Download or read book Making Sense of Neuroscience in the Early Years written by Sally Featherstone and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-11-16 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Translating research about child neuroscience into practice in education is a daunting prospect for most practitioners. In fact, many see it as fraught with difficulties and risky. However, the importance of this research has never been more important. The context of the early years in the UK, has seen considerable changes within recent years, with a raft of government regulation and guidance, and a national move to free childcare entitlement at increasingly earlier ages. Combined with a mounting pressure for accountability in 'Closing the Gap' between disadvantaged children and those more fortunate, these pressures make it fundamental that those working with young children understand what neuroscience is telling us, and more important, what it is not. Practitioners, teachers managers, and governors in settings and schools will not only be called to account for the attainment of their children, as measured in tests, but in the way children are prepared for lifelong earning, which will support them for the rest of their school lives and beyond. This book is a comprehensive position statement for practitioners that highlights: where we are now; what we know; what we don't know; what research developments mean for practitioners and setting, and how this fits in with the government expectations within the EYFS framework. Sally Featherstone covers the current thinking in educational research and neuroscience, how some of this has been misinterpreted by 'early adopters' or 'over-enthusiastic promoters', and how new information can help practitioners to be more effective in their work with young children.
Download or read book From Neurons to Neighborhoods written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-11-13 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.
Download or read book Making Sense of Neuroscience in the Early Years written by Sally Featherstone and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-11-29 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Babies and young children are developing individuals with almost unlimited power to learn. Their earliest experiences shape their personalities, interests and outlook, so it is crucially important that those working with young children understand what neuroscience is and isn't telling us about this period in a child's life ... This guide to neuroscience research will help you make sense of this seemingly closed world and show you that it's not as impenetrable as it looks. Familiar topics such as communication, schemas, reading and writing are presented alongside debates about nature and nurture, sleep science and the obesity epidemic.
Download or read book Measuring the Impact of Dyslexia written by Carol Hayes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-08 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measuring the Impact of Dyslexia shows the considerable benefits of recognising and celebrating the skills of those with information processing differences, explains their unique brain organisation and shows how they can excel as contributing members of society with proper support and guidance. It offers a balanced and research-based perspective to living with this condition, highlighting the huge number of children leaving school with low literacy levels, as a result of undiagnosed information processing differences. Full of critically reflective questions, case studies and interviews with those affected by dyslexia, this text encourages educators of children and young people with dyslexia to challenge their own perceptions by understanding the links between low literacy and anti-social behaviour, poor health, unemployment and limited educational attainment, and includes helpful pointers for improving practice and outcomes. This accessible and readable text is aimed at students, practitioners, researchers and experienced professionals in a range of disciplines to enhance CPD. It is particularly relevant for students working on both taught and research based masters degrees, especially programmes related to specific learning difficulties.
Download or read book Discovering the Brain written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brain ... There is no other part of the human anatomy that is so intriguing. How does it develop and function and why does it sometimes, tragically, degenerate? The answers are complex. In Discovering the Brain, science writer Sandra Ackerman cuts through the complexity to bring this vital topic to the public. The 1990s were declared the "Decade of the Brain" by former President Bush, and the neuroscience community responded with a host of new investigations and conferences. Discovering the Brain is based on the Institute of Medicine conference, Decade of the Brain: Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain Research. Discovering the Brain is a "field guide" to the brainâ€"an easy-to-read discussion of the brain's physical structure and where functions such as language and music appreciation lie. Ackerman examines: How electrical and chemical signals are conveyed in the brain. The mechanisms by which we see, hear, think, and pay attentionâ€"and how a "gut feeling" actually originates in the brain. Learning and memory retention, including parallels to computer memory and what they might tell us about our own mental capacity. Development of the brain throughout the life span, with a look at the aging brain. Ackerman provides an enlightening chapter on the connection between the brain's physical condition and various mental disorders and notes what progress can realistically be made toward the prevention and treatment of stroke and other ailments. Finally, she explores the potential for major advances during the "Decade of the Brain," with a look at medical imaging techniquesâ€"what various technologies can and cannot tell usâ€"and how the public and private sectors can contribute to continued advances in neuroscience. This highly readable volume will provide the public and policymakersâ€"and many scientists as wellâ€"with a helpful guide to understanding the many discoveries that are sure to be announced throughout the "Decade of the Brain."
