The discoveries of recent years in science about the development of children's brains are absolutely fascinating. They allowed us to understand even more how important the first years of life of babies are determinants for the foundations of their learning. But not only that,They confirmed but also invalidated some of our teaching practices.. Science and in particular cognitive science are opening up windows of observation for us that we have never had before. We never have As much progress has been made in understanding learning mechanisms, especially those that take place in early childhood.. But what are the striking discoveries for what impacts on our teaching practices in early childhood?

1. Is a baby's brain that disorganized?

Babies' ability to understand the world around them has long been described as very immature.

It's true, they are very fragile, they have difficulty getting around, they take time to respond... Everything leads us to believe, that yes, maybe everything is mixed up “up there”. But does immaturity necessarily mean disability? Is a baby's brain so immature, so disorganized that nothing is really functional “up there”? That is the whole difference. It is time to return to this concept of immaturity and to redefine it together.

While we have made giant strides in science on the study of the brain of babies, it is of course these concepts that the discoveries have been the most striking!

• No, the baby brain is not a “Gloubi-boulga”, disorganized and without structure.
• No, babies' brains are not so immature that nothing is functional.
• No, babies' brains are far from being a blank slate, a whiteboard on which everything would be written.

Yes, babies' brains are already very well organized at birth, capable of processing very complex information and in addition they already know about the world!

2. What if babies' brains were already pre-wired to learn?

Although its size is 3 to 4 times smaller than that of an adult, it already has very powerful and functional treatment tools!

Indeed, the brain architecture is already well established, networks composed of specific areas are already well present. Recent research shows that language networks, for example, are already functional At 27 weeks gestation ¹ ! So yes, babies are well equipped in their heads to hear speech sounds long before they are born. This shows us how functional their brains are and how capable of processing sounds, which already allows him to enter the acquisition of language.

This is also what we find at birth, language networks are activated as soon as they hear language sounds. ^2—4, and even those dedicated to musical sounds ⁵. They are even beginning to have specialized networks to deal with sounds they were exposed to during pregnancy, such as the sounds of their native languages. ⁶. Moreover, these networks activated in babies are very similar to the networks used by adults! So babies at birth are already learning their native language (s), thanks to prenatal exposure (what they heard in the womb). This shows us how capable they are of processing complex things, such as speech sounds (sometimes of several) and to build a solid foundation for their learning !

What does all this research on baby brains tell us? In other words, our brains eis already pre-wired at birth, or even before. We have already written in us knowledge about the world (how to process language, see faces, etc.) and that we are ready to process the stimuli of our environment, such as our native languages among many other things! So it is time to stop confusing immaturity with incapacity. ! These processing skills are incredible, very powerful, and are refined over time. As the baby bathes in a stimulating and stimulus-rich environment, he will gain expertise and speed.

3. Understanding early childhood development in the light of neuroscience

This knowledge resonates because we can extract two things from it:

1. Babies' brains already have knowledge about the world that helps them quickly process what's around them.. The proof, without having to explain to him that the verb is before the subject in an explicit way, they are able to put the words in the right order, without you even having taught him when they say their first sentence. That's what in science we call implicit learning: powerful and effective.
2. The weight of the environment is therefore crucial. in the development of these skills. The less rich the environment, the less sustainable and stable the skills will be. Unfortunately at this time, the less stable it is, the more This has a long term impact our learning skills (and not only).

This is why it is time to take into account research and science data in general, far too often isolated in laboratories, to put them back at the heart of our practices and to take them as A guide, a landmark where we can move forward peacefully. Let's use science and the scientific approach to create quality tools to support children's development in their learning. Let's base our teaching practices and our postures on the basis of our detailed observations. Children for impact their ability to learn in the long term and give them the best for the rest of their lives.

References

1. Mahmoudzadeh, M. et al. Syllabic discrimination in premature human infants prior to complete formation of cortical layers. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 110, 4846—51 (2013).
2. Peña, Mr. et al. Sounds and Silence: An Optical Topography Study of Language Recognition at Birth Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100, 11702—5 (2003).
3. Dehaene-Lambertz, G., Dehaene, S., S. & Hertz-Pannier, L. Functional neuroimaging of speech perception in infants. Science (80-.). 298, 2013—2015 (2002).
4. Gervain, J., Macagno, F., Cogoi, F., Cogoi, S., S., S., S., Peña, Peña, M. & Mehler, J. The neonate detects brain speech structure. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105, 14222—14227 (2008).
5. Perani, D. et al. Functional specializations for music processing in the human newborn brain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107, 4758—63 (2010).
6. Abboub, N., Nazzi, T. & Gervain, J. Prosodic grouping at birth. Brain Lang. 162, 46—59 (2016).

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