Early childhood brain development and environmental stimulation effects

Psychology and Teaching- The Importance of Art

How Childhood Events develop a lifetime in Art

One of the crucial times in an individual's life is early childhood. Early childhood acts as the basis for all later undertakings in one's life. It is not only the kids who suffer in case we, as a community, fall short in meeting their needs. We, the community, also suffer as a result. It is essential to note that their achievements are also our achievements. According to a recent report, the cost of every high school dropout is approximately at $292,000 (Sum, Khatiwada, McLaughlin, & Palma, 2009). Dropping out from high school is not a singular incident, but also a conclusion of several factors, commencing in early childhood. Encouraging parents and kids in the childhood years would possess some influence into elementary school, high school, early years of adulthood, and far beyond. The executives of the Federal Reserve Bank are also weighing in-from a financial point-of-view. They maintain that early childhood development courses ought to be looked at as economic advancement projects since the information surrounding its return on investment (ROI) is very convincing (Grunewald & Rolnick, 2006; Rolnick & Grunewald, 2003).

The most rapid stage of development in the life of an individual is early childhood. The years all the way from conception thorough delivery to eight years of age are vital to the healthy and whole emotional, physical, and cognitive growth of kids. The fast development phase of the brains of kids starts in the prenatal phase and later progresses after delivery. Even if the formation of cells is nearly complete prior to delivery- a newborn baby possess approximately 100 billion brain cells- vital neural channels and connections as well as maturation of the brain are gradually developed after delivery during the early childhood years. Early childhood is, hence, a stage in growth where the surroundings actually have a significant influence in the determination of the manner through which the "brain," as well as, the "central nervous system" nurtures and matures. The surroundings not only influence the brain cell quantity and the links existing amid them, but additionally the manner in which these connections get interconnected. The procedure of absolving of the surplus neurons and synapses from the dense and undeveloped brain that stretches into adolescence, is very dramatic in the early childhood years, and it is directed to a great degree by the kid's sensory encounter of the exterior world. Scientific proof proposes that in case the brain does not obtain the suitable stimulation in this vital period, rewiring of the brain at later stages in life is quite difficult (UNICEF, 2015).

Child development, resilience, and the capability of thriving are influenced by numerous factors. Making sure that all these are in place shall enhance the possibility of positive results in spite of the frightening or difficult situations. These factors entail a properly-arranged home surrounding, an emotionally responsive care-giving and properly-developed language and academic competence. The most appropriate means of supporting the healthy development and lasting success of kids is to offer support to the family and minimize the stress levels that they encounter (Shore, 1997).

Kids possess a natural love for music and art. They adore a good tune accompanied with an energetic beat. Music can immediately influence the mood of a child and also assist in the creation of new memories and connections. We are surrounded everywhere by art. Just look at the wall or pick up a book. Or even attempt to identify patterns as you take a stroll down the streets. Kids react to bold pictures and bright colors even before they utter their very first words. Our encounter with music and art commence in a kid's life. According to researchers, infants are responsive to music and other different sounds while still in their mother's womb. Hundreds of thousands of nerve cells develop consistently in the brain of an unborn baby. The stage of most rapid development in the brain development is realized during the early years; from delivery up to six years of age. Exposure to music assists in the development of listening and auditory discrimination abilities; it plays a role in the development of motor skills as well as in raising the flexibility and range of voice. In the early years, creating art is considered as an activity of exploring one's senses. According to research, introduction of art to kids at young ages possess several advantages, ranging from the improvement of creativity to rising self-confidence. A kid's cognitive competence, imagination, problem-solving skills and general social development can be developed by art. Kids experience some sense of emotional fulfillment when they take part in the creation of art, regardless of whether they are modeling with clay, coming up with a collage from recycled pieces, or even drawing with crayons (Murji, 2013).

Development of the "whole" Child

What is the meaning of "whole child"? There exist numerous definitions of the whole child as there exists for the arts and art education. Majority of the definitions take into account the academic, emotional, social, as well as physical development of kids in an environment which is challenging, supportive and secure. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), a non-profit member founded association, was established in 1943 with over 175,000 members belonging to more than 100 nations. The ASCD develops merchandise, programs, and services for teachers. In early 2007, it introduced a Whole Child Initiative to assist guarantee that children are secure, healthy, involved in learning and tested academically (Brown, 2008).

There exists sufficient proof implying that the years spent in elementary school are vital for kids to develop emotional, social, physical, and academic competencies and awareness to enable them lead active and healthy lives (Graber, Locke, Lambdin, & & Solmon, 2008). Academics, teachers, as well as, theorists who bear a holistic perspective of child growth offer the opinion that education within elementary institutions ought to actually be "education for life."

Brain Development

A lot has been achieved in all the developments in brain research conducted in the last decade or so. Majority of what has actually been discovered serve to verify what was initially known and builds on it even further. We recognize that the initial years of life are quite crucial. The encounters that kids face in initial 10 years of life impact the manner through which their brains shall be wired as adults. By the age of 2 a kid's brain is active similar to that of a grown-up and by age 3, the brain is twice more active than that of a grown-up- and remains that way up to age 10. Children's brains are not only more active, they also possess greater levels of neurotransmitters that aid in synapses creation. This, in addition to other features of the early brain implies that kids are primed for the learning process (Shore, 1997).

