Chapter Two

1. Chapter Two Reading Guide

2. The orderly, durable changes in learners resulting from a combination of experience, learning, and maturation. Development: A Definition Development Experience Learning Maturation Practice, trying out something over and over again. PE: shoot baskets Math: multiplication worksheets Gaining knowledge about something PE: learn rules, teacher demonstrates techniques Math: use manipulatives to learn how multiplication works Genetically controlled, age-related changes in individuals: Body and brain grow older and more capable PE: grow taller, become more coordinated Math: brain becomes more able to deal with abstract information

3. Facets and types of development • Physical development—changes in the body • Personal development—changes in personality (psychology) • Social development—changes in the way a person interacts with other people • Cognitive development—changes in the way a person thinks. • Maturation—changes which are genetically programmed—such as most forms of physical development and a lot of cognitive development.

4. Principles of Development Influences Principles Learning Experience Development is continuous & orderly Development is gradual. Development Social interaction Maturation Language Each person develops at a different rate.

5. The Human Brain and Cognitive Development What: Environments matter—rich learning environments lead to more complex physical brain development. When: Early (pre-school years) Critical periods: time spans that are optimal for the development of certain capacities in the brain.

6. This and the next three slides are from a power point by Bonnie Sachs, M.S., January, 2006 Anatomy of the Brain Different areas of the brain have different functions and/or perceive and process different types of information.

7. Functional Anatomy of Brain-Behavioral Relationships Notice how the information from the right eye goes to the left side of the brain. • Visual System • Visual information is sent from the retina through the thalamus (LGN) to the primary visual cortex. • Visual information from the left and right visual fields split into separate contralateral inputs to the cortex. Optic nerve Optic chiasm Optic tract Thalamus (Lateral geniculate nucleus) Optic radiation Primary visual cortex This is just one example of how the brain works.

8. Functional Anatomy of Brain-Behavioral Relationships • Auditory System • Information is sent from the cochlea through the thalamus (MGN) to the primary auditory cortex. • There are both ipsilateral and contralateral inputs to the cortex from each ear. Right Auditory cortex Left Auditory cortex Thalamus (Medial geniculate nucleus) Inferior colliculus Cochlea Auditory nerve fiber Superior Olivary nucleus Ipsilateral Cochlear nucleus Here’s another system.

9. Functional Anatomy of Brain-Behavioral Relationships • The “Homonculus” • This model represents how our bodies are proportionately processed in the sensory and motor cortices of the brain. In other words, big portions of our brains are devoted to our hands and mouth—more so than to our legs and feet. Think about how we use our hands and our mouths, not only for tool use (hands) but for language (mouth).

10. Neurons transmit and store information. Neurons http://www.driesen.com/brain_view_-_5.htm

11. http://www.biology.eku.edu/RITCHISO/301notes2.htm Synapse The synapse allows communication between neurons.

12. The Developing Brain • All the neurons we need develop before our birth. • By age 2 or 3, each neuron has 15,000 synapses, far more than we actually need. • As we experience living in our particular circumstances, the synapses we don’t need are “pruned.”

13. The Developing Brain • Some synapses “expect” stimulation (“experience expectant”)—such as those involved in seeing and hearing. Children who are born deaf lose the synapses that are involved in hearing. • Some synapses are “experience dependent”—they develop as a result of experiences a child has. A child in a musical family will develop more synapses dealing with music than a child in a family that emphasizes something else.

14. The Developing Brain • Babies need stimulation in order to develop their synapses. • Plasticity—the brain of a young child is adaptable. If damage occurs to one area, other areas of the brain may be able to compensate. • Myelin is the coating on the neuron fibers. When the brain goes through a process of myelination, that coating gets thicker and the information goes through better, as a result.

15. Cerebral Cortex The cerebral cortex is a brain structure in vertebrates. In non-living, preserved brains, the outermost layers of the cerebrum has a grey color, hence the name "grey matter". Grey matter is formed by neurons and their unmyelinated fibers while the white matter below the grey matter of the cortex is formed predominantly by myelinated axons interconnecting different regions of the central nervous system. The human cerebral cortex is 2-4 mm (0.08-0.16 inches) thick and plays a central role in many complex brain functions including memory, attention, perceptual awareness, "thinking", language and consciousness. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_cortex

16. Cerebral cortex • Different parts of the cerebral cortex mature at different times. • The areas that control physical movement mature first, then the senses (vision, hearing, etc.), then higher order thinking. • This is what childhood is all about—children can move around, often like adults, but they cannot think like adults because their brains are not mature. They need mature people to keep them safe, help them, and teach them so they can mature.

17. More on the brain Lateralization: the specialization of the two sides of the brain. Yet, both sides have to work together in complex tasks. Different parts of the brain have different functions. If the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handed people are in their right minds!

18. The brain and learning • Experience and direct teaching affect the brain. • Anxiety and fear can get in the way of learning. • Some people believe in brain-based learning and others don’t. If you are interested, look it up on the web and figure out your perspective on it.

19. Accommodation Concrete operational stage Vocabulary Adaptation Conservation Funds of knowledge Neo-Piagetian theories Preoperational stage Social development Adolescent egocentrism Compensation Heritage language Neurons Private speech Social experience Assimilation Cultural tools Holophrases Object permanence Reversability Sociocultural theory of development Assisted learning Decentering Identity Organization Scaffolding Synapses Centration Development Lateralization Over-generalization Schemes Syntax Classification Disequilibrium Maturation Personal development Semiotic function Systematic reasoning Co-constructed process Egocentrism Metalinguistic awareness Physical development Sensori-motor stage Transformation Cognitive development Equilibrium Myelination Plasticity Seriation Under- generalization Collective monologue Formal operational stage Nativist theory Pragmatics Shared understanding Zone of proximal development