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Integrating an understanding of brain development into early childhood education
Author(s) -
Gilkerson Linda
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
infant mental health journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.693
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1097-0355
pISSN - 0163-9641
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0355(200101/04)22:1<174::aid-imhj6>3.0.co;2-t
Subject(s) - biopsychosocial model , early childhood , curriculum , early childhood education , curriculum development , inclusion (mineral) , erikson's stages of psychosocial development , brain development , pedagogy , perspective (graphical) , medical education , child development , mental health , psychology , medicine , developmental psychology , psychotherapist , neuroscience , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science
This article describes the efforts to date of a five‐year project undertaken by the Erikson Institute Faculty Development Project on the Brain to help ensure that early childhood education faculty and practitioners have access to information on the brain and early development. Specifically, the article presents survey and focus group findings regarding the interests and learning needs of early childhood faculty and practitioners, the content and process of the resource modules on the brain and early development designed for use as part of the undergraduate or graduate curriculum in early education, and the faculty development activities undertaken to facilitate the inclusion of this content into the ongoing curriculum. The article describes the need for integrated frameworks for practice that more fully reflect a biopsychosocial perspective, and concludes with some reflections on the challenges of including brain development as part of the preparation of early educators to work with infants and young children. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.