{"id":12731,"date":"2022-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?p=12731&preview=true&preview_id=12731"},"modified":"2022-05-11T11:11:52","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T09:11:52","slug":"question-of-the-month-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/05\/04\/question-of-the-month-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Question of the month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

QUESTION OF THE MONTH:<\/span><\/h3>\n\n

Why do children go hyperactive when it\u2019s windy?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n

KARL STEWART, LEICESTER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

There\u2019s certainly seems to be widespread belief in this idea. A survey of hundreds of UK headteachers in 2020 found that the overwhelming majority (74 per cent) believed that strong wind is the worst weather for pupils\u2019 behaviour, rather than heat, snow or rain. We probably shouldn\u2019t dismiss these beliefs out of hand, but from a scientific perspective, there\u2019s little evidence to support them. A 1989 study by researchers at the University of Lancashire actually found that slightly fewer children were sent to a \u2018quiet room\u2019 (for disruptive behaviour) on windier days. A University of Nevada study from 1990 looked at a range of weather variables, including wind, and while preschoolers spent less time on their learning materials during stormy weather, they instead spent more time engaged appropriately (so not aggressively) with peers and with teachers. The researchers surmised that children seek out more human company when the weather makes them feel uneasy \u2013 a possible effect of wind, then, but hardly consistent with the idea that it makes them hyper. Or consider a study carried out at Carleton University in Canada that also looked at links between young kids\u2019 behaviour and weather patterns. In this case, stronger wind had no associations with negative emotions, but it was correlated with the kids being less determined and less active. The researchers speculated this was due to the cold time of year, with the biting wind feeling harsh and demotivating \u2013 but again, this doesn\u2019t back up the idea of wind making kids go mad.<\/p>\n\n

Based on the little scientific research available, the idea that kids go crazy when it\u2019s windy seems to be no more than an urban myth, alongside similar evidence-free but popular beliefs, such as that sugar makes them go wild. CJ <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n

\n\n

WINNER<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

The winner of next issue\u2019s Question Of The Month <\/em>wins a NASA Deluxe telescope, <\/strong>worth \u00a399.99. This iconic astronomical telescope has a 37cm height-adjustable tripod, a finder scope and three lenses with varying magnification to capture the sights of the skies iwantoneofthose.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Email your questions to<\/span>
questions@sciencefocus.com<\/a>
or submit on Twitter<\/span>
@sciencefocus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

IMAGE: GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why do children go hyperactive when it\u2019s windy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7013,"featured_media":12735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"","purple_seq_number":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"","purple_source_article":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"","purple_source_issue":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_external_id":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"May-2022-4e4d3e7f-acc6-44e0-9cdd-1fee9867b48a","purple_issue_code":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000089653||","purple_android_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue377","purple_ios_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue377","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-05-10T12:35:20Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"a55107a1-c408-41ae-9716-1df297696650","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-05-11T09:11:58Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQ==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ApVEHocQIQa6XFh3yl2lmUA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1176301708.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"stephanieorgan@googlemail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/stephanieorgangooglemail-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1176301708.jpg",1267,900,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1176301708-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1176301708-300x213.jpg",300,213,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1176301708-768x546.jpg",768,546,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1176301708-1024x727.jpg",800,568,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1176301708.jpg",1267,900,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/GettyImages-1176301708.jpg",1267,900,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"stephanieorgan@googlemail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/stephanieorgangooglemail-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":6,"uagb_excerpt":"Why do children go hyperactive when it\u2019s windy?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12731"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13692,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12731\/revisions\/13692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}