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This article synthesizes foundational knowledge from multiple scientific disciplines regarding how humans develop in context. Major constructs that define human development are integrated into a developmental system framework, this includes-epigenetics, neural malleability and plasticity, integrated complex skill development and learning, human variability, relationships and attachment, self-regulation, science of learning, and dynamics of stress, adversity and resilience. Specific attention is given to relational patterns, attunement, cognitive flexibility, executive function, working memory, sociocultural context, constructive development, self-organization, dynamic skill development, neural integration, relational pattern making, and adverse childhood experiences. A companion article focuses on individual-context relations, including the role of human relationships as key drivers of development, how social and cultural contexts support and/or undermine individual development, and the dynamic, idiographic developmental pathways that result from mutually influential individual-context relations across the life span. An understanding of the holistic, self-constructive character of development and interconnectedness between individuals and their physical, social, and cultural contexts offers a transformational opportunity to study and influence the children's trajectories. Woven throughout is the convergence of the science of learning-constructive developmental web, foundational skills, mindsets (sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and growth mindset), prior knowledge and experience, motivational systems (intrinsic motivation, achievement motivation, and the Belief-Control-Expectancy Framework), metacognition, conditions for learning , cultural responsiveness and competence, and instructional and curricular design-and its importance in supporting in integrative framework for children's development. This scientific understanding of development opens pathways for new, creative approaches that have the potential to solve seemingly intractable learning and social problems. Recent decades have witnessed an explosion of knowledge about how children develop into whole individuals, how they become learners, and how contextual factors nourish or hinder their development. This knowledge comes from diverse fields, including neuroscience, developmental science, epigenetics, early childhood, psychology, adversity science, resilience science, the learning sciences, and the social sciences. To date, such knowledge has existed largely in separate fields of research, and has not been integrated such that its profound relevance to developmental processes becomes both visible and directly applicable to the settings in which children grow and learn. As a result, important knowledge remains underutilized, contributing to persistent disparities, challenges, and inadequacies in our education systems, other childserving systems, and the supports that we provide to families, practitioners, and communities. The ability to realize the fulles...

On the pages that follow, a broad alliance of leading scientists and scholars speaks with a unified voice about the urgency of integrating social, emotional, and academic dimensions of learning to improve student outcomes.Under the aegis of the National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development, the 28-member Council of Distinguished Scientists actively collaborated on and unanimously endorses The Evidence Base for How We Learn: Supporting Students' Social, Emotional, and Academic Development. These consensus statements of evidence-drawing from brain science, medicine, economics, psychology, and education research-unite the country's leading scholars of learning in calling for the full integration of social and emotional learning with academic instruction.The Consensus Statements of Evidence affirm and explain that social, emotional, and cognitive domains are interconnected in the learning process. This powerful consensus presents a compelling case for policymakers and educators to confidently move forward in addressing social and emotional dimensions of learning as part and parcel of achieving excellent academic outcomes in K-12 education.The consensus statements and the research behind them are summarized in this brief, written by Stephanie M. Jones and Jennifer Kahn with the active participation of the entire Council of Distinguished Scientists.The Aspen Institute is grateful to the scientists who came together to align their broad expertise in the public interest. Without their thoughtful contributions, dedicated efforts, and earnest deliberations, this step forward on behalf of our nation's students and schools would not be possible.

Mind, brain, and education is a field developed with two key purposes: (1) to accelerate the knowledge developed through research by using an interdisciplinary approach, and (2) to create a bridge to connect and apply this knowledge to educational practice. While great progress has been made with regard to the interdisciplinary efforts of mind, brain and education, a chasm remains between the fields of science and educational practice. This article presents the case for bridging that chasm through the development of a translational and bidirectional framework that allows the fields of science and educational practice to access and influence each other. The characteristics of such a framework are proposed as theory‐driven and perspective‐neutral, interdisciplinary and interdependent, grounded in the science of development, context‐sensitive, and allowing for falsifiability. Potential enablers for the successful implementation of such a framework are proposed.

Research advances in neuroscience and the developmental and learning sciences have provided us with important insights about how people learn and develop. The knowledge we now have points to important transformations in teaching practice, which in turn require transformations in educator development needed to support all educators in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions associated with developing the whole child. This report synthesizes research on how to support educators in developing those capacities both in preservice and in-service contexts. We take up both the "what" of teacher and leader preparation-the content educators need to learn about children and how to support their development and learning-and the "how"-the strategies for educator learning that can produce deep understanding; useful skills; and the capacity to reflect, learn, and continue to improve. Foundations for Educator PreparationSyntheses of advances from the science, linked to educational research, have identified implications for practice of the science of learning and development and a set of design principles for schools for putting the science of learning and development into action. These syntheses point to the following principles as a foundation for educators' knowledge base:• The brain and development are malleable across the entire life span in response to relationships, experiences, and contexts.• Variability in human development is the norm, not the exception.• Human relationships catalyze healthy development and learning.• Learning is social, emotional, and cognitive.• People actively construct knowledge based on their experiences in social and cultural contexts.• Adversity affects learning-and the way schools respond matters.Developing the kinds of skills currently required in a fast-changing knowledge-based society requires a different kind of teaching and learning from prior eras of education when learning was conceptualized as the acquisition of facts and teaching as the transmission of information to be taken in and used "as is." This means students need opportunities to set goals and assess their own work and that of their peers so that they become increasingly self-aware, confident, and independent learners. To become productive citizens within and beyond the school, students also need positive mindsets about self and school, along with social awareness and responsibility.The ability of schools to help achieve these outcomes requires environments, structures, and practices attuned to students' learning and developmental needs. These include:• positive developmental relationships;• environments filled with safety and belonging;• rich learning experiences that support deep knowledge development;• development of social, emotional, and cognitive skills, habits, and mindsets; and• integrated support systems.