Download or read book What s Going on in There written by Lise Eliot and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2010-06-16 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a research neuroscientist, Lise Eliot has made the study of the human brain her life's work. But it wasn't until she was pregnant with her first child that she became intrigued with the study of brain development. She wanted to know precisely how the baby's brain is formed, and when and how each sense, skill, and cognitive ability is developed. And just as important, she was interested in finding out how her role as a nurturer can affect this complex process. How much of her baby's development is genetically ordained--and how much is determined by environment? Is there anything parents can do to make their babies' brains work better--to help them become smarter, happier people? Drawing upon the exploding research in this field as well as the stories of real children, What's Going On in There? is a lively and thought-provoking book that charts the brain's development from conception through the critical first five years. In examining the many factors that play crucial roles in that process, What's Going On in There? explores the evolution of the senses, motor skills, social and emotional behaviors, and mental functions such as attention, language, memory, reasoning, and intelligence. This remarkable book also discusses: how a baby's brain is "assembled" from scratch the critical prenatal factors that shapebrain development how the birthing process itself affects the brain which forms of stimulation are most effective at promoting cognitive development how boys' and girls' brains develop differently how nutrition, stress, and other physical and social factors can permanently affect a child's brain Brilliantly blending cutting-edge science with a mother's wisdom and insight, What's Going On in There? is an invaluable contribution to the nature versus nurture debate. Children's development is determined both by the genes they are born with and the richness of their early environment. This timely and important book shows parents the innumerable ways in which they can actually help their children grow better brains.
Download or read book EBOOK Making Sense of Play Supporting children in their play written by Perry Else and published by McGraw-Hill Education (UK). This book was released on 2014-08-16 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making Sense of Play straightforwardly describes how self-chosen, engaging and satisfying play is best for children. It explores how adults can best support children's free play with an approach that is holistic, inclusive and practical and offers clear tools to highlight better ways of relating to and providing for playing children. The book extends two key concepts developed by the author, the Integral Play Framework and the Play Cycle, showing how practitioners can implement these ideas on a day-to-day basis. The author makes clear how the Integral Play Framework works, how it helps makes sense of other models and how it can be used to help plan provision for playing children physically, socially, cognitively and culturally. Everyday practice with playing children is explored in line with introductory and extended understandings of the Play Cycle or 'play process'. Accessibly written with a rich range of examples showing the concepts in practice, these models are further used to explore creativity, the ways in which children play, how provision might be improved and how the approaches can be used to research practice. With its distinctive blend of theory and practice together with reflective questions, this book is essential reading for all playwork students and practitioners and helps put these innovative ideas into practice with playing children. "Perry Else's book, Making Sense of Play, is just what we might expect from one of the UK's leading playwork authors. Drawing extensively on Else's work with a number of theorists, it is thought-provoking in its content and challenging in the breadth of its scope. Those of us who value diagrams and tables as a mechanism for clarifying complex concepts will be rewarded by the format of the chapters. I recommend this book to anyone with an analytical preference, and an interest in the way societies cater for the needs of children at play." Fraser Brown, Professor of Playwork, Leeds Beckett University, UK "Perry has the special ability to write a rigorous academic book applying helpful theoretical perspectives to play without ever damaging the precious importance of uninterrupted, spontaneous child-led PLAY." Sara Knight, Forest School Association and Anglia Ruskin University, UK "Making Sense of Play is an accessible and thought-provoking book for all those who are involved or interested in children's play, whether they are practitioners, academics, students or tutors. Written in an engaging and informative manner, it offers opportunities to deepen understanding about different perspectives on play and how this knowledge can aid adults in supporting play. Notably the inclusion of activities and questions for each chapter are invaluable for consolidating understanding and applying the theory to practice." Julia Sexton, Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Download or read book The Reader s Brain written by Yellowlees Douglas and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-06-11 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing upon cutting-edge neuroscience research, this unique writing guide provides easy-to-follow principles for writing effectively and efficiently.
