The Importance of Early Childhood Cognitive Development America offers many programs for graduate students involved in education and children. Although any student can appreciate education, I suspect that few understand the importance of early childhood development. Having committed to applying for a position at Teach for America, I want to better understand why it is so important to “hire them while they’re young.” In 2001, the U.S. Department of Education, the Academy of Sciences, and the Foundation for Child Development conducted a study on early childhood development. Several interesting ideas and scientific trends about child development emerged from the study. The questions surrounding this research were: How important is a child's early life? Which early years are most important? Why aren't later years more important? In order to better plan education policy, it is necessary to discuss these issues. The part of the study that I find most compelling is the part regarding neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity, or brain plasticity, is the brain's ability to reorganize neural pathways based on new experiences. (1) Simply put, every day we experience and learn new things. In order to incorporate this new information into our brain, our brain must reorganize the way it processes this information. So as we learn things, the brain changes. Neuroplasticity is important because, although it continues throughout each individual's life, it is closely linked to the rate of brain development/growth. During rapid periods of brain growth, synaptic pruning occurs. Synaptic pruning is the elimination of weaker brain synapses, thereby facilitating the growth of a stronger, more efficient brain. (2) As the brain grows... middle of paper ... very beneficial not only to their education, but also to the physical development of their brain. This information is useful in many fields of study: science, sociology, political science, law, etc. Neuroscience still has much to develop on cognitive development in early childhood. However, at present, the information appears to make it easier to create an appropriate education for young children. References 1) Neuroscience consultant, prepared by Erin Hoiland http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html 2) Synaptic Pruning in Development, online version of a text http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/cachedpage/116010/23) Eager to learn, study, online version of the text http://books.nap.edu /books/0309068363/html/37.html#pagetop4 )U.S. Department of Education, President Bush's Initiativeshttp://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/read/ereadingsbr03/edlite-slide9.html