Education and the Developing Brain

1. Education and the Developing Brain Robbin Gibb and Bryan Kolb Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience University of Lethbridge, Canada

2. A Key Concept for Educators: The prefrontal cortex What is the prefrontal cortex and Why does it matter?

3. And the Answers are: 1. All mammals have a region at the front of the brain that acts to support cognitive functions necessary to organize behavior in contexts that vary over time. Examples: imagination; social interaction; planning

5. And the Answers are: 2. The PFC is very late to develop and this means that it is profoundly influenced by developmental experiences As a result many serious mental health issues can be related to PFC development…

6. Developing the cerebral hemispheres 80 billion neurons 1014 connections = An engineering marvel… Your brain is sculpted by a lifetime of experiences, especially in the first few years of life.

8. Migration of Neurons Cells must migrate to the right region AND the right layer

9. Brain Cells develop connections over the first 2-10 yrs Then they are sculpted actively for 20+ yrs

10. Cell Death and Synaptic Pruning In humans, PFC pruning continues until about age 30 years!

12. But the changes in brain and behaviour can be counter intuitive: This shows the correlation between decreasing cortical thickness and vocabulary.

13. What factors influence PFC development? A wide range of factors alter both the development and pruning of synapses. This impacts an amazing array of behaviors.

14. What factors influence PFC development? • Sensory and motor experience • Early stress • Psychoactive drugs • Parent-infant relations • Peer relationships

15. What factors influence PFC development? Sensory and motor experience example: tactile stimulation

16. Maternal Massage Kangaroo Care

17. What factors influence PFC development? Sensory and motor experience Early stress

18. Moderate Prenatal Stress 1. Smaller brains 2. Larger adrenal glands 3. Altered frontal lobe development: decreased synapses in mPFC and OFC. =abnormal social (play) behaviour =abnormal cognitive and motor behaviour

20. What about Teacher-child relationships and the classroom? Children in grade 1 can be classified by both behavioural and physiological responses: some children are very reactive to the class environment whereas others are not. This is modulated both by the teacher-child relationship and the nature of the classroom (stable vs chaotic).

21. What about Teacher-child relationships and the classroom? Children in grade 1 can be classified by both behavioural and physiological responses: some children are very reactive to the class environment whereas others are not. This is modulated both by the teacher-child relationship and the nature of the classroom (stable vs chaotic).

22. Success Requires: • Creativity • Flexibility • Self-Control • Discipline All of these qualities are “executive functions” -EF’s are more important for school readiness than IQ -Predict math and reading competence thro’ school years

23. Children with worse self-control at ages 3-11 (stress, loneliness, not physically fit): • Have worse health outcomes • Earn less • Commit more crimes in the ensuing 30 years (studies controlled for IQ, Gender, and SES) Even small improvements in EF can translate into improvements in health, wealth, and lower crime rate for a nation( Moffitt et al. PNAS 2011) .

24. Ways to Improve EF function? • Computerized training or hybrid computer and non-computer games (CogEd) • Aerobic Exercise, Sports • Martial Arts, Mindfulness Practices (Yoga) • Classroom Curricula

25. Programs Designed to Enhance EF Development • Tools of the Mind, Montessori, PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinks Strategies), CSRP (Chicago School Readiness Program), Have Two Important Commonalities: • Don’t expect young children to sit still for long • Reduce stress in classroom: focus on cultivating joy, pride, self-confidence and social bonding.

26. Summary of Findings 1. Those with poorest EF’s gain the most • Early training can level the playing field and improve later academic performance 2. Largest differences seen with most demanding EF measures (situations where more executive control needed) 3. Must challenge EF’s to continue to see improvements 4. EF’s can be improved in children as young as 4-5 yrs. 5. EF’s transfer but transfer is narrow

27. Why does the brain change? • Brain plasticity offers an adaptive advantage. We can “learn” from our experiences and that should allow us to engage more appropriate behavioural responses in future situations • Brain changes Behavioural changes Experience (Environment) • But - Not all brain plasticity is positive! (Think of habits)

28. Nature/ Nurture • No longer a debate • Environment leaves its mark on our genome and can modulate future gene expression in a sometimes heritable fashion • The study of how environment leaves its footprint on the genome falls into the domain of Epigenetics Harry Harlow -early work on surrogate mothers

29. Epigenetics • refers to changes in gene expression often mediated by environmental influences that are stable between cell divisions, and sometimes between generations, but do not involve changes in the underlying DNA sequence of the organism.

31. Methylation

32. Parenting Differences Mom Dad

33. Play Styles Men Women Color, draw, read Don’t permit too much physical contact Play in a highly predictable fashion Spend about 22% of time with kids in interactive play • Play differently-more rough and tumble • Allow more exploration of their body • Play is unpredictable • Spend 40% of time with kids in interactive play

34. Tag, wrestling, lots of physical contact Coloring, drawing, board games, lots of control, little contact

35. Discipline Style Men Women Soften the blow. Encourage change but want kids to think about it • Use a quick discipline style- over with and move on. • Expect immediate results

36. Encouragement Style Dads Mom Encourage kids to be safe Want to be sure the child feels secure and comfortable with what they are doing Lifeguard style of encouragement • Encourage kids to take risks • Don’t coddle- want the child to stretch their limits • Cheerleader style of encouragement

37. Lab Studies Degus. Biparental care of the young

38. Strong Father Attachment • Father vocabulary (not mother’s) predicts kids literacy skills even though Dad’s speak fewer words to their kids • Stronger interpersonal relationship skills • Fewer teen pregnancies, less drug use, less likely to join gangs, more likely to finish high school • Strong mother attachment predicts none of these things Paternal deprivation alters frontal lobe development C. Helmeke et al., Neuroscience 163 (2009) 790–798.

40. Why is this important? Social hierarchies develop very early (even kindergarten) and the child’s position in the hierarchies can predict physical and mental heath both as children and in middle age… The hierarchies can be seen in kindergarten play. The hierarchies influence prefrontal development.

41. All mammals have play behaviour with rules

42. The amount of play affected the complexity of cells in the prefrontal cortex. One consequence is that the playful brain is more plastic later in life and responds differently to psychoactive drugs…

43. Conclusion • Brain Development is prolonged (especially PFC-EF) and profoundly affected by experience. • Thus the nature/nurture interaction predicts success in school and lifetime health and prosperity.