Learning Chinese Mandarin characters in an English-speaking country: The development of a child’s symbolic mind

This qualitative research explores the development of the symbolic mind in children through learning Chinese Mandarin characters. Navigated through the lens of relational developmental system metatheory and guided by Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, findings present the analysis of the developmental processes in children’s recognition of symbols and use of known symbols to make and share meaning. This study also offers an explanation of the effect of changes in the sociocultural environment on children's symbolic development. Further, cultural differences toward symbolic representation are discussed with the recommendation of focusing on recognition followed by writing when learning Chinese Mandarin characters.

Conservation of peripheral nervous system formation mechanisms in divergent ascidian embryos

Ascidians with very similar embryos but highly divergent genomes are thought to have undergone extensive developmental system drift. We compared, in four species (Ciona and Phallusia for Phlebobranchia, Molgula and Halocynthia for Stolidobranchia), gene expression and gene regulation for a network of six transcription factors regulating peripheral nervous system (PNS) formation in Ciona. All genes, but one in Molgula, were expressed in the PNS with some differences correlating with phylogenetic distance. Cross-species transgenesis indicated strong levels of conservation, except in Molgula, in gene regulation despite lack of sequence conservation of the enhancers. Developmental system drift in ascidians is thus higher for gene regulation than for gene expression and is impacted not only by phylogenetic distance, but also in a clade-specific manner and unevenly within a network. Finally, considering that Molgula is divergent in our analyses, this suggests deep conservation of developmental mechanisms in ascidians after 390 My of separate evolution.

Tiered Systems of Adaptive Supports and the Individualization of Intervention: Merging Developmental Cascades and Correlated Constraints Perspectives

Although tremendous advances have been made in the development of evidence-based services and strategies to prevent and treat emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs) in children, often such programs may be necessary but not sufficient to address the circumstances and needs of a specific student. The purpose of this introductory article and this broader special issue on the adaptation and individualization of evidence-based approaches for students with EBD is to consider innovations for tailoring multifactored interventions within tiered systems of support. In this article, we discuss potential ways that current tiered models may be strengthened using information and research strategies from developmental science to more rigorously link intervention to long-term outcomes of youth. We center this discussion on the concepts of developmental cascades and correlated constraints. We then present Tiered Systems of Adaptive Supports (TSAS) as a framework that is developmentally informed to guide individualized intervention. In this model, Tier 1 focuses on adapting general classroom strategies to support the routine daily functioning of all students; Tier 2 focuses on preventing the negative reorganization of a student’s developmental system; and Tier 3 focuses on promoting the positive reorganization of a student’s developmental system.

Developmental Participation: The Necessity of Cultural Perspectives in Developmental Psychology

This main aim of this paper is to present some theoretical considerations about the need for a cultural approach in modern developmental psychology. Starting with a critique of the over-universalisation of developmental research in American psychology, the authors present a paradigm of a relational-developmental system, using the concept of embodiment and a cultural approach in psychological research, in which the principal object of analysis is person-in-action as a culturally inclusive alternative for developmental psychology. This approach will be exemplified by research on development through guided participation and the role of shame in moral and social development in Confucian culture.

Comparison of developmental genome expression in rodent molars reveals extensive developmental system drift

In evolution, it is widely believed that phenotypic changes root in developmental changes and phenotype conservation, in developmental conservation. Seeming phenotype conservation may however hide evolutionary changes in the underlying developmental mechanisms by which a trait is produced. This cryptic evolution is also called Developmental System Drift, and the extent of this phenomenon unclear. We used a well-characterized evo-devo model system, rodent molars, to test the correlation between phenotypic and developmental evolution. Between mouse and hamster, the morphology of the lower molars has much less diverged than the morphology of the upper molars. Is development accordingly more conserved? We compared molar crown formation with a standard approach, and with a tight transcriptome time-series to get a quantitative molecular profiling of developmental states. Our data identify common trends in the development of all molars. Upper and lower molars have their specificities since the early steps of morphogenesis, at the levels of the pattern of cusp formation, cellular composition and biased gene expression. The extent of difference in lower vs. upper molar development within one species does correlate with the extent of difference in final morphology. However, the specificity of lower vs. upper molar development is drowned among the rapid evolution of development, which is highly species-specific in term of expression levels and temporal profiles. Divergence in developmental systems is almost as high for lower as it is for upper molar, despite much lesser morphological changes in lower molar crown. Hence, our results point an extensive drift in this developmental system. Because serial organs are largely sharing gene networks, it supports previous theoretical work that suggest a causal link between pleiotropy and DSD.

Tomasello's tin man of moral obligation needs a heart

In place of Tomasello's explanation for the source of moral obligation, we suggest that it develops from the concern for others already implicit in the human developmental system. Mutual affection and caring make the development of communication and thinking possible. Humans develop as persons within such relationships and this develops into respect and moral obligation.

Humility in Four Forms

Relational humility is not simply an intellectual thing, but embodied, all the way down to neurobiological systems. Humility is a developmental process, shaped and expressed within social systems from the beginning of life. Humility emerges naturally from beingness co-constructed by family and community. When parents and caregivers are humble before the needs of children, providing the evolved nest or developmental system for raising the young, a cascade of long-term effects ensues. When a baby is not treated with respect and empathy, with needs met promptly, neurobiology develops in the direction of self-protection with a cacostatic (too much or too little) orientation (dominance or submission) toward others, undermining capacities for humility. The cascade of effects shape cultural practices from the ground up, as individuals form and shape community cultures that carry across generations. Relational humility is defined as multilayered, including intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and ecological humility—relational attunement with others and with the web of life.