Blog #1

Blog #1

Describe the big picture.

Brain development isn’t a set pattern that every individual follows. Many factors affect it and even little things can change it. This chapter had the idea of Nature versus Nurture with brain development. The brain uses both. Our genetics along with our environment have major impact on how the brain functions during its developing stages and even when we are adults. Our brain is a very complex system, with many lobes and areas that do so many things. It all works together in a structured way to create the best results.

Did this make sense? What surprised you the most, or what did you find most interesting, and why? How does this reading connect your previous experiences with school or teaching? Discuss some of your unanswered questions about the reading for the class. Do you understand the material? What else do you want to know?

This for the most part makes sense to me. The few psychology classes, plus the anatomy class I’ve taken seem to match what the chapter had to say. It was a nice refresher though on the topic, since I haven’t really learned about the brain much in the past few months. I think the brain is a very delicate system, but a very tough system at the same time. So many factors can affect it but the brain knows so many ways to try to counteract various problems. I found interesting that a child’s brain uses more energy than our own. I never really thought about it, but I guess I figured that since we think in more complex terms than children, we’d be using more energy. But for children, learning new things that as adults we think is basic; it makes sense now that it would be using more energy. The end of the chapter kind of lost me a bit, with the Applications for the Classroom section. I think maybe if explained in different words, I’d understand it a bit better.


What is happening in the picture below? How and why does each change occur?

This figure is showing the synapses of the brain at different stages of life. These neurons send messages through the synapses by releasing action potentials. When axons are myelinated, messages and responses can be sent faster, leading to quicker results. However, it takes time for axons to go through myelination. At birth, there isn’t much dependent movement going on, so that would need fewer synapses and neurons. Not many have developed yet. But by the time a child reaches six years old, they are moving and thinking and doing brand new things. Their neurons are creating wiring and patterns to accommodate all this new information. One a child hits 14 though, the neurons have wired themselves to send messages in a more direct manner, since the information isn’t new anymore so it is more organized. Also, more axons are myelinated, so responses become much faster.