Back to school amidst COVID-19

The power of placebos

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9/20/21 Thank you for subscribing to The Cheat Sheet, from Science News for Students. If you like this newsletter, share it with a friend or colleague. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up for our weekly updates. Got questions, suggestions or comments? Email us at sns@sciencenews.org and put “The Cheat Sheet” in the subject line. We’d love to hear from you. In the News With millions of kids returning to the classroom as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, questions abound about the safety of in-person learning. How severe is COVID-19 in kids? How effective are precautions like masking? How does the super-infectious delta variant of the virus change things? Science News for Students has your answers in a series of back-to-school stories in our Coronavirus Outbreak collection.  While COVID-19 poses little risk to many kids, studies suggest it can be quite severe for some — and that the new coronavirus has had a much bigger impact on kids than the flu. But there’s still a lot scientists don’t know about how COVID-19 affects kids, such as how often children develop lingering symptoms known as long COVID and whether the delta variant makes kids sicker.  The good news: Schools don't have to be hotbeds of COVID-19 when people take proper precautions, such as wearing masks. Masking appears to prevent the spread of the virus even on buses and in small classrooms that don’t allow six-foot social distancing. Regular COVID-19 testing for students also helps keep cases down, although testing protocols vary widely between schools.  Despite the many precautions necessary to keep kids safe, most experts agree that schools should stay open. Test scores have already started to reveal that kids have fallen months behind in their learning — and that’s to say nothing of all the opportunities kids have lost to socialize with friends, exercise at sports practices and enjoy music lessons and clubs. Understanding these far-reaching impacts can help parents and educators better understand kids’ struggles as they enter their third school year of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Science News is a nonprofit. We depend on our readers to support our journalism. You can help by subscribing for as little as $25.   SUBSCRIBE NOW   Catch up with the latest from Science News for Students How to resist and counter today’s flood of fake news: Although misinformation bothers most people, few know how to spot deceit or nonsense, studies find. Readability: 8.6 Resources: power words, classroom questions, word find puzzle, alternate version at Science News  Squirrels use parkour tricks to leap from branch to branch: Squirrels navigate through trees by making rapid calculations. They have to balance trade-offs between branch flexibility and the distance between tree limbs. Readability: 6.3 Resources: power words, classroom questions, video, alternate version at Science News  Let’s learn about dark matter: Dark matter is only detectable by the gravitational pull it exerts on visible objects, like stars and galaxies. Readability: 7.2 Resources:   power words, word find puzzle A medieval grave may have held a powerful nonbinary person: A 1,000-year-old grave in Finland, once thought to hold a respected woman warrior, may belong to someone who didn’t have a strictly male or female identity. Readability: 8.5 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News Baby pterosaurs may have been able to fly right after hatching: A bone crucial for lift-off was stronger in hatchling pterosaurs than in adults. The baby reptiles also had shorter, broader wings than grown-ups. Readability: 7.3 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News Scientists Say: Plasma: In physics, plasma refers to one of the four states of matter. In medicine, plasma describes the part of blood that ferries cells, nutrients and more throughout the body. Readability: 6.5 Resources: power words, audio Opportunity Want to go on a field trip that doesn’t involve visiting a crowded public place? Browse a science museum from the comfort of your classroom or living room. Take a virtual tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, or watch live feeds of jellyfish, penguins and other creatures at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Find out more about the resources available for using Science News for Students stories for learning. And if you like this newsletter, please share it with a friend or colleague. Did someone share this with you? Subscribe to this newsletter here. If you’ve got questions, suggestions or comments, email us at sns@sciencenews.org. Thank you for reading! Privacy policy  |  Update Profile  | Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe This email was sent by: Society for Science 1719 N Street NW Washington, DC, 20036, US