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Unit 1: The Science of Early Brain Development

Unit 1: The Science of Early Brain Development

Goal: Develop an understanding of the key ideas about early brain development.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Develop an understanding of brain structure and how it changes in early childhood.
  2. Increase knowledge about the connection between the brain, genes and experience.
  3. Describe the connections between mental, emotional and social development for young children.

This unit contains links to presentations by experts about early brain development. The links include power point presentations and video presentations. You may choose to view some or all of the presentations.

The length of time for each presentation is noted below. The time needed for this unit is 30 minutes to 60 minutes. Questions are provided at the end to help you test your knowledge.

Unit 1 Components:

  1. Center on Developing Child-Harvard University
    1. "Three Core Concepts in Early Development – 1. Experiences Build Brain Architecture and 2. Serve & Return Connection Shapes Brain Circuitry" Two minute video presentations that explain core ideas about early brain development. Videos can be found in middle of page under Key Concepts.
  2. American Academy of Pediatrics
    1. "Building Better Brains-the Core Story of EBCD"; Power point presentation about early brain development, 30 minutes.
  3. Alberta Family Wellness Initiative
    1. How Brains Are Built: The Core Story of Brain Development - https://www.albertafamilywellness.org/building-better-brains A four minute video presentation about early brain development.
    2. "Science in Seconds: Epigenetics"  A Three minute video presentation about how experiences impact genetic pre-dispositions and brain formation.