The vital function played by early care-giving is also revealed by brain research. This care manifests a lasting influence development, with the inclusion of the ability to learn and ability to control emotions. Infants thrive in the presence of warm responsive care, and there exist biological mechanisms accountable for the positive reactions of infants to attentive care-giving. When parents imitate and strengthen their babies' positive emotional reactions, they are actually manipulating the developments of patterns linked with neurons. A strong connection with the parent or any other nurturing caregiver possesses a long-term protective role. This protective aspect assists in the "immunization" of babies against the unpleasant impacts of trauma and stress that they shall surely encounter at a certain points in their lives (Peterson, 2010).

Benefits of Arts

Kids take pleasure in discovering and creating with art materials. These art encounters assist the kids in developing several life competencies. Studies reveal that art activities enhance brain capacity in the early years. Art involves the senses of the kids in open-ended play and encourages the development of multisensory, cognitive, as well as socio-emotional competencies. As kids advance into elementary school and further, art continues to offer positively for brain development, creativity, mastery, and self-esteem (PSU.edu, 2014).

According to Eisner (1991) imagination is the engine of social and cultural development (p 12). Encounters in arts develop creativity and imagination, both characteristics of great leaders and philosophers: Most of the famous inventors and scientists are also known to practice arts (Zweig, 1986). Arts do not only profit the artist, Arts are not only useful to those who develop them, but also to those who encounter them. Great works of art are an inspiration, and the process of creating art can also accomplish the same. Whenever a learner choreographs a dance, sketches a landscape, or even improvises a music piece with friends, the learner has the opportunity to picture, wonder, construct and learn. Arts offer daily chances for happiness and beauty- for people in various places all over the world. Students without arts experiences in their education shall come out under-nourished by the completion of their schooling. However, those students with arts experience in their education shall benefit all through their lives, in several ways, by the inherent advantages brought about by art. Koopman (2005) offers a striking and properly discussed thesis on the significance of arts. According to him, arts possess great value as a result of the complete participation from time to time when obtaining, developing or performing an art piece. Arts offer us a means of fulfillment in our time (p. 91). The idea of complete participation from time to time is relatively similar to Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) concept of flow; the sense of absorption and timelessness which could happen when is totally engaged in the art-making process (see also Custodero, 1998).

Relation to INTASC Standard No. 1

Relation to EDTPA Standard

The Early Childhood edTPA facilities new teachers to illustrate, assess, and appraise their teaching pedagogies in three to five interrelated and rational learning projects. These projects happen within a period of one week (called a learning segment).

The learning project ought to advance a developmentally pertinent as well as integrated method to the growth of literacy and language. It ought to additionally concentrate on language growth, offering a reverential, healthy, collaborative, and demanding learning atmosphere, as well as interrelated skills and procedures of "listening," "speaking," "reading," "writing" and "visually representing."

The edTPA provides a solution for the challenges of inexperienced teachers in today's public education settings. This framework prepares the new teacher workforce with the skills necessary to support student learning from the first day of their teaching career. The edTPA is designed to evaluate aspiring teachers through a uniform and impartial process. Currently, edTPA provides subject-specific assessment in 27 different teaching fields, including early childhood education. Through implementation of the edTPA, teacher candidates can demonstrate their ability to effectively teach early childhood education to all students through documentation of the teaching process (PreSchool Teacherorg, 2015).

How Childhood Events develop a lifetime Art

It is quite alluring to presume that the skill to be able to capture the three-dimensional world practically on a two-dimensional surface is the earliest indication of artistic talent in kids (Milbrath, 1998; Winner, 1996; Winner & Martino, 2000). Historians of art have been impressed by the pragmatism of the cave paintings by our Paleolithic antecedents (Humphrey, 1988; Pruvost et al., 2011), making majority to presume that pragmatism is not only the most 'natural' but also the most universal mode of drawing. We have a tendency to presume that the higher the talent in pragmatic drawing, and the earlier that the talent appears, the more possibly such a kid is to turn out to be an artist. However, not all artists were capable of drawing as pragmatically as Reese when at his age (Gordon, 2011). Hence, degree of pragmatism as a kid might not be enough to foresee artistry in the future.

Some signs to foretell who will turn out to be an artist have now been presented to us by retrospective analysis of the early childhood works of the grown-up artists. Together with pragmatism, we think that five other traits are actually early indications: the drawings of the kid are properly composed; the drawings of the kid possess something more than just pragmatic competence- such as a decorative, colorful component or even expressive power; the kid possess hunger to observe art; the kid has a huge drive; the kid displays a great desire for originality (Drake & Winner, 2013).

