Module 6 Post 1

     Brain research is taking a prominent place in today's classrooms. Many people think that neuroscience and education are two very different fields, but the reality is that brain research has led to many new beliefs about education. There are many different areas of the brain, but the cerebral cortex is the one that's divided into two separate hemispheres. This area of the brain has four separate areas; the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe and the temporal lobe. These lobes are responsible for carrying out functions that are essential to our everyday lives', such as movement and sensation.
     Brain research is now supporting the notions that toddlers' brains are much more active than adults. Toddlers' brains have so many more neurons than adults'. Because of this, toddlers are able to make connections and learn more easily. From this came the idea of a "critical period" which is a period of time where children's brains can be programmed to essentially anything. After this time, the neurons have made connections and have become myelinated, becoming proficient at their desired tasks. A child could learn any language at this "critical period" but after this the brain begins neural pruning. Neural pruning is the process by which the brain weeds out information it doesn't use and focuses on the tasks the brain is doing everyday. Neural pruning begins after age 6 and by the age of 14, many connections have already been myelinated and learning different material becomes more challenging.
    Brain research has also provided scientists with factors that affect development. At one point, people thought genetics was the main reason for how people's brains functioned. Today, there is much research supporting different factors, such as the environment for how brains function. Environmental experiences lead to differences in brain development. Research has concluded that humans need a stimulating environment to achieve highest levels of learning. Social interactions, changes in setting, emotional support and varying sensory stimulation are all part of a positive environment leading to successful learning.  Another development factor is the discovery that the brain is "plastic." The term "plastic" refers to the brain's ability to reprogram itself after a loss of function. If a young child has lost part of his or her brain, the brain should be able to compensate for the lost portion. The child can usually gain normal function again. However, the brain is usually less plastic after the connections have been more myelinated with age. It may be harder for a thirty-year old to reprogram his or her brain because of the loss of plasticity.
   
     According to a brain scientist, development is the process of myelination that takes place in the brain. The expansion of the brain can be attributed to the increase of knowledge and information. Because of this, the neurons specialize themselves. This occurs because the human is continually using this connection so the myelination becomes thicker. Brain scientists also think that BOTH genetics and environments influence development. Learning explains the myelination and retention of information through knowledge. The different between development and learning is explained as development being the way we, as human beings, are programmed. Learning is taking this program information and applying the connections to our environments.

     In the picture below, myelination and neural pruning is occurring. At birth, there are many connections waiting to be developed. Then at age 6, more and more connections are being formed and the brain is fine tuning the connections that it uses regularly. This is displayed with the thicker, bolder lines. When you look at the synaptic connections at age 14, you can see that there are far fewer lines which means there are less connections being made. However, the connections that you do see are thick and bold and there are significantly more connections than there were at birth. The brain has performed neural pruning on connections that were not utilized in between the ages of 6 and 14. Now the brain is proficient and can perform optimally because it's connections have been fine tuned.