Everyday children are born; millions of new lives start each day, throughout the world. The growth and the development of these children, has been a topic of confusion and debate for years. Many psychologists are argued over what factors make up the person we are, whether they are biological or environmental. Different theories and conclusions have been drawn over what exactly shapes us, and what effects us from birth through adulthood. Though by studying the differences between theories I was able to draw from each and come up with my own conclusions about development and the nature versus nurture debate. I believe that only through knowledge of many theories are you able to get a clear understanding of development, and then only are you able to really analyze and come to your own conclusions. Once I was done studying the different theories and comparing this to my own thoughts and personal experiences with children I was able to come to my own conclusions about development I have believe that nurture is much more influential on a child's development than nature is.

Infants are born with about one hundred billion nerve cells. All of the

se nerve cells have not yet made the important connection, which determine a person's social, emotional, and intellectual make-up. Most of the connections are made in the first three years of a human's life. These connections are the most important and whoever and whatever comes in contact with the child will have an effect on them. Infant brain cells are constantly making connections and sending and receiving information from other cells. The signals which are sent and received travel from cell to cell by chemicals such as serotonin. The electrical impulses move over the synaptic gap and to the dendrites, then move down the axon to the terminal buttons, here the information is sent to another cell. These small movements of information between the brain cells are crucial in development. These connections are strengthened by repetition of everyday activities which activate the network of brain cell. These connections are strengthened by whom the child is with, whether it be a parent or caregiver. This leads me to believe that a child's environment and the people whom this child comes in contact with will sharply effect the development of this child. (Kaiser Permanente)

Being a caregiver myself I see first hand how much a child's environment and the relationships you build with the children effect them. Providing a diverse and caring environment for children is our number one goal. In doing this we try to open their eyes to different things in our world. We show them how to manipulate different things in their environment, and how they can learn through it. By doing this I feel that our nurturing has more of an effect on them then nature does. Some of the children that come to our center come from poor broken families and some have behavioral problems, though once in our center you can see that allowing them to view their environment differently they change. I believe that the environment a child learns in and grows up in will effect who that child is. The interactions between us and the children and the kind of play and activities we provide for them are huge factors in their development. We allow them to discover nature through play and how things works, and I believe that this, showing children things from different perspectives is what allows for amazing growth.

In Piaget's second stage, preoperational, the child begins to use language to try to make sense of their world This stage occurs between the ages of two and seven. In this stage the child is trying to discover their world, though their thinking capacity is much less sophisticated then adults, they lack conservation. Conservation is the ability to realize that object stay the same even though they have changed physically.(Sushkin) For example if you show a child two cups of water which hold the same amount of water, then you pour one of those glasses into a tall slim glass the child will tell you that the taller one has more water, even though they have just seen that the water amounts were identical.(Narine 138) The child's inability to realize that the amounts of water are the same comes from what Piaget

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