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The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development How Emotions and Social Relationships Drive Learning

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The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development How Emotions and Social Relationships Drive Learning The Brain Basis for Integrated Social, Emotional, and Academic Development How emotions and social relationships drive learning Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Linda Darling-Hammond, Christina Krone The National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development The Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development is engaging and energizing communities to re-envision what constitutes success in our schools. Scientific evidence demonstrates that social, emotional, and academic development are interconnected in the learning process. The Commission is drawing from research and promising practices to explore how to make all these dimensions of learning part of the fabric of every school. Building upon existing work in schools, communities, and states across the country, the Commission is working to identify specific action steps in research, practice, and policy that will help shape and sustain a new era of education that reflects what we know about how learning happens. The Commission’s members are leaders from education, research, policy, business, and the military, and the full Commission team includes a Council of Distinguished Scientists, a Council of Distinguished Educators, a Youth Commission, a Parent Advisory Panel, Partners Collaborative, and a Funders Collaborative. Contact Us Learn more about the Commission, see our full list of Commission members, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on Twitter at @AspenSEAD, and email us with questions at [email protected]. © 2018 The Aspen Institute Introduction Throughout life, and to an extraordinary degree of neural connections to form brain networks in young people, the brain develops differently that reflect a person’s experiences and help based on opportunities to engage actively and him or her adapt to the world in which they safely with rich and meaningful environments, live.10,11 As a person engages with situations, social relationships, and ideas.1–3 The brain’s problems, ideas, and social relationships, these plasticity, the very adaptability that allows us experiences influence patterns of brain structure to adjust to the demands of our environments, and function that undergird a person’s changing therefore presents a critical opportunity and skills and inclinations over time. responsibility for education. The developmental sculpting of the brain’s Brain science usually does not translate networks through learning is akin to the process directly into educational policy or practice. of growing a botanical garden. When given But educational policies and practices that are adequate opportunity, plants naturally grow consistent with how the brain develops are more through various developmentally appropriate likely to promote learning and development phases, such as seed germination and cycles of than those that undermine or are inconsistent budding and flowering. However, the particular with brain science.4 In addition, an appreciation characteristics of a garden reflect the age of how brain development varies across and types of the plants and a combination of individuals and accommodates environmental geography, climate, soil quality, care, cultural demands can give educators insights into the context (such as preferences for rock gardens types of supports and interventions that might versus wildflowers), and the gardener’s own prove most helpful for different children.5–8 choices. The garden is also affected by how it is laid out and used (for example, for picnicking This brief explains the science behind how the under shade trees, growing vegetables, strolling brain develops, how that development relates along paths, or playing active sports). In this way, to learning, and the settings and contexts that the local conditions, the gardener’s skills and are conducive to learning and development. taste, the patterns of use, and time all shape the It explains how brain development requires garden and affect its future growth and health. social relationships, emotional experiences, and cognitive opportunities. And, it draws from Just as a garden grows differently in different this evidence to suggest basic principles for climates and with different plants, styles of educational policymakers and practitioners. gardening, and use, a person’s brain develops differently depending on age, predispositions, priorities, experiences, and environment. When Brain development supports learning, given adequate opportunity, support, and encouragement, children naturally think, feel and vice versa. emotions, and engage with their social and Brain development after birth does not just physical worlds. And these patterns of thoughts, involve the brain getting bigger or stronger feelings, and engagement organize brain or increasing its number of connections.9 development over time and in age-specific Instead, brain development mainly involves ways, influencing growth, intelligence, and the generation, pruning, and reorganization health into the future. The Aspen Institute 2018 1 changing weather conditions and the desired Genes and Epigenetics: An uses and appearance of the garden. emotionally safe, cognitively Epigenetic forces are like the climate, the stimulating environment contributes weather, and the gardener’s actions. They to brain development. are aspects of the person’s social, emotional, In 1990, a major multinational scientific project cognitive, physical, and physiological was launched to document the full genetic contexts—the engaging and rigorous makeup of humans. The Human Genome intellectual opportunities, warm and rich Project12 resulted in a startling discovery: social relationships, and healthy physical and humans have far fewer genes than had been emotional environments in which a person lives. predicted,13 and fewer than many simpler Together, these forces trigger and organize organisms, including many plants. How could brain development and, therefore, a person’s the most intelligent and flexible creatures on the readiness and capacities to learn. Though planet have so few uniquely human genes with healthy human environments can vary greatly which to specify abilities? The answer speaks in their specific characteristics and cultural squarely to the purpose of culture, childrearing, features, when a person’s world is seriously and education: our amazing intellectual impoverished in any of these dimensions, brain potential appears to derive partly from the development and the learning that depends 3,19–21 evolutionary loss of genetic information.14,15 Our on it are compromised. When a person’s genes appear to underspecify our development, world is enriched in these dimensions, brain and that information deficit makes possible (and development is facilitated and learning 22–25 in fact necessary) our unparalleled proclivity for is enabled. socially mediated learning.16–18 For our genes to grow a fully functioning human, we must have Except in the rare case of severe, life- adequate opportunity to interact with others threatening genetic disorders, all children have and to learn. This learning extends across the the genes essential for brain development settings a person lives in: family, community, and the propensity to learn. However, genes and school. are not sufficient to build a person, and the genome itself is dynamic, changing in response While the components of the genetic code to environmental cues.26 Continual, age- could be likened to a gardener’s seeds and appropriate, and individualized contextual instruction manual, the epigenetic forces— support provides the epigenetic forces that the environmental forces from “above the turn genes on and off, copy and arrange genome”—provide the supports and triggers them, so that growth, development, thinking, that open and close various pages of the and learning can occur.27–29 Overall, though manual, and even reorder, copy, and delete differences in individuals’ intelligence are pages, telling the gardener whether, when, somewhat heritable in optimal learning where, and how to plant various seeds given environments,30 in sub-optimal environments, dynamic environmental conditions, and how measures of environmental quality and to care for, arrange, prune, and fertilize plants learning opportunities overwhelmingly swamp at different stages, in accordance with the the predictive power of genes.31 Following 2 THE BRAIN BASIS FOR INTEGRATED SOCIAL, EMOTIONAL, AND ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT The quality of a person’s relationships and social interactions shapes their development and health, both of the body and of the brain. the garden analogy, individuals may inherit plasticity in the parent’s brain development,38 “seeds” for various kinds of plants, but it is the and signals the infant’s brain to grow.39–41 gardening and environmental conditions that determine which seeds will grow, thrive, and As the above example demonstrates, individuals 42–45 thereby reveal their potential. Importantly, co-regulate each other’s physiology, across the lifespan, targeted interventions and which means that the quality of a person’s supports of the sorts that can be provided by relationships and social interactions shapes their schools and community organizations have development and health, both of the body and 37,46–49 been shown to improve neural and cognitive of the brain. For example, infants’ prenatal functioning and health, with long-term benefits brain development is impacted by maternal for individuals.21,23,32–35 stress, which is in turn related to toddler behavior, and child temperament
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