SERIES: How can we educate our children? 2.8 HOW ARE CHILDREN SHAPED INTO ADULTS? Neuroplasticity
Additional reading if you want to know more in depth how nature has programmed children to be learning sponges.
Over the next 8 weeks, I am conducting a review of what I already know about educating children and also trying to gather new information to determine what would be the best way to educate children with the end goal of mentally and physically healthy adults in mind.
This post 2.8. is to compliment my post No2 HOW ARE CHILDREN SHAPED INTO ADULTS? and it describes a bit more in detail how neuroplasticity is related to learning and development of our mind.
As the subtitle says: children are learning sponges and nature has programmed us all to soak in huge amounts of information when we are growing up. The process is life-long, but it slows down as we age. Nevertheless, we can change even when we are 95+yo.
The Importance of Neuroplasticity in the Development of Children
Neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections and growing new neurons throughout life, is a foundational concept in understanding child development. It plays a crucial role in shaping the mind, habits, and the sense of self. This dynamic process enables children to learn, adapt, and grow both mentally and emotionally.
Key Aspects of Neuroplasticity
Learning and Memory: Neuroplasticity underpins the brain's capacity to learn new information and retain it over time.
Adaptation and Resilience: It allows the brain to adapt to new experiences, environments, and recover from injuries.
Behavior and Habit Formation: It helps in the development and reinforcement of behaviors and habits through experience and practice.
Identity and Self-Concept: Neuroplasticity contributes to the formation of self-identity and personal beliefs based on individual experiences and social interactions.
Impact on Child Development
1. Cognitive Abilities
Learning and Academic Performance:
Neuroplasticity enables children to acquire new knowledge and skills. When children engage in different activities, their brains form and strengthen neural connections.
Educational activities, such as story telling, group work, reading, solving (math) problems, and engaging in science experiments, enhance cognitive functions and academic performance.
Memory Formation and Retention:
The brain's ability to form new connections is essential for memory consolidation. Finding out what works and what does not work in the real world through exploration and practice, help solidify these connections, making it easier for children to recall information and understand better what was just experienced.
Effective study habits, such as meaningfully resolving more and more complex tasks, leverage neuroplasticity to improve long-term memory retention.
2. Emotional Regulation
Managing Emotions:
Neuroplasticity allows the development of neural pathways involved in emotional regulation. Children learn to manage their emotions through experiences and social interactions.
Techniques such as mindsight (awareness of one´s SIFTs, see a separate post), self soothing (developed based on adult and peer example), and positive self-talk (only developing when children are talked to in a respectful and positive way, see post No 2.4 Empathy circuits and No 2.7."neurons that fire together wire together") can strengthen neural circuits that help regulate emotions.
Building Resilience:
Exposure to challenging situations and learning to cope with stress (making sure children have the necessary mental support) can reinforce neural pathways associated with resilience. This helps children develop the ability to bounce back from setbacks and adapt to changing circumstances. It is important to recognize that these skills take 10s of years to develop and require repeated positive examples from the surroundings. Experiences that are emotionally difficult but include sufficient adult support are regarded as positive as well.
3. Social Behaviors
Developing Social Skills:
Social interactions play a crucial role in shaping the neural networks involved in communication and empathy. Repeated social experiences can strengthen these pathways, enhancing children's ability to interact with others effectively. It is not the quantity of the social interactions but the quality that determines whether children learn healthy or unhealthy social skills.
Activities like cooperative play, group projects, and family and community interactions help build and reinforce these social circuits. Again, quality over quantity.
Empathy and Understanding:
Neuroplasticity supports the development of empathy by reinforcing the neural connections involved in understanding others' emotions and perspectives.
Encouraging children to engage in empathetic behaviors and discuss emotions can strengthen these pathways.
See the how to guide from Faber&Mazlish´sHow to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
4. Formation of Habits
Positive Habits:
Repeated behaviors reinforce the neural connections that support those actions. This is fundamental in forming positive habits such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and consistent study routines.
Healthy habits form much easier in an already healthy environment - CHILDREN ACT AS WE DO, NOT AS WE TELL THEM TO ACT.
Consistent practice and positive reinforcement (though, not in the form of grades, as not scoring the maximum at any given time acts as negative reinforcement and grading draws attention to the grade itself, not the habit that is being hoped to reinforce) help solidify these behaviors into long-term habits.
Breaking Negative Habits:
Neuroplasticity also allows for the modification or elimination of negative habits. By introducing alternative behaviors and reducing the frequency of negative ones, the brain can rewire itself to support healthier patterns (again requires mental support from the environment and the proper example in actions not words).
See the how to guide from Faber&Mazlish´sHow to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
5. Sense of Self
Identity Formation:
Experiences and repeated behaviors shape the neural networks that contribute to self-identity.
Positive experiences and achievements strengthen the pathways associated with self-esteem and confidence
Negative experiences in the same way as positive experience, promote creation of impaired sense of self. Supporting children through negative experience helps build resilience, builds social and empathy skills and can turn negative experience into a positive one.
Children's interactions with their environment and the feedback they receive (e.g. support vs blame/scolding) play a significant role in shaping their self-concept and personal beliefs.
Self-Esteem and Confidence:
Successful experiences and positive reinforcement bolster neural circuits related to self-worth and confidence. This helps children develop a strong, positive self-image.
Encouraging children to set and achieve goals can enhance these neural connections, fostering a sense of accomplishment and self-assurance.
Making sure there is enough social support from adults, makes sure negative experiences can be turned into positive.
Practical Implications for Supporting Neuroplasticity
Stimulating Environment:
Providing a rich and age-appropriately stimulating environment with diverse learning opportunities can promote neuroplasticity. Activities such as group and project work, visiting workplaces, building, reading, playing musical instruments, engaging in sports, and exploring nature stimulate neural development.
Consistent Routines:
Establishing consistent routines helps reinforce positive habits and skills. Making sure that there is a time and place where children can ask help, regular schedules for sleeping, and enough time for physical activities and learning support the formation of strong neural connections. Point to notice is that the schedules should be flexible enough to change them to avoid too much rigidity and at the same time promote flexibility.
Emotional Support:
Offering emotional support and teaching emotional regulation techniques by being the example, can help children develop healthy emotional circuits. Activities in the learning environment, such as adults practicing mindsight and viewing children generally as positive while holding high expectations, promote positive self-talk and enhance emotional resilience of children as well.
Social Interaction:
Creating conditions that allow positive social interactions helps strengthen neural networks involved in empathy and communication. Group activities, family discussions, and social play are essential for social development.
Growth Mindset:
Promoting a growth mindset encourages children to embrace challenges and view failures as opportunities for growth. This mindset supports the continuous development and strengthening of neural pathways. Growth mindset starts from the adults and is soaked in by children. If adults view and talk about their environment positively, then children will eventually in years pick it up, too.
Conclusion
Neuroplasticity is a fundamental aspect of child development, influencing cognitive abilities, emotional regulation, social behaviors, habit formation, and self-identity. By understanding and leveraging the principles of neuroplasticity, we as parents, educators, and caregivers can create supportive environments that foster healthy brain development. Through proper real-life examples, stimulating experiences, consistent routines(such as balanced structured and unstructured playful learning), emotional support, and positive social interactions, children can develop into well-rounded, resilient, and self-aware individuals, equipped to navigate the complexities of life.