Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science
This book provides new insights about learning by synthesising existing and emerging findings from cognitive and brain science and exploring how this new information might impact teaching, parenting, and educational policy making. It shows what the latest brain imaging techniques and other advances in the neurosciences actually reveal about how the brain develops and operates at different stages in life from birth to old age and how the brain is involved in acquiring skills such as reading and counting. It also presents scientific insights into what happens when the brain malfunctions in conditions such as dyslexia or Alzheimer's disease.
China Education Daily nominated this book as one of the "100 most influential education books for teachers" on December 15, 2011.
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The Brain and Learning in Adolescence
Centre for Educational Research and Innovation
The brain consists of a vast amount of cells, or neurons, which constitute the basic operative unit in the brain. During the period of the highest prenatal brain development (10-26 weeks after conception), it is estimated that the brain grows at a rate of 250 000 neurons per minute. At birth the brain contains the majority of the cells it will ever have, with estimates ranging from 15-32 billions. This span does not only reflect that cell counting is imprecise, but also that the number of cells varies considerably from person to person. After birth, new neurons are only produced in limited numbers. By far most conspicuous changes in the brain following birth occur in the connections between neurons; new ones are formed and old ones are either strengthened or eliminated.
Also available in: French
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