Over the weekend, I was diligently thinking about my homework –
and I went saw the Disney Pixar movie Inside Out. I loved this movie! Not only
was it a fun-family movie, but it also was interesting to make connections with
the brain. At one point in the movie, the “emotions” in the brain are going
through the process of taking the days memories and sending them to long term
memory, and I turned to my sister and whispered “That’s called the
hippocampus!” Obviously, this movie was not anatomically correct, nor did it
remotely resemble the functions we know about the brain, but it was enjoyable
to make the connections – my favorite part was when they went into the
“abstract” thinking part of the brain.
In class we have discussed in depth the different theories
behind cognitive development. Vygotsky and Piaget are the primary theorists
discussed and although they have different findings, we are able to mesh
together and interpret their findings compared to the development of the brain.
The brain of a child develops from front to back. With this information we are
able to correlate the research done by Vygotsky and Piaget who stated that
there is a process / different stages of cognition that builds over time. The
brain starts developing motor skills and automatic functions near the beginning
of life – which runs parallel to the preoperational, operational, and the
concrete operational theory. The child continues to grow and they are
able to understand the abstract more fully, which makes sense because the
frontal lobe (which houses these higher order thinking skills) develops at a
slower rate.
During the learning process, neurons attach and create synapses.
These neuro-pathways are strengthened as we receive increased exposure and a
concept is reiterated when we create multiple pathways to recall the
information. Vygotsky’s argument was founded on a social-constructivist theory,
meaning that we take the information from our environment, culture, and
dialogue and internalize that information until it becomes our very way of
thinking. In my reflection, I’ve thought about how this shows that as we are
interacting with our environment it is building multiple pathways through the
maze of neurons in our brain.
The brain is always changing, and with those changes we are able
to adapt to the circumstances around us. The influx in technology has, indeed,
changed our brains, yet that does not necessarily mean it is destroying our
brain. Children that are being raised as digital natives may have different
problem solving skills, they may be able to think of concepts more abstractly
due to the problem solving used during video games. Digital natives have
created connections across many topics because of the quick access to multiple
types of information. Digital natives are confronted with so much information
that often they do not make strong synaptic connections in all these topics,
but they still have many interconnected neuropaths to varying subjects. If I
had to draw a picture of the world wide web, I would depict it as a massive
connection of neurons and neuropathways! We are so connected! Our brain adapts
to the media and we literally are retraining the way we think.
In conclusion, it is possible that we are seeing not a gradual
adaptation, but actual evolution over the course of one generation. Our brains
are changing and it is affecting the way children learn. So, the question is,
how can we use the media that is in our classrooms to best utilize these new
brain development patterns to maximize cognition? I don’t yet have an answer
for that, but I’m hoping to have a greater grasp by the time I complete my
Master’s program!
Sources:
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