Brain Development: Annotated Bibliography on Brain Plasticity Research

This annotated bibliography synthesizes three articles focused on brain development. The first article examines the impact of environmental enrichment (EE) on brain plasticity, highlighting its influence on visual areas and the GABAergic system, with a focus on the role of BDNF and IGF-I. The second article reviews best practices for using questions as a teaching tool, emphasizing Bloom's taxonomy and various question types to promote student comprehension and critical thinking. The third article explores executive function, the cognitive skills used to manage daily tasks, and discusses its development, including inhibitory control, working memory, and mental flexibility, and its importance in early childhood and school readiness. The author connects these articles to the practice of teaching children, suggesting that environmental enrichment can stimulate brain development, questions can promote critical thinking, and fostering executive function skills can enhance learning. The author emphasizes the need for clear responses, open discussions, and a classroom environment that supports mental processes.

Running head: BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
Annotated Bibliography
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Week 6 reading
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.
In this article the authors examine the impact of environmental enrichment (EE) on the
adult brain architecture and the brain plasticity that underlies all neural operations. The role of
environmental enrichment in influencing the central nervous system at different anatomical,
functional and molecular levels have already been validated and established by other studies. The
author’s research focuses on determining the extent to which stimulation of the brain by the
social and physical surroundings are able to govern the ability of the brain to change throughout
the life of all individuals. The authors postulated that there is a research gap in this context. The
article suggested that EE has the capability to induce marked acceleration in the maturation of
visual areas since birth. Furthermore, they also provided evidence for the fact that this
enrichment is able to bring about a maturation of the visual system, in absence of adequate visual
stimulus. The main ideas expressed in the paper focus on the fact that higher levels of BDNF
play an important role in triggering the maturation of GABAergic system. The authors also
provided a strong evidence for correlation of IGF-I molecular factor with a mediation of EE
effects. Furthermore, the authors also provided supporting evidences for the role of EE
stimulation in retina development. This was supported by the fact that DR is found to induce
alterations in the retinal ganglion cells, in addition to influencing the visual responsiveness
demonstrated by the inner retinal neurons. The authors conducted a thorough investigation of the
key molecular factors and suggested that the levels of both the aforementioned proteins, present
in the retina considerably increased in the retinal ganglion cells of developing EE rats. This

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helped the authors to identify BDNF as a potential downstream target of IGNF-I, which in turn
was confirmed by previous studies. The main ideas also illustrated that environmental alterations
are able to exert direct effects on the development of the CNS, since an early age. Hence, the
authors elaborated on the fact that differences in maternal behaviour that exists between non-EE
and EE conditions were an integral factor that triggered the early EE effects on development of
the visual system. They also conducted extensive research to establish correlation between tactile
stimulation and promotion of visual development in rats. The findings reported by them further
indicated the fact that massaging, in combination with gentle stroking was found to be highly
effective in maturation of visual functions. Consistency of these findings with previous studies
that demonstrated the role of massage therapy on acceleration of brain development was also
reported by the authors. These findings were also illustrated with the use of several graphs and
laboratory results that demonstrated higher levels of maternal care as experienced by enriched
pups, in comparison with standard-reared pups. In particular, this article will be useful for my
research because the data presented in the article will help in gaining a deeper understanding of
the various underlying environmental stimuli that enhances neuronal and brain development and
will also pave a new avenue in clinical research.
Week 7 reading
Tofade, T., Elsner, J., & Haines, S. T. (2013). Best practice strategies for effective use of
questions as a teaching tool. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 77(7), 155.
In this article Tofade and his colleagues review the best practice strategies that can be
implemented in the form of a teaching tool, to enhance a deeper and sound understanding of the
subject matter. The author’s purpose is to investigate the effectiveness of using questions in

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creative ways in the classroom, to engage all students and ensure that they have absorbed
necessary information. The authors focused on illustrating the role of questions in stimulating
students to recall prior information and knowledge that have been gained over the course of time.
Furthermore, the authors also took efforts to elaborate on the role of questions as a teaching tool
to promote comprehension capabilities of the students, and build upon their strengths and
attributes of critical thinking. The authors also provided evidence to illustrate the role of
questions in assisting students to generate effective discussions regarding the study concepts and
enhance peer-to-peer interaction. The authors conducted extensive research and correlated the
information they presented with Bloom’s taxonomy of learning that most commonly classifies
cognitive learning into different domains of learning. The article also presented information on
the efficacy of questions in eliciting appropriate responses related to comprehension, knowledge
and application domains that are most often considered in the teaching process. Exhaustive
information was also provided on the taxonomy of questions. An explanation for a range of non-
hierarchical questions was provided that included the different questions types namely,
convergent, divergent, brainstorm, focal, funnel and shotgun. The authors also supported their
findings with other evidences on the types of questions that have been classified by previous
findings, based in cognitive dimensions and actions of the students. Extensive information was
provided on the different cognitive dimensions such as, application, analysis, comprehension,
knowledge, evaluation and synthesis that form an integral part of the teaching process. The role
of different types of questions in influencing the knowledge dimensions of the students were also
extensively discussed by the authors. Elaborate information on the existing knowledge
dimensions that pertain to procedural, metacognitive, conceptual and factual knowledge was also
provided by the authors. The authors were successful in illustrating the problems that several

