Part 1: An interview with Marion MacIver, executive vice-president and director of education

Marion recently attended the 2011 WorldForum, which was held October 18 - 21, in Melbourne, Australia. The theme was Education and Children's Well-being - Philosophy, Policy and Practice. Ranch Ehrlo employees from a variety of programs attend the Forum each year, which is hosted in a new country with a new theme annually, and bring back their learning to share with others.

Marion commented that the plenary sessions were extremely dynamic and exceptionally good. One presenter really stood out for Marion - Baroness Susan Greenfield, neurobiological researcher, who spoke on her leading-edge research. Greenfield spoke to the great impact environment has on learning whether or not you are genetically predisposed to success in a particular area. Her basic hypothesis: if we can stimulate and provide a positive environment for children, it will last long term and be a stimulus for growth.

One example of Greenfield’s research provided during her presentation identified three groups of participants who all had MRIs performed on them before and after the study.  To begin, all three groups were told they would be playing the piano in the study. Specifically, the control group was told they would all play the piano but receive no lessons. The second group was told they will not get piano lessons and then was asked to mentally in their heads imagine that they are practicing playing the piano (not actually play the piano). The third group was actually given piano lessons. Greenfield used MRIs to track the brain development in all participants at the end of the study. There was no change in the control group, but there was identical growth in both the second and third groups. These results showed that environmental changes have as great an impact on brain development as physical changes.

“This showed that if people just think about doing something it is almost as powerful as actually doing it. Environment has a huge impact on people, regardless of other factors,” explained Marion enthusiastically.

“This research validated to me what the Ranch is doing. We believe environment is very important and this goes back to Geoff’s (President and CEO, Geoff Pawson) basic belief that all children should be provided the basic necessities of life – that other children are provided. That is why we have second to none, state-of-the-art housing, our youth always have nutritional food, clothing, and are provided education and recreation opportunities.”

***Photo retrieved from http://www.ifcw.org/