Annotated Bibliography on Early Childhood Education Strategies

Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bachelor in Early Childcare Education and Care
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Week 6
Baroncelli, L., Braschi, C., Spolidoro, M., Begenisic, T., Sale, A., &Maffei, L. (2010).
Nurturing brain plasticity: impact of environmental enrichment. Cell death and
differentiation, 17(7), 1092.
The primary purpose of the article was to elaborate on the potential of environmental
enrichment in the form of a major non-invasive strategy, with the aim of perfecting the
developmental deficits of CNS. The article identified the complexities of the adult human
brain and also recognized the role of interaction between plasticity processes that are driven
by experience and genetic developmental programs. The study was grounded on the fact that
there is inadequate evidence that illustrates the effect of EE on plasticity and developmental
physiology of the CNS. The authors also identified EE as a mixture of composite non-living
and social stimulation. The article also elaborated on the fact that birth related EE persuades a
noticeable acceleration in the development of VA, and this impact was steadily reported by
rats and mice subjected to behavioural and electrophysiological methods. The information
presented in the article also elaborated on the fact nurturing animals during their initial life
phases in EE results in a functional phenotype alike to transgenic mice that overexpress
forebrain BDNF levels. Environmental stimulation was also found to play an important role
in retina development by inducing changes in the visual responsiveness and retinal ganglionic
stratifications. This made the authors conclude that CNS development is quite receptive to
external environment during early stages of growth. Besides obtaining increased maternal
care levels, EE animals are also found to be subjected to incessant physical connexion due to
company of adult females, and also demonstrate increased licking and grooming levels. The
article further identified the role of massaging and gentle stroking on quickening maturation
of biological visual functions. They emphasised on the classical dogma of decline in brain
plasticity with age. The impacts of brief EE exposure of adult amblyopic rats on promoting

2ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
recovery of OD and VA were explained with the help of graphical representations.
Additionally, the article also contained evidence for the dynamic control of EE on cortical
synaptic plasticity, which leads to retrieval of evoking WM-LTP in optical cortical slices.
Another important observation by the researchers was that EE among amblyopic rats was
found to decrease the visual cortex concentration of chondroitin-sulphate proteoglycan
(CSPG) perineuronal nets (PNNs). Accompanying these functional impacts are retrieval of
dendritic-spine density, representing that the exclusion of CSPGs helps altering the synaptic
contacts on the visual-cortex pyramidal neurons.Further efforts were also taken by the
authors to correlate EE effects with different kinds of cognitive impairment such as, Down’s
syndrome, Rett’s syndrome, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Thus, it can be suggested that the information presented in the aforementioned article
was useful in relation to early childhood education since the science of early development of
the brain has often been found associated with early childhood investments. The authors were
able to establish the fact that brain development of the child from birth till an estimated five
years of age is critical for forming the foundation of a sustainable and prosperous society.
The findings of the study were consistent with other research results that a stimulating and
enriched environment proves advantageous in the behavioural and psychological outcomes.
In addition, the findings encouraged the application of EE for neurological and behavioural
studies and also suggested that several molecular hotspots should be taken into consideration
for efficacious treatment of neuropathological circumstances that affect the adult and juvenile
CNS.
Week 7
Burns, M. V., & Lewis, A. L. (2016). How the Project Approach Challenges Young
Children. Gifted Child Today, 39(3), 140-144.