TRI ED Associates

“Whether we realize it or not, almost every decision parents make boils down to a matter of our children’s brain development: whether to have a glass of wine during pregnancy, whether to use drugs during childbirth, how long to breast-feed, how soon to return to work, whether to treat every ear infection, whether to enroll a child in nursery school, what kind of discipline to use, how much TV they should watch, and on and on. The reason we fret so about decisions is because we know, at some level, that they may have lasting consequences for the way our children’s minds will work. And the way their minds will work — the kind of emotional and intellectual lives they eventually grow into — is wholly functional of how their brains sculpt themselves.” —Lise Eliot

How do nature and nurture interact in the shaping and development of a child’s growing brain?

What environmental factors are known to be harmful to the fetus and growing child?

Children and adolescents need guidance and nurturing in constructing the way their minds will work. Almost every decision adults make has a lasting effect on a child’s brain development. The question isn’t, “Is it genes or experience?” The question is, “How do genes and experience interact in the development of an individual?”

"The kinds of minds that children come to own are profoundly influenced by the kind of experiences they are able to secure in the course of their lives. ... Mind is the product of opportunity. ... We can do a great deal about the conditions and opportunities the young have during the course of their development." —Elliot Eisner

"Each of us is truly unique because we form ourselves. We are not born with our minds. We have to construct them, to make them something that blends all that we bring with all we encounter, do, are done to, invite, reject, and especially hope. It is so important to understand this. We construct our minds. We need people to help us -- to move us from where we are to where we can be. Learning is a social act, we are in relationship. We go out to the world. The world does not only come in on us. No. We react, we confront, we resolve. We create and transform. But first we have to realize we are somebody." —Bernice McCarthy
^ Top

“Modern moms and dads are encouraged by a culture in overdrive to push and prod and force their children onto an endless track of achievement, to desperately keep squeezing one more enriching activity into their already too tight schedules … As they grow older, our stricken children spend much of their time pursuing entertainment rather than accomplishment; TV, video games, mall roaming, computer hacking, substance abuse, promiscuous sex. Prematurely on their own, they put their asocial, disaffected peers before their parents too soon.” —Robert Shaw

How are today’s commercialization, electronic media, and earlier exposure to adult worlds coinciding with major changes in the nature of childhood, even beginning in utero?

What impact does day care and early child-rearing have on personality, cognitive, and brain development?

Why have levels of childhood obesity, psychiatric problems, and STDs skyrocketed?

What is the impact of empty-parent homes, broken families, and empty-neighborhoods on child development?

Children are growing up in a very different environment than they were even ten years ago. In today's fast-changing world where the media is shaping children and adolescents' values, where children are being reared in day care, where school violence is a growing concern, where standardized tests are seen as "quick fixes," where rapid advances in science and technology threaten to outpace schools' effectiveness, where the developing brain is under attack, many environmental factors build neural connections while many impede neural connections causing many of them to wither and die.

This segment of Removing Learning Inhibitors that Place Children and Adolescents at Risk examines many such environmental factors including:

“Today’s commercialization is coinciding with major changes in nature of childhood itself. In comparison with baby boomers, today’s youth have earlier exposure to and more involvement with adult worlds. Children from single parent families, a growing portion of the population, shoulder significant family responsibilities. Social analysts and media critics have argued that these developments constitute a ‘disappearance of childhood.’” —Juliet B. Schor

“We've created a world dripping with sex, drugs, and violence and plunked our temporarily insane children in the middle of it. Our wonderful economy has also provided quick-path avenues of easy access to these things.” —Michael J. Bradley

"Neuroscientists have shown that environmental experiences significantly shape the developing brain. Repeated exposure to any stimulus in a child’s environment may forcibly impact mental and emotional growth, either by setting up particular circuitry or by depriving the brain of other experiences." —Jane Healy
^ Top

“Adolescent brains get the gas before the brakes! Puberty gives adolescents a body that looks like an adults and a brain that is prone to wild fluctuations and powerful surges. The brain’s gas pedal is ready for a NASCAR-paced adulthood. But because the brain’s prefrontal cortex is not up to snuff, the brain’s got the brakes of a Model T.” —David Walsh

Social, emotional, and behavioral changes are striking during adolescence. Hormones are not the only foot on the accelerator! Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain continues to grow well into the early to mid-twenties, and peer pressure, societal influences, and environment play an enormous role in shaping the adult the child is under pressure to become. The most advanced parts of the brain, the prefrontal cortex and the corpus callosum — that help a person organize complex thoughts, control their impulses and understand the consequences of their actions — is one of the last parts of the brain to develop. This lack of development in a teenagers brain, not just hormones and the need for independence, causes the emotional roller coaster ride teens go on, and often take adults with them.

