘binge-drinking’.• Date rape - the truth about spiked drinks.Parents will understand:• What steps they can take to actively reduce their child’s risk ofbinge-drinking or developing an alcohol problem.• The best approach to adopt with their children towards alcohol.• How they can forge a joined-up approach to alcohol with otherparents and schools.• How to help children deal with peer pressure to drink.Body Image and thePressures of PhysicalAppearanceBody dissatisfacti<strong>on</strong> has become so prevalent am<strong>on</strong>g girls andwomen that it is now being described as “a normative disc<strong>on</strong>tent”.And it’s appearing at increasingly younger ages. Nearly half ofthe three- to six-year-old girls in a study in the British Journal ofDevelopmental Psychology said they worry about being fat. Thereis also an alarming rise in the proporti<strong>on</strong> of school-aged childrentaking anabolic steroids to build muscle and acquire a ‘six-pack’.‘School children need body image less<strong>on</strong>s,’ the House ofComm<strong>on</strong>s All Party Parliamentary Group <strong>on</strong> body image hasrecommended. But how can we relieve these pressures orprevent them from developing in the first place? Focusing<strong>on</strong> preventing body dissatisfacti<strong>on</strong> and eating disorders, this talkis based <strong>on</strong> Dr <strong>Sigman</strong>’s biology paper, A Source of Thinspirati<strong>on</strong>?– the biological landscape of media, body image and dieting’(published in The Biologist, the journal of The Society of Biology and selected as the‘2012 Scientific Article’ for the 2012 Edexcel Biology A-level exam paper (ref: 6BI05/01).
Managing Screen Timeand Screen DependencyWhat theschools say...Screen ‘addicti<strong>on</strong>’ is a term increasingly beingused by doctors to describe the growingnumber of children engaging in screen activitiesin a dependent manner. Whether it’s Facebook,the Internet or computer games, screen time is nol<strong>on</strong>ger merely a cultural issue about how children spend theirleisure time, nor is it c<strong>on</strong>fined to c<strong>on</strong>cern over the educati<strong>on</strong>al valueor appropriate/inappropriate c<strong>on</strong>tent. It has become a medicalissue. The <strong>talks</strong> are based <strong>on</strong> Dr <strong>Sigman</strong>’s medical paper Takinga View <strong>on</strong> Screen Time, published in the BMA/BMJ’s Archives ofDisease in Childhood, his report for the EU Parliament WorkingGroup, The Impact Of Screen Media On Children: a Eurovisi<strong>on</strong> forParliament, and his book Remotely C<strong>on</strong>trolled.Pupils will understand:• How the amount of discreti<strong>on</strong>ary screen time they spend mayhave effects they didn’t expect.• How the over-use of electr<strong>on</strong>ic media may affect schoolperformance, academic achievement, physical and mental health,social skills and relati<strong>on</strong>ships.Parents and staff will understand:• How recreati<strong>on</strong>al screen time may affect cognitive skills, attenti<strong>on</strong>,brain development, literacy and academic achievement.• How much and what type of electr<strong>on</strong>ic media children should beusing before and after school hours, and at what ages.• What ‘multi-tasking’ does to children’s minds and brains.• What schools and parents should do together in deciding howmuch and what type of electr<strong>on</strong>ic media children should be using.Parenting theDemanding Generati<strong>on</strong>Westminster‘Excellent... the bestwe’ve had this term’The King’s School,Canterbury‘Perhaps you should becl<strong>on</strong>ed... your updatedmessage gave a wholenew twist to the stuffwe’ve thrown atthem. So it’s a bigthank you’Wellingt<strong>on</strong> College‘He got the balancebetween science,fun, seriousness,interactivity andhumour just right’Magdalen CollegeSchool, Oxford‘We all really enjoyedit... May I book you for2013 to deliver two<strong>talks</strong>?’