Professional Development

at Grădinița Răsărit, Bucharest, Romania

By Didi Ananda Madhupurna

At Grădinița Răsărit, we dedicate one week each year to professional development for our entire team — including both teaching and non-teaching staff. Usually, we plan the training sessions in advance based on our educators’ needs, ensuring that what they learn can be directly applied in their daily practice.

This year, however, we decided to take a new approach. Many of our educators have been with us for over ten years, and we recognized the incredible wisdom and experience they carry. We invited three of our senior educators — Ginny, Madhavi, and Sorina — to share their insights and philosophy with the rest of the team. Their sessions were deeply inspiring and sparked meaningful discussions about our shared values and practices.

We were also honored to welcome one of our former students (Kalyani), who is currently studying neurology, to present on the journey of the human brain. Her presentation added a fascinating scientific perspective to our reflections on how children learn and develop. The week left us all inspired, connected, and eager to share our collective wisdom with the wider community. Here is her article that she presented at our Professional Development Day.

The Journey of the Human Brain
Steps Toward Knowledge

by Kalyanii Alexa

We all carry memories of childhood curiosities, those small wonders and unique interests that made us feel different, original, and unmistakably ourselves. Perhaps it was the way we built towers from blocks, asked endless questions about the sky, or invented stories during play. These sparks of curiosity are not just passing moments; they are reflections of a deeper process within us: the astonishing journey of the developing brain.

Every child holds within them a universe in the making. Long before their first steps or first words, a hidden architecture is already unfolding in silence. In the womb, where no light yet reaches, neurons are born at a breathtaking pace, around 250,000 per minute. By the time of birth, this invisible explosion has produced nearly 86 billion neurons, all waiting to be sculpted into the circuits that will one day support thought, memory, and imagination. A single neuron may seem small, but it is extraordinary. Each has a cell body that sustains life, dendrites that reach outward to receive messages, and a long axon that sends electrical signals onward. When billions of these cells connect, they form pathways of immense complexity, creating the foundation for learning, creativity, and consciousness itself (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 – the structure of a neuron

Fig. 2 – brain development from 1 week in the womb to 9 months at birth

At birth, the story accelerates dramatically. The newborn’s brain is only a quarter of its adult size, yet it expands with astonishing speed, reaching nearly 80% of its final volume within the first year. Synapses, the tiny connections between neurons, multiply at a rate of up to one million every second. Not all of these connections survive. The brain keeps the pathways strengthened by

experience and prunes away the rest. A gentle touch, a lullaby, or the joy of play are not just fleeting moments; they are actively sculpting the brain’s architecture.
In these first years, the emotional brain speaks the loudest. The amygdala, the center of fear, attachment, and emotional memory, is highly active, while the rational prefrontal cortex is still developing. That is why babies communicate with cries, laughter, and clinging arms rather than logic. When adults respond with warmth and presence, they do far more than calm the child; they help wire circuits of trust, safety, and resilience that will last a lifetime. Over time, as MRI scans reveal, the brain grows in complexity, evolving from the delicate networks of a
newborn to the refined pathways of a ten-year-old (see Fig. 3).

Fig. 3 – MRI images of brain growth from 1 week to 10 years

The environment becomes a co-author of this story. Genes provide the blueprint, but daily experiences write the chapters. Repeated stress, harsh discipline, or neglect can flood the brain with cortisol, weakening circuits for learning and memory. In contrast, playful exploration, secure relationships, and supportive challenges strengthen the networks that allow creativity, empathy, and problem-solving skills to flourish. Each interaction is like a brushstroke on the canvas of a growing mind.
To experience a glimpse of this process yourself, try a small exercise. Pick up an object nearby, such as a pen, a stone, or a photo. Hold it gently and ask yourself: what feeling does this object awaken? Does it trigger a memory? Close your eyes for a few seconds, then think of a single sentence about what surfaced. In this simple act, you are mirroring how children form their earliest memories: through the combination of sensation, emotion, and repetition. Neurons fire together, connections strengthen, and the moment becomes part of your inner library.

The journey of the human brain is both delicate and magnificent. From the silent sparks of life in the womb to the laughter of a child playing, the mind unfolds in a rhythm that is both biological and relational. And each of us — parents, teachers, caregivers, mentors, or simply companions — participates in this unfolding story. With every word we speak, every embrace we offer, and every patient moment we share, we become co-authors of a universe forming within another human being.

In the end, the developing brain is shaped not just by biology, but by the relationships and experiences surrounding a child — living proof that what we give them becomes part of what they carry for a lifetime.

Further Reading

For readers who wish to continue this exploration, here are a few authors and works that shed light on the wonders of the developing mind:

• Daniel J. Siegel – The Whole-Brain Child, on nurturing children with insight and compassion.
• Alison Gopnik – The Gardener and the Carpenter, a thoughtful meditation on how children learn and grow.
• Joe Navarro – What Every BODY Is Saying and The Dictionary of Body Language. A former FBI agent and world expert in nonverbal communication, Navarro reminds us that children, too, are fluent in the language of the body long before they master words, learning gestures, expressions, and postures as part of their social and emotional intelligence.