Precocious realists

Let us have a close look at this small majority of super kids (with the inclusion of a few with autism) who draw quite realistically. Representational drawing can be observed as early as the age of two by the precocious realists. This age is at least one year in advance for the normal kids. The age-typical drawing displays a slash for every apple, having line representing 'thingness'; the precocious drawing utilizes line to capture the apple's contour. The usual drawing is referred to as a 'tadpole' depiction of the human figure, having arms and legs sticking out form the head. The usual drawings of kids at this early age are basically ideas and concepts: the demonstration of an apple as a slash and man's body as a circle. On the other hand, the drawings of precocious realists are more optically realistic and less abstract- comparable to the naturalism of the cave drawings.

Precocious realists find out by themselves how to come up with the three-dimensional illusion utilizing pictorial depth cues- occlusion, modeling to display volume, foreshortening, and the most challenging approach of all, linear perspective- and they accomplish this years before the normal kids (Milbrath C., 1995). For example, by the age of 7 and 8 foreshortening was utilized in fifty percent of the drawings by Milbrath's precocious sample; similar levels in the usual sample were arrived at just by ages 13 and 14. Kids in the West do not usually begin to draw in perspective till mid-childhood, and even then it is only those who possess clear instruction that reach geometric perspective (Willats, 1977).

We discover that what actually differentiates kids who realistically draw at a more than average level is not them possessing a high IQ, but rather it is them possessing outstanding perceptual skills (Drake, J.E., Redash, A., Coleman, K. et al., 2010). The skill of realistic drawing is greatly relatedwith the application of advanced local processing approach ( concentrating on only certain portions on a visual display). A version of the Block Design Task was once administered by us ina conventional design, and once with the blocks separated in space from each othre, making it much simpler to copy the design with real blocks. Whereas the usual kids were assisted by presentation of the job in a segmented style, because the segmentation exposes every portion (or segment) of the design to actualy be replicated using blocks, the precocious gained little from this outer segmentation. This is most probably due to the fact that the precocious artists were mentally capable of doing the reverse more easily, segmenting an intricate form into portions (Drake & Winner, 2013).

Adolf Hitler's Childhood art phase

Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn in Austria. His parents were Alois Hitler and Klara Polzl. Adolf Hitler was the fourth child among the six children born to the couple and was just 3 years of age when the family moved to Germany from Austria. In addition to being a clever kid at school, Hitler was also very popular. However, he frequently quarreled with his father over the interest that he had developed for fine arts. This eventually resulted to Hitler's disconnection from his family and he turned into a dissatisfied, isolated, and angry kid, possessing an unstable temperament towards his own father. He made an application to the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts twice and he was rejected at both instances. The rejection he experienced in both instances shaped his pathological hatred towards the Marxists as well as the cosmopolitan Habsurg monarchy (The Famous People, 2015).

The Hitler family relocated to Linz, the capital of upper Austria in 1898. Looking for a career in the visual arts, he angrily fought with his own father, who actually wanted him to join the Habsurg civil service. After the death of his father, Hitler finally convinced Klara Hitler, nee Polzl, his mother, to allow him chase his dream of becoming an artist. In the autumn of 1907, as Klara Hitler lay in her death bed as she suffered from breast cancer, Adolf Hitler took the entrance examination to the Vienna Academy of Arts and did not succeed to gain admission into the Academy. Hitler's mother died in December 2007 and some weeks after her death, Hitler relocated to Vienna, apparently in the hopes of rekindling attempts to gain acceptance into the Academy of Arts (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2015).

There exist several different theories giving explanations as to why Adolf Hitler turned out to be the way he was. What could however, be concluded is that, where as no one occurrence could actually claim full accountability, Hitler's early years of life were an important phase in the overall development of his character. Influences and occurrences all the way from his early childhood to his early adulthood decisively played a role in the development of his individual character (Clark, 2012). As young men have realized since time immemorial, the disturbed adolescent tended to seek his shelter in a world of fantasy. At the various instances he dreamt of writing music and at other instances he visualized himself as one of the greatest painters. According to one neighbor of the family, when one postmaster once enquired from Hitler what he actually wanted to do in future for a living and if he would like to join the post office, Hitler gave him the response that he was intending to become a great artist. He hanged on to this dream with remarkable persistence. Even when he was a dictator, he said to his confidantes who had his ear, that had political 'mission' not intervened, he would have turned out to be one of the greatest architects Germany ever had.

Hitler made a visit to the opera in addition to touring the museums in Vienna. Rather than making serious efforts to find a job, Hitler preferred to dream about a great future as a painter, as a writer, or even as an architect. The discontented young individual yearned for acceptance and respectability by the bourgeois human race; he instead experienced rejection. Adolf Hitler moved through the glitter and much thrill of pre-war Vienna like a shadow, uncommitted as well as detested. Adolf Hitler, the self-designed artist, appeared absolutely unaware of even the artistic currents. He was not familiar with anything regarding Richard Strauss, the Secession movement, or even Schonberg. He was simply ignorant of the expressionistic pieces of art of Oskar Kokoscka or Gustav Klimt (Adolf Hitler: Biography and Character, 2015).