Early Childhood Development and Education

The document provides an overview of the comprehensive development of the brain in early childhood, including neural pruning, myelinisation, and brain growth. It also explores the different theoretical approaches to early childhood education, including the work of Skinner, Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner, and Bandura.

Running head: CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
Childhood Education and Care
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
Early development stage
The comprehensive development of brain is a long process this is because the
anatomy of the brain keeps on changing up to the early stages of adulthood. According to
reports a baby is born with 100 billion of neurons. Neurons are the synapses that connects the
brain cells and enables to swift passage of the electrical impulses or neurotransmitters from
one cell to another and this in turn aid in normal functioning of the brain. These neuronal
synapses are also popularly known as neuronal pathways. Certain neuronal pathways are
formed during the foetal stage of the baby at the time of pregnancy and this enables a baby to
survive inside the womb o the mother. These neuronal pathways aid in normal breathing and
feeding of the fetes. However, after the birth and as the baby progress towards the early
childhood, the total number of the neuronal pathways increases. It is believed that the
neuronal pathways are formed in response to certain stimulus like love and attachment.
Although early years of childhood are regarded as one of the determining stage towards the
significant brain development, the mechanism via new connections are formed is a
continuous process and occur throughout the life. This continuous neuronal development
mainly occurs in response to taste, sounds and motor movements.
Neural Pruning
After 18 months of birth, the neural pathways that are no longer used by the body are
“pruned” by the brain. This may however, sound to be negative but is regarded as healthy for
the brain. This is because this enables brain to properly control and coordinate the active
neuronal pathways in a proficient manner and thereby helping to faster propagation of the
stimuli. Thus the young children are faster in responding to the neuronal impulses and that
too in a co-ordinated manner. The concept of neural pruning is often cited as a reason behind

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why the adults fail to learn any new language with ease, in comparison to that of a young
child.
Myelinisation
Myelin is a coating that covers the neurons. This covering of the neurons by the
myelin sheet prevents the loss of the neuronal impulses during its passage through the axon
body and thus aiding faster transmission of the neuronal impulses from one synapse to
another. This process of myelin sheet coating over the neurons is known as myelinisation
and occurs throughout the developmental stages of early childhood. Any temperament in the
process of myelinisation leads to the loss of neuronal impulses and thereby leading to the
development of neuronal disease like multiple sclerosis.
Brain growth
The growth of the brain initiates from early years of childhood. One of the main areas
of the brain whose development is associated during the early years of childhood is the
frontal lobe that is responsible for logical reasoning. Initiation of the development of the
frontal lobe of the brain enables the children to understand the tricky numerical concepts,
adding them to solve the mathematical problems.

3CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE
Behaviourist approach: Skinner
The behaviourist approach is employed to motivate the children. This motivation
comes in the form of praising the children and this in turn will encourage the children to
perform the same task with more enthusiasm in the future. This kind of motivation is consider
to generate interest among the children to perform the tasks over and over again and thereby
attaining excellence. For example, a child who has used marker countless time over the
whiteboard will want to repeat the task again and again if he or she has certain interest in that
task. However, child who is not enjoying this task might not repeat it at all rather will try to
avoid the same.
Piaget: Social constructivist approach
Piaget has prejudiced the present frame of child education and practise in several
different ways. It is reported that the children are required to different range of prospects in
order to attain excellence in the perceptions. There is also a belief that each child will think in
different manner and this manner of thinking changes with each stage of developmental
years. According to Piaget, stages of cognitive development are also linked with the thinking
thought process and change with each developmental stages. For example, key stage 2
development initiated at the onset of 7-year of the child and key stage 3 begins at 11-year of
the child.
Vygotsky: Social constructivist approach
Vygotsky’s efforts are considered to be extremely effective in the present practise of
child development. It provides importance behind careful observation of the child while
accessing his or her need in order to plan the next stage of development. The role of an adult
in treating children sympathetically in order to draw their attention to the important concepts

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of life is considered to be one of the significant stages of the child development. Thus the
collaboration and relationship of the children with the adult is seen as a vital part of the child
development. This in turn helps in the generation of new opportunities for the child
development. These activities are either adults-led activity along with activities initiated the
children.
Bruner: Social constructivist approach
Bruner social constructivist approach gives importance to the adults towards
scaffolding and supporting the children towards their developmental process. According to
this approach adults are required to provide feedback on adult-led activities to the children in
order to motivate them. Bruner also consider language as a principle key behind the cognitive
development. According to Burner, proper development of language enables the children to
think logically and symbolically and this in turn gets reflected in their current framework of
the thought process. The early years of the developmental stage of a child is characterised via
communication development through proper straining in language and this in turn promotes
development in other areas.
Bandura: Social cognitive theory
The social cognitive theory of Bandura emphasizes the importance of the effect of
children development via observing others. In early years settings of children, adults
generally initiate an activity like digging in sand, writing in a piece of paper of reading
colourful story books. Afterwards, children will habitually want to join adults in these
activities via copying their actions. Moreover, the younger children in a nursery generally
learn from their senior mates or older children via carefully observing their actions. For
example, they may put on apron before they start painting as they have observed that their
seniors are doing the same.