The Science Behind FasTracKids

[two_third]The importance of early education is supported by many research studies and many educators. How to deliver early education to young children and take full advantage of the opportunities to wire the brain is not so well defined. Development of a program to instruct young children must include experts in early childhood education who have focused their research on how the brain learns. Research is the basis for the G&T 101 Gifted & Talented Program and it determined how the early childhood education program was constructed.

The following are some facts that we do know about brain development:

• Heredity provides 30% to 60% of the brain’s wiring, while the child’s environment provides 40% to 70% of the brain’s wiring.

• Brain plasticity is defined as the brain’s ability to process the stimulation that it receives, growing more connections and developing a more efficient and faster processing brain.

• The brain changes through the process of making connections, not arriving at answers or solutions.

• Environmental stimulation can impact the IQ of a child by 20 points…either up or down.

• The school aged brain almost glows with energy consumption, burning 225% more glucose than the brain of an adult.

• The brain learns fastest and easiest during the early education years.

• By age five, 50% of the brain’s learning capacity has been wired. By age eight, 80% of the brain’s learning capacity has been wired.

• Circuits in different regions of the brain mature at different times, creating a window of opportunity.

*These facts are found in The Learning Revolution by Gordon Dryden and Jeannette Vos, and Teaching With the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen

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