Download or read book The Myth of the First Three Years written by John Bruer and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-11 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most parents today have accepted the message that the first three years of a baby's life determine whether or not the child will grow into a successful, thinking person. But is this powerful warning true? Do all the doors shut if baby's brain doesn't get just the right amount of stimulation during the first three years of life? Have discoveries from the new brain science really proved that parents are wholly responsible for their child's intellectual successes and failures alike? Are parents losing the "brain wars"? No, argues national expert John Bruer. In The Myth of the First Three Years he offers parents new hope by debunking our most popular beliefs about the all-or-nothing effects of early experience on a child's brain and development. Challenging the prevailing myth -- heralded by the national media, Head Start, and the White House -- that the most crucial brain development occurs between birth and age three, Bruer explains why relying on the zero to three standard threatens a child's mental and emotional well-being far more than missing a few sessions of toddler gymnastics. Too many parents, educators, and government funding agencies, he says, see these years as our main opportunity to shape a child's future. Bruer agrees that valid scientific studies do support the existence of critical periods in brain development, but he painstakingly shows that these same brain studies prove that learning and cognitive development occur throughout childhood and, indeed, one's entire life. Making hard science comprehensible for all readers, Bruer marshals the neurological and psychological evidence to show that children and adults have been hardwired for lifelong learning. Parents have been sold a bill of goods that is highly destructive because it overemphasizes infant and toddler nurturing to the detriment of long-term parental and educational responsibilities. The Myth of the First Three Years is a bold and controversial book because it urges parents and decision-makers alike to consider and debate for themselves the evidence for lifelong learning opportunities. But more than anything, this book spreads a message of hope: while there are no quick fixes, conscientious parents and committed educators can make a difference in every child's life, from infancy through childhood, and beyond.
Download or read book Brainwashed written by Sally Satel and published by Basic Civitas Books. This book was released on 2013-06-04 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Demonstrates how the explanatory power of brain scans in particular and neuroscience more generally has been overestimated, arguing that the overzealous application of brain science has undermined notions of free will and responsibility.
Download or read book Making Sense of Emotion written by Frank John Ninivaggi and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-08-31 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Children not shown tools to develop emotional intelligence fail emotionally and socially. Basic empathy skills are absent. In adult life, employment and occupational advancement are less likely. Making Sense of Emotion grasps the Yale integrative emotional intelligence ability model. Adding key missing elements, this book unlocks its potential to trigger “emotion performance utilization” in real life and real-time. The epidemic of overusing medications, substance use disorders, addiction, drug overdoses, even global “doping” in sports reflects emotional malaise. Emotional illiteracy is one underlying cause and demands innovative emotional intelligence. Written by a psychiatrist, this volume supplies literacy tools---a vivid action language showing how emotions unfold as personal dramas. Emotions are our first language---the mother tongue infants and children are “lived by.” Emotional awareness is refined emotional intelligence. This book clearly defines emotions, feelings, affects, moods, and the social-emotional competencies needed to understand and build emotional awareness. Skills take shape resulting in unfolding self-attunement. In real-time, emotional intelligence is effective emotional performance. The missing link between the two is the application of emotion regulation in real life---knowledge in the head displayed in skilled everyday behavior. Innovative ideas in this book explain how to apply this emotional hygiene fitness program to benefit children and adults.
Download or read book How Brains Make Up Their Minds written by Walter J. Freeman and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I think, therefore I am. The legendary pronouncement of philosopher René Descartes lingers as accepted wisdom in the Western world nearly four centuries after its author's death. But does thought really come first? Who actually runs the show: we, our thoughts, or the neurons firing within our brains? Walter J. Freeman explores how we control our behavior and make sense of the world around us. Avoiding determinism both in sociobiology, which proposes that persons' genes control their brains' functioning, and in neuroscience, which posits that their brains' disposition is molded by chemistry and environmental forces, Freeman charts a new course--one that gives individuals due credit and responsibility for their actions. Drawing upon his five decades of research in neuroscience, Freeman utilizes the latest advances in his field as well as perspectives from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, psychology, and philosophy to explicate how different human brains act in their chosen diverse ways. He clarifies the implications of brain imaging, by which neural activity can be observed during the course of normal movements, and shows how nonlinear dynamics reveals order within the fecund chaos of brain function.
