1. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Physical development: deals with physiological changes in the body
Personal development: generally refers to changes in personality
Social development: refers to changes in the way an individual relates to others.
Cognitive development: refers to changes in thinking.

2. Sometimes development is simply matters of growth and maturation  continuum.
MATURATION: Refers to changes that occur naturally, spontaneously, and are genetically pre-programmed. Hard Wired!

3. General Principles of Development
People develop at different rates. In your own classroom you will see multiple examples of developmental rates.
Development is relatively orderly. People develop some abilities before others. There is a logical progression
Development takes place gradually. Rapid changes do not appear overnight. It takes time.

5. Cognitive
Development
The Brain

6. Structures of the Human Brain
Thalamus
Hypothalamus
Amygdala
Hippocampus
Cerebrum
Corpus Callosum
Cerebral Cortex

7. Parts of the Brain The Cerebellum The Midbrain Thalamus Hypothalamus
Regulates muscle tone, posture, and smooth muscle movement
The Midbrain
Relays physiological messages from hindbrain to cognitive functions of the forebrain
Substantia nigra controls unconscious motor actions
Thalamus
Affects ability to learn verbal information and language production
Hypothalamus
Regulates hunger, thirst, sexual behavior, emotional behavior, internal body temperature, and other body functions.

8. Parts of the Brain The Limbic System Amygdala Hippocampus
emotional responses
especially unpleasant punishers.
Hippocampus
stores new memories
Responses to unexpected stimuli
Navigational ability

9. The Principal Structures in the Limbic System

10. Parts of the Brain Cerebrum Cerebral Hemispheres Corpus Callosum
Controls movement and feelings on opposite sides of the body
Corpus Callosum
Nerve fibers connecting two hemispheres
Transfers information
Synchronizes activity
Cerebral Cortex
Higher mental processes of language, memory, and thinking.

11. Two Views of the Cerebral Hemispheres

12. Cerebrum Continued Cerebral Cortex Left Cerebral Cortex Parietal lobe
Higher mental processes of language, memory, and thinking.
Left Cerebral Cortex
Frontal lobe
Motor cortex
Broca’s Area
Parietal lobe
Somatosensory cortex
Occipital lobe
Visual cortex
Temporal lobe
Auditory Cortex
Wernicke’s area

14. LOBES OF THE BRAIN Frontal Lobe DO Parietal Lobe Occipital Lobes SEE
Motor cortex Special Language Centers
Parietal Lobe
Somatosensory cortex
Occipital Lobes SEE
Primary visual cortex
Temporal Lobes SAY
Primary auditory cortex

15. The Cerebral Hemispheres
Left Hemisphere
Controls right side of body
Coordinates complex movements
Handles most language functions
Mathematics and logic
Information about the self and well being
Right Hemisphere
Controls left side of body
Specialized visual-spatial perception
Verbal associations, creative thought, and problem solving
Musical processing in right auditory cortex

16. Neurons and Neurotransmitters
The Neurons
A specialized cell that conducts impulses through the nervous system and contains three major parts –
A cell body
Dendrites
An axon

17. Synapse Structures at Synapse Axon Terminal Synaptic Vesicles
Neurotransmitters
Synaptic Cleft
Receptor sites

18. Neurotransmitters Their Functions
Acetylcholine
Dopamine
Norepinephrine
Epinephrine
Serotonin
Glutamate
GABA
Endorphins
Affects movement, learning, memory, and REM Sleep
Affects movement, attention, learning, and reinforcement
Affects eating, alertness, and wakefulness
Affects metabolism of glucose, and energy release during exercise
Affects mood, sleep, appetite, impulsivity, and aggression
Active in areas of the brain involved in learning, thought, and emotion.
Facilitates neural inhibition in the central nervous system
Provide relief from pain, feelings of pleasure, and well being.

19. Acetylcholine
The neurotransmitter acetylcholine helps you process new information by facilitating neural transmissions involved in learning.

20. Age Differences in the Brain
When does the brain reach full maturity?
Growth occurs in spurts from conception into adulthood.
Childhood and adolescent growth is associated with physical and intellectual advances
Each growth spurt involves different brain area.
Age frontal lobe growth ability to plan and control emotions.
Synaptogenesis
Dendrites and axons grow as synapses develop
Myelination
Development of myelin sheaths around axons
Plasticity
Brain’s ability to reorganize or reshape in response to internal and external sources

21. Gender Differences in the Brain
How do the brains of males and females differ?
Men have more white matter yet less white matter in left hemisphere
May explain superior ability in spatial tasks
Women have equal amounts of gray and white matter
May explain superior ability to perceive emotions
Navigational information processed in different parts of brain
Women use right parietal cortex and right frontal cortex
Men use left hippocampus
Both use different areas to process location of sound
Synapses decrease throughout life
When older synapses new growth slower than decay
Brain weight decreases begin around 30 years old.
Stroke
Artery blockage or blood vessel bursting cuts off blood supply to brain
Most common cause of brain damage
Physical therapy can help recover some brain functioning.

22. Implications
For
Teaching

23. Pulling the Evidence Together
maturation and changes occur up to a much later age than previously expected.
evidence of periods of rapid growth
differences in the way children, teens, and adults process stimuli
stages of cognitive development are a continuum, and it appears the brain must work through each developmental transformation. Timetable is individual.

24. evidence for at least one additional wave (second wave) of over production of synaptic connections that can be influenced by experience and can influence cognitive development itself.
gender differences

25. Impact on Teaching
It appears we have longer to help adolescents develop their thinking skills
More and more evidence is starting to point to gender effects
There may be periods when children are cognitively ready to move on and other times when they are not.

26. Recent data suggest that children need integrated success on all parts of the psychological spectrum before the central processor ( which is a mental process, NOT an anatomical entity) makes the quantum leap in development allowing the next phase of development to occur.
This suggests TIME is needed for maturational development.

27. All the careful teaching in the world isn’t going to be effective if the learner is not ready to process it! Ability depends on the maturation of the central processing mechanism.
Cognitive gains appear to be associated with the brain growth spurts