Research is now shedding light on the link between the developing frontal lobe of the adolescent and their behaviors, making this session a must for all educators, parents, and community groups who want to get inside the teenage brain and discover what is going on. By understanding the implications of the “work in progress” adolescent brain, adults will see the need to guide and influence adolescents during these vulnerable, often turbulent, years and be the brakes their frontal lobes lack.
^ Top

How the Media Works and Why You Should Know

“Kids can recognize logos by eighteen months, and before their second birthday, they’re asking for product brands by name. By three or three and a half, experts say, children start to believe brands communicate their personal qualities, for example, that they’re cool, or strong, or smart. … As kids age, they turn to teen culture, which is saturated with violence, alcohol, drugs, and guns. Teen media depict a manipulated and gratuitous sexuality, based on unrealistic body images, constraining gender stereotypes, all too frequently, the degradation of women. And now, teen culture has migrated down to younger children. Eight and nine year olds watch MTV and BET, reality shows, and other prime-time fare ostensibly aimed at teens and adults.” —Juliet B. Schor

In a matter of seconds, children and adolescents can imitate a movie or TV character, repeat an advertising jingle or slogan, or perform the dance moves and lyrics of their favorite MTV performer. Children and adolescents only have to put in a movie, open a magazine, listen to music, click on a Web site, turn on a video game, or watch TV to experience all kinds of adult messages. It’s that easy!

It is essential for children and young adults to understand the influences the media may have on shaping their values, opinions, and behaviors and become media literate. To do this they need guidance from adults in their lives. This session explores the effects media is having on the developing brains and behaviors of today’s children and adolescents and discusses ways educators, parents, and community groups can make a difference.

“As a child watches television at an early age, his brain is being conditioned to take advantage of the particular kind of stimulus that television affords. That conditioning may prove damaging when the child tries to process stimuli from other, slower paced sources.” —Christakis & Zimmerman

“Youth in the United States watch an average of 4 hours of television every day and see on average 40,000 commercials each year. As a result of media exposure, our kids are being brought up in a culture saturated with sex, violence, substance abuse, and an emphasis on fashion and body appearance. Studies show that too much television viewing can have adverse affects, such as more violent and aggressive behavior, poor school performance, obesity, early sexual activity, and drug or alcohol use.” —Sylvia Rimm

In recent years, TV, video and DVD programs geared to babies and toddlers have come on the market — even a cable channel for babies. We do not yet know the adverse effects TV viewing by babies and toddlers may have on their development. We do know that time spent watching TV replaces the irreplaceable time spent interacting with caregivers and other children and can interfere with future school success.
^ Top

The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander: Breaking the Cycle

“Every school year, literally millions of teenagers (children) suffer from emotional violence in the form of bullying, harassment, stalking, intimidation, humiliation, and fear. Gunshots may be rare, but psychological stabbings are all too common in the daily lives of kids. Sticks, stones, and bullets may break their bones, and words can break their hearts.” —Garbarino & deLara.

The Internet: Invading the Lives and Brains of Today’s Youth

"For many teenagers (children) today, meeting face to face has become a thing of the past. It is cooler these days to meet online to socialize, get dates, share good music, and chat. Kids have always looked for places to gather gossip, be seen, be cool, listen to music and “hang out”. That isn’t new. What is new is WHERE these gathering places are and WHO else is around.” —David Walsh

“The potential dangers on the Internet are very real for today's children who are spending more and more time online. Law-enforcement agencies are working around the clock to combat Internet crime, but we will never arrest our way out of this problem. Education is the key to prevention…” —John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted

With the touch of a key or the click of a mouse, the Internet opens up the whole world to a child. But, the Internet world has its own rules, justice, language, and culture. While adolescents are reaping many benefits from today’s technology, they also face many new challenges due to the enormous power which technology places in people’s hands. To many children and adolescents, Internet usage has become excessive and obsessive. Its use can be linked to teenage depression, isolation, emotional immaturity, social isolation, and even suicide risk. The Internet threats to today’s children and adolescents are very real and very dangerous and the majority of parents either are not Internet literate or do not have the time to monitor the activities of their children on the Internet — or both.

The frontal cortex of the brain — the area that helps a person plan ahead, resist impulses and “do the right thing” — is still developing well through the teen years. During this sensitive growth period, this area of the brain can be significantly impacted by Internet experiences and, as a result, lead to high risk decisions. Instant messaging, profiles, chat rooms, downloaded pictures from cell phones, pornographic websites, hate and anti-societal websites, email, blogs and “social sites” can create very dangerous situations for an adolescent or teen. Besides sexual predators and pornography, the Internet and wireless networks offer an ideal climate for cyber bullying — the use of technology to degrade, harass, and humiliate another person. Cyber bullying allows bullies to be faceless, often nameless, and chase their victims 24 hours a day, seven days a week, even into what once was a safe haven — their home. More often than not, these “bullies” are likely to be friends or acquaintances of the victim.

“So what, exactly, is MySpace? Here's one answer: it's an online community where users post profiles, collect the profiles of their friends, view the profiles of their friends' friends, share music, and take part in blogs. Here's another answer: it's the modern day version of the corner drug store where kids go to socialize, express themselves, try out new identities and, well, hang out. And here's the problem: the site and its young visitors are largely unmonitored.” —David Walsh
^ Top

How Emotions and Stress Affect Learning: The Rollercoaster Ride

"The concept of childhood, so vital to the traditional American way of life, is threatened with extinction in the society we have created. Today's child has become the unwilling, unattended victim of overwhelming stress the stress borne of rapid, bewildering social change and constantly rising expectations." - David Elkind

"Emotion drives attention, which drives learning, memory, problem solving, and almost everything else we do." Bob Sylwester

How does the increasing rate of traumas to children, such as divorce and family breakdown, crime and violence, drug abuse, school pressures and recent terrorism, affect children?

