Metaphors of developmental process for brain-savvy teachers

Early childhood care providers are inadequately prepared to make sense of findings from the neurosciences and are too easily misled by glib assertions from marketers about the brain and what neuroscience reveals about learning. To counter this confusion, teachers need more than simplified details about brain structure and mental process. They require a better understanding of foundational, if nonintuitive, constructs in current developmental science, including developmental biology and psychology, to better understand how brains change over time. To facilitate the introduction of this, an easily grasped metaphor might be employed that could encompass both neural and developmental processes and relate them coherently to what educators already know about learning and effective teaching. However, successful implementation of this operative metaphor in educators’ professional preparation and development will be arduous.