Brain Development and Learning S20

“The brain grows at an amazing rate during development. At times during brain development, 250,000 neurons are added every minute! At birth, a person’s brain will have almost all the neurons that it will ever have. The brain continues to grow for a few years after a person is born and by the age of 2 years old, the brain is about 80% of the adult size.”

Eric Chudler, PhD., Director of the Center for Neurotechnology at the University of Washington

Chudler goes on to note (on the Brain Development page of Neuroscience for Kids, his online resource for teachers and students) that from birth through adulthood, in addition to this approximately 20% increase in overall size, the brain also develops through the creation of new connections between neurons in the brain.

Watch this video from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, and complete both the Experiences Build Brain Architecture Learning Log and ThinkSpot Worksheet ?handouts (pages 5-6) to help you better understand the concept of brain development and learning.

Resources

Eric Chudler’s Neuroscience for Kids: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/dev.html

Harvard Science Key Concepts: https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/