How is learning affected when a child experiences positive versus negative emotions?

How can adults help children understand their own emotions and the emotions of others? How can adults coach a child to understand, regulate, and respond constructively to their emotions?

Stress is inevitable. All children will experience it in their lives, sometimes in significant amounts. Studies show that adults generally fail to recognize the frequency and degree of stress in the lives of children. Indeed, children often perceive themselves as having higher levels of stress than that recognized by adults.

"Children today can be as rushed and stressed as their parents, and this is often because of their parents’ stress. In an effort to provide opportunities and to jump-start their children’s success in life, many parents are overloading kids with extracurricular activities such as sports, music, art, and various other social, religious, educational, and recreational activities. The net result is stress in children who have too little personal time for relaxation and stress recovery. Chances are high that if the parents are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, their children are also feeling the same way." Paul Foxamn

"Our complex modern society has greatly increased the amount of stress adults and children are exposed to. Children are experiencing more stress at younger and younger ages. Even in the womb a child picks up the mother’s stress." — Victoria Tennant

What role do emotions play in learning? How do they influence learning? Just like the switch in your home that turns your lights on and off, emotion is like the "on-off" switch to learning. When the switch is off, the system is dormant and only the potential for learning is available. When the switch is on, the pathway to learning is open. Emotions are the feelings that color our lives and allow us to experience all of the joys and sorrows of life, with a profound impact on learning and memory. Research has shown that happiness has a positive effect on learning, memory and social behavior. Conversely, negative emotional states, such as anger and sadness, have been shown to have a negative impact on learning and motivation.

"Stress is positive when the person feels stimulated and able to manage it. Stress is negative when a person feels threatened and not in control of the situation. These feelings instigate a powerful reaction — affecting both the brain and body in ways that can be destructive to physical and mental health." — Victoria Tennant

"Successful experiences may take the form of highly emotional events or, when overwhelming, overtly traumatizing experiences. The degree of stress will have a direct effect on memory: Small amounts have a neutral effect on memory; moderate amounts facilitate memory; and large amounts impair memory." —Daniel Siegel
^ Top

MindWaves: How the Brain Works

"Today, with the development of new medical imaging technology (PET, MRI, fMRI,) and techniques (EEG, ERP, MEG), brain science is capable of providing us with insights into the human mind that only a few decades ago wouldn’t have been possible. —Newsweek

What has brain research taught us about how the brain functions and how can we apply that knowledge in our daily lives?

Your brain really is a three pound universe. Even though we use our brains every second of every day, studying the brain has not been easy. Thanks to new medical imaging technology (PET, MRI, fMRI,) and techniques (EEG, ERP, MEG), we have learned more about the brain in the 1990s than in all the rest of recorded history. Neuroscientists can now view different aspects of brain functioning in "real-time" — when we’re experiencing stress and emotions, listening to music, playing a video game, making decisions, practicing a skill, or thinking in general.

"With our new knowledge of the brain, we are just dimly beginning to realize that we can now understand humans, including ourselves, as never before, and that this is the greatest advance of the century, and quite possibly the most significant in all human history." —Leslie Hart,

"Brain research should be the catalyst for school reform, the foundation upon which teaching practices are built and curriculum/instruction strategies are developed." —Dr. Gerald N. Tirozzi, Executive Director National Association of Secondary School Principals

How can we make learning powerful and lasting? What is the natural cycle of learning?

Teachers need to employ methods that provide experiences and assignments to engage all four areas of the brain’s cortex. By so doing, they can expect deeper learning, whole-brain learning that translates into useful long-term transferable knowledge.

"What is important is that we create real thinkers for our world, not just those who can rattle off information and tell us what the world already knows." —Bernice McCarthy

"The learning cycle is the natural result of the structure of the brain. Without biology the learning cycle is theoretical. With biology we see that the brain is actually constructed this way. Teaching is the art of changing the brain." —James Zull
^ Top

The World Today: Education Frozen in Time

"The world our kids are going to live in is changing four times faster than our schools." —Willard Daggett

Are schools keeping up with today’s fast paced, technological ever-changing world?

Tom Peters says, "We are going to be able to access all the information in the world in 1.6 seconds via technology very soon." According to Dr. Willard Daggett, the world our kids are going to live in is changing four times faster than our schools. In most schools, when they close the door on Monday morning, it could just as easily be 1950 or 1920. What are the new "Basic Skills" for the 21st Century?

"American schools aren’t exactly frozen in time, but considering the pace of change in other areas of life, our public schools tend to feel like throwbacks. Kids spend much of the day as their great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed. A yawning chasm (with emphasis on yawning) separates the world inside the schoolhouse from the world outside." —Time, Dec. 18, 2000
^ Top