Enterprising organizations are translating these findings into professional development workshops and instructional programs to help teachers apply lessons from the research to classroom settings. References to several teaching models based on brain research are found below . Opportunities for Learning Most neuroscientists believe that at birth the human brain has all the neurons it will ever have. Some connections, those that control such automatic functions as breathing and heartbeat, are in place at birth, but most of the individual's mental circuitry results from experiences that greet the newborn and continue, probably, throughout his or her life. How and when neural connections are made is a topic of debate.
Some researchers believe the circuits are completed by age five or six.
Other studies extend the period of development from birth to the later elementary school years. Still others argue that nerve connections can be modified throughout life with new connections forming perhaps even late in life. The second perception supports offering complex subjects much earlier in the curriculum than has been traditional. The third encourages efforts for lifelong learning. The links between learning, the number of neural connections, or the time frame for development of those connections are not clearly understood.