Chapter Two
Reading Guide
The orderly, durable changes in learners resulting from a combination of experience,
learning, and maturation.
Development: A Definition
Development
Experience
Learning
Practice, trying out
something over and
over again.
Gaining knowledge
about something
PE: shoot baskets
PE: learn rules,
teacher demonstrates
techniques
Math: multiplication
worksheets
Math: use
manipulatives to learn
how multiplication
works
Maturation
Genetically controlled, agerelated 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
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.
Principles of Development
Influences
Learning
Principles
Experience
Development is continuous
& orderly
Development is gradual.
Development
Social
interaction
Maturation
Language
Each person develops at a
different rate.
The Human Brain and Cognitive
Development
When:
Early (preschool years)
Critical
periods: time
spans that are
optimal for the
development
of certain
capacities in
the brain.
What:
Environments
matter—rich
learning
environments
lead to more
complex
physical brain
development.
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.
Functional Anatomy of Brainhow the
Behavioral Relationships Notice
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.
Functional Anatomy of BrainBehavioral 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.
Here’s another system.
Right
Auditory
cortex
Left
Auditory
cortex
Thalamus
(Medial geniculate nucleus)
Inferior colliculus
Cochlea
Auditory
nerve fiber
Ipsilateral
Cochlear
nucleus
Superior
Olivary
nucleus
Functional Anatomy of BrainBehavioral 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).
Neurons transmit and store
information.
http://www.driesen.com/brain_view_-_5.htm
Neurons
http://www.biology.eku.edu/RITCHISO/301notes2.htm
Synapse
The synapse allows communication between neurons.
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.”

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.

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.

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 24 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
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.

More on the brain
Different parts of the
brain have different
functions.
Lateralization: the
specialization of the
two sides of the
brain. Yet, both
sides have to work
together in complex
tasks.
If the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only
left-handed people are in their right minds!
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.

Vocabulary
Accommodation
Concrete
operational
stage
Adaptation
Conservation
Funds of
knowledge
Neo-Piagetian
theories
Preoperational
stage
Social
development
Adolescent
egocentrism
Compensation
Heritage
language
Neurons
Private
speech
Social
experience
Reversability
Sociocultural
theory of
development
Assimilation
Cultural tools
Holophrases
Object
permanence
Assisted
learning
Decentering
Identity
Organization
Scaffolding
Synapses
Centration
Development
Lateralization
Overgeneralization
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
Undergeneralization
Collective
monologue
Formal
operational
stage
Pragmatics
Shared
understanding
Zone of
proximal
development
Nativist theory