When asking how cognition comes to takes it mature form, learning seems to be an obvious factor to consider. However, until quite recently, there has been very little contact between investigations of how infants learn and what infants know. The chapters in this book document, for the first time, the insights that emerge when researchers who come from diverse domains and use different approaches make a genuine attempt to bridge this divide.

Integrating cutting-edge research from multiple disciplines, this book provides a dynamic and holistic picture of the developing infant mind. Contributors explore the transactions among genes, the brain, and the environment in the earliest years of life. The volume probes the neural correlates of core sensory, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social capacities. It highlights the importance of early relationships, presenting compelling findings on how parent-infant interactions influence neural processing and brain maturation. Innovative research methods are discussed, including applications of behavioral, hormonal, genetic, and brain imaging technologies.

Using his findings to present practical strategies for enhancing pupil learning, Frank McNeil explores recent research in neuroscience and combines this with learning in three interconnected ways: attention, emotions, and memory.

Understanding how the brain learns helps teachers do their jobs more effectively. Primary researchers share the latest findings on the learning process and address their implications for educational theory and practice. Explore applications, examples, and suggestions for further thought and research; numerous charts and diagrams; strategies for all subject areas; and new ways of thinking about intelligence, academic ability, and learning disability.

Maureen Harris has written an early childhood music program that is easily incorporated into the classroom routine. Written for the early childhood educator-experienced or trainee, musician or nonmusician_this book describes a music-enriched environment for teaching the whole child. Now educators can put research into practice and benefit from the wealth of knowledge and research acquired over the centuries on the power of music. With easy-to-follow lesson plans, sing-along CDs (sung in a suitable pitch for the young child), and supporting literature, educators can gain musical confidence as they explore research on child development, learn how to create a music-enriched environment and build musical confidence, see a curriculum time-frame, and follow lesson plans with ideas for further musical creativity and exploration. In addition, the multicultural section shows how to set up an early childhood music setting that maximizes the benefits of a variety of cultural values and practices. As you read this book you will begin to see music as a biological human need, an incredible vehicle for enhancing intelligence, and a means to connecting and uniting people around the world.

Originally published in 1970, parents and teachers were beginning to realise how very much earlier in life human intelligence develops than was previously thought. A child’s experience in its pre-school years largely determines its future academic progress; and environment and parental influence play a very great part in this. The author describes the steps by which children develop mentally and emotionally, and the scholarly and experimental work that had been done in this field to date. The book was thought to be an eye-opener for most parents at the time (to be put beside ‘Spock’) and for all child psychologists a fascinating review of recent work.

The Leading Edge of Early Childhood Education aims to support the effort to simultaneously scale up and improve the quality of early childhood education by bringing together relevant insights from emerging research to provide guidance for this critical, fledgling field. It reflects the growing recognition that early childhood experiences have a powerful effect on children’s later academic achievement and long-term life outcomes. Editors Nonie K. Lesaux and Stephanie M. Jones bring together an impressive array of scholarly contributors. Topics include: · creating learning environments that support children’s cognitive and emotional development; · identifying and addressing early risk factors; · using data to guide educators’ practice; and · capitalizing on the use of technology. Recent years have seen a surge of local, state, and national initiatives aimed at expanding and improving early childhood initiatives, particularly regarding access to preK programs. The Leading Edge of Early Childhood Education promises to be a valuable resource for those charged with enacting the next level of work in this critical area.

The process of learning words and languages may seem like an instinctual trait, inherent to nearly all humans from a young age. However, a vast range of complex research and information exists in detailing the complexities of the process of word learning. Theoretical and Computational Models of Word Learning: Trends in Psychology and Artificial Intelligence strives to combine cross-disciplinary research into one comprehensive volume to help readers gain a fuller understanding of the developmental processes and influences that makeup the progression of word learning. Blending together developmental psychology and artificial intelligence, this publication is intended for researchers, practitioners, and educators who are interested in language learning and its development as well as computational models formed from these specific areas of research.