‘C<strong>on</strong>trary to popular understanding,‘authoritative’ parenting leads to better-adjusted,more competent children … at differentdevelopmental periods including preschool,school age and adolescence,’ c<strong>on</strong>cludes a recentlarge scale study and review by the Institute ofEducati<strong>on</strong>. This talk explains why and how, and includes theimportance of authority and boundaries in child development andstanding up to our demanding children, based <strong>on</strong> Dr <strong>Sigman</strong>’sbook The Spoilt Generati<strong>on</strong>. He also discusses the unc<strong>on</strong>sciousmispercepti<strong>on</strong> that authority ‘versus’ sensitivity, love andcompassi<strong>on</strong> are in some way mutually exclusive, and that byexerting authority, we in some way diminish the caring we wantchildren to have and the affecti<strong>on</strong> and trust we want to feel fromthem. Parenting includes not <strong>on</strong>ly parents, but ‘extended parents’ -the other figures of authority in a child’s life, including teachers. Thistalk emphasises the importance of a more joined-up approach todealing with children today.Uppingham School‘Your exciting talk...is still generatingpositive commentsfrom staff andstudents alike’Oundle School‘Excellent feedbackfrom pupils, parentsand colleagues’Latymer UpperSchool‘A great success’
AboutDr <strong>Aric</strong> <strong>Sigman</strong>Dr <strong>Sigman</strong> is a Fellow of the Society of Biology,Associate Fellow of the British PsychologicalSociety and a recipient of the Science Council’sChartered Scientist award.He has worked <strong>on</strong> teenage health educati<strong>on</strong>campaigns with the Department of Health, and isthe author of four books <strong>on</strong> PSHE-relatedtopics, including Getting Physical, which w<strong>on</strong> The Times Educati<strong>on</strong>al Supplement’sInformati<strong>on</strong> Book Award. His biology paper <strong>on</strong> body image was the ‘2012 ScientificArticle’ for the 2012 Edexcel Biology A-level exam paper (ref: 6BI05/01).Dr <strong>Sigman</strong> has twice been invited to address the European Parliament Working Group<strong>on</strong> the Quality of Childhood in the EU in Brussels, <strong>on</strong>ce <strong>on</strong> reducing alcohol misuseam<strong>on</strong>g children and adolescents, and again <strong>on</strong> the impact of electr<strong>on</strong>ic media andscreen dependency. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health invited Dr<strong>Sigman</strong> to speak <strong>on</strong> Alcohol and Electr<strong>on</strong>ic Media at its Annual C<strong>on</strong>ference in 2012.Also in 2012, the EU Working Group published his report <strong>on</strong> the impact of electr<strong>on</strong>icmedia and screen dependency, and in 2013, it will publish his sec<strong>on</strong>d report <strong>on</strong>preventing alcohol misuse am<strong>on</strong>g children and adolescents in the EU.An American, Dr <strong>Sigman</strong> has lived in Britain for many years. Bey<strong>on</strong>d his credentials,he has to face health and wellbeing issues with his own four children, and finds it easyto c<strong>on</strong>nect with young people and children.He has a l<strong>on</strong>g history of health educati<strong>on</strong> work for children and young people,appearing <strong>on</strong> the BBC’s Going Live and then Live & Kicking for most of the 1990s. Healso wrote health and psychology columns for several BBC children’s and teenagemagazines. He currently writes the Brain and Behaviour column for The TimesEducati<strong>on</strong>al Supplement magazine TESpro.Dr <strong>Sigman</strong> travels abroad frequently to study childwellbeing and development in various culturesincluding Republic of C<strong>on</strong>go, Irian Jaya (WestPapua), North Korea, Bhutan, Iran, Mali,Borneo (right), T<strong>on</strong>ga, Turkmenistan, Myanmar(Burma), Laos, Vietnam, Bolivia, Burkina Faso,Far Eastern Siberia, Sumatra, South Korea,Cambodia, Chile, China and Japan am<strong>on</strong>gst others.www.aricsigman.com