Download or read book Early Childhood and Neuroscience Links to Development and Learning written by Leslie Haley Wasserman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-03 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Information from neuroscience is growing and being properly used, and misused wich makes it imperative that educators receive accurate and practical information. This book provides the accurate and practical information educators (pre-service and in-service) and caregivers serving children birth through age 8 need to know. This volume takes a practical and cautionary stance. It reminds educators to consider the ethical implications of neuroscience when it is applied to education, reviews current findings from neuroscience and reveals the dangers of oversimplification and inappropriate extensions of neuroscience into curricula. It brings together a group of authors with varied expertise writing on an array of inter-related educational topics that will help educators use neuroscience to understand and address the cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral needs of all young children, including those with exceptionalities. They believe neuroscience can be insightful and useful to educators if applied ethically and with care. The book offers strategies educators and caregivers can use to affect children today and the adults they can become.
Download or read book Brain and Culture written by Bruce E. Wexler and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2008-08-29 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research shows that between birth and early adulthood the brain requires sensory stimulation to develop physically. The nature of the stimulation shapes the connections among neurons that create the neuronal networks necessary for thought and behavior. By changing the cultural environment, each generation shapes the brains of the next. By early adulthood, the neuroplasticity of the brain is greatly reduced, and this leads to a fundamental shift in the relationship between the individual and the environment: during the first part of life, the brain and mind shape themselves to the major recurring features of their environment; by early adulthood, the individual attempts to make the environment conform to the established internal structures of the brain and mind. In Brain and Culture, Bruce Wexler explores the social implications of the close and changing neurobiological relationship between the individual and the environment, with particular attention to the difficulties individuals face in adulthood when the environment changes beyond their ability to maintain the fit between existing internal structure and external reality. These difficulties are evident in bereavement, the meeting of different cultures, the experience of immigrants (in which children of immigrant families are more successful than their parents at the necessary internal transformations), and the phenomenon of interethnic violence. Integrating recent neurobiological research with major experimental findings in cognitive and developmental psychology—with illuminating references to psychoanalysis, literature, anthropology, history, and politics—Wexler presents a wealth of detail to support his arguments. The groundbreaking connections he makes allow for reconceptualization of the effect of cultural change on the brain and provide a new biological base from which to consider such social issues as "culture wars" and ethnic violence.
Download or read book Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2015-07-23 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.
Download or read book Early Childhood Education written by Moncrieff Cochran and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2007-01-30 with total page 1449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early childhood education has reached a level of unprecedented national and international focus. Parents, policy makers, and politicians have opinions as well as new questions about what, how, when, and where young children should learn. Teachers and program administrators now find curriculum discussions linked to dramatic new understandings about children's early learning and brain development. Early childhood education is also a major topic of concern internationally, as social policy analysts point to its role in a nation's future economic outlook. As a groundbreaking contribution to its field, this four-volume handbook discusses key historical and contemporary issues, research, theoretical perspectives, national policies, and practices.
Download or read book Developing Thinking and Understanding in Young Children written by Sue Robson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third edition of this essential book presents a comprehensive and accessible overview of contemporary theory and research about young children’s developing thinking and understanding. Sue Robson’s detailed exploration of the ideas and theories is enlivened by transcripts of children’s activities and conversations taken from practice and contemporary research, helping readers to make links between theory, research and practice. This new edition brings together up-to-date research into neuroscience and digital learning, combining theory with discussions for best practice. Each chapter also includes ideas for further reading and suggested activities. Key chapters explore the following: Theories of cognitive development The social, emotional and cultural contexts of children’s thinking Developments in brain science and young children The central roles of play and language in young children’s developing thinking Children’s conceptual development; visual thinking and thinking in music This book is crucial reading for all those interested in how young children develop through their thoughts and actions, including students of Early Years studies, teachers and early years practitioners.