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non-hierarchical questions might give rise to. They provided strong theoretical concepts on the
problems related to eliciting confusion that often occur on implementation of funnel and shotgun
questions. The information provided on different strategies that need to be adopted while
formulating questions were supported by previous findings. The authors were able to elaborate
on the sequencing of Socratic teaching approach method that uses inquiry to promote open
discussion, eventually leading to comparison of two viewpoints. They also elaborated on the
concept of spontaneous questioning that makes students naturally curious about the concerned
topic. Further information was also provided on the question circles strategy and the student-
generated questions that facilitate a deeper understanding of concepts. The topic is relevant
because gaining knowledge on the taxonomy of questions will help in recognizing the triggers
that will promote a high-ordered, critical thinking. This in turn will facilitate recalling essential
factual and conceptual knowledge.
Week 8 reading
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2011). Building the brain’s “air
traffic control” system: How early experiences shape the development of executive
function: Working paper No. 11. No. 11.
The article examines the cognitive abilities or the brain-based skills that are utilized by all
individuals to conduct daily activities that range from the simplest to complex tasks. The authors
have identified the fact that basic cognitive skills help all people to learn, remember, solve
problems, pay attention, without the provision for gaining actual knowledge on the skills.
Statements provided by the authors support the fact that the cognitive skills are present in all
individuals from birth and acts as a potential to develop the related aforementioned cognitive

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capabilities, depending on the range of experiences that a person encounters during infancy,
childhood, and adolescence. The main ideas expressed in this article focus on the fact that the
genes act as blueprint that is often influenced by the environment in which a person lives during
childhood. Evidences that support this statement elucidate the role of cognitive capabilities in
facilitating the process of focusing on a plethora of information simultaneously, monitoring
errors, making appropriate decisions in the light of information that is made available and
revising plans as and when required. The authors conducted a thorough investigation and
elaborated on the different executive functioning such as, inhibitory control, working memory,
and mental or cognitive flexibility. The authors were able to illustrate the function of executive
function skills and suggested that these skills are imperative for the early development of a range
of social and cognitive capabilities of all individuals. These statements were supported by
scientific evidences related to the consequence and development of executive functioning during
the early years of life. The evidences indicated that development of these skills are influenced by
normative differences that exist in the pace and nature of developmental trajectories of an
individual. Furthermore, the authors provided strong theoretical concepts on the lifelong
importance of these skills on practitioners, parents, and policymakers. The authors have
conducted a thorough investigation on the efficacy of executive cognitive skills and suggested
that these skills are able to provide children with an association between social, moral, and
emotional development with early school achievements. They argued with existing definitions
that correlate executive functioning with school readiness. Further information provided in the
article also emphasized on the role of executive functioning individual differences in the
adjustment of children and their school success. Support for these claims is documented by the
fact that the environment of relationship that pertain to a young child, plays an important role in

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developing the executive capacities of the child. Furthermore, the authors were also successful in
illustration the role of young age adversities among children, which most likely results in an
exhibition of executive function deficits. The importance of the article lies in the fact that it helps
in gaining deeper knowledge on the process by which healthy development of executive
functioning can be facilitated. The information provided in the article will also be helpful in
understanding about the preschool interventions that can be implemented in classrooms to
enhance executive functioning of the children, in addition to protecting them.
Summative statement
The theory and practice of teaching children and influencing their learning patterns form
an essential aspect of the teaching process. It involves the procedure of taking appropriate
actions, making proper judgments, and putting into action effective strategies that underpin the
theories of learning, while taking into consideration the individual needs and preferences of all
students. The aforementioned articles helped in gaining a deeper understanding of the way by
which alterations in the external stimuli that leads to development of environmental enrichment
can help in stimulating the brain of the child learners. The role of environmental enrichment in
neurodevelopment of all children can be utilized to enhance maturation of their basic cognitive
skills, which in turn will facilitate the learning process. Further efforts must also be taken to
employ strategies that use questions as effective teaching tools. There is a need to design
responses in a way that ensures providing unambiguous answers to demonstrate the underlying
reasoning of all children. It is imperative to consider the basic objective of enhancing critical
thinking skills of all children, while asking them questions. Furthermore, generating an
environment that facilitates open discussion with the students will further enhance their

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answering capabilities. Efforts must also be taken to ask mixed types of questions based on the
classifications, which in turn will provide assistance to all students to respond more effectively.
Hence, implementation of these strategies in a classroom session will promote pedagogy
and also better facilitate interaction with the students, and the intellectual and social environment
that is intended to establish. Recognising essential cues that can help in enhancing executive
functioning of all children will promote development of their mental processes, thereby enabling
them to focus attention, remember instructions, plan and conduct several tasks successfully.
Showing concordance to an air-traffic control system, the executive functioning of a child’s brain
need to be enhanced to allow the brain filter distractions, set and accomplish goals, control
impulses, and prioritise tasks, thereby improving learning experience.

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References
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.
Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (2011). Building the brain’s “air traffic
control” system: How early experiences shape the development of executive function:
Working paper No. 11. No. 11.
Tofade, T., Elsner, J., & Haines, S. T. (2013). Best practice strategies for effective use of
questions as a teaching tool. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 77(7), 155.