Childhood – The Macrostate

I’m greatly excited to get to this point in the story this blog hopes to tell. I’m going to cheat and use lots of pictures this post. One of the last ideas presented was a look at human lifespan through the window of “Capability vs. Capacity.”

Building on that foundation, I want to look at developmental progression from birth to age 18. The work I did back in “the day” used this same kind of template, comparing relative aspects of our journey; however, I was looking at the later parts of life. Childhood was more or less a necessary assumption, by  the time I got to graduate school. As an actor, childhood contained no parts I would likely be cast to play. 


Over a year ago, while volunteering at a local middle school, I had an epiphany. I saw the value of my work in the theatre 35 years ago was applicable to the modern classroom. That is why I began my old quest anew.

The graphic of "infant to geezer" tells a thousand tales. In an effort to find a way to talk about children at any level up to 18 years, I’ve developed a chart to help focus the discussion. It represents a look at the “every-child.” The progression each of us takes from birth to 18 years. It hopes to represent childhood as a “Macrostate.” It intends to represent the temporal relationships between several aspects all we children face on our journey through childhood. There are constants and there are variables. Each individual child in the throughs of here/now are the "micro state." Each child’s variable aspects move one way or the other on the chart, relative to the constant aspects like age.

Age is the top line. Each has a progression of days. Based on this metronome, we can look at correlations and relationships between individuals. Each of the conceptual continuums represented on the chart represents how most perform at any given age. 


Childhood Macrostate = All Children  *  Childhood Microstate = One Child

Developmental phases line intends to show standard physical development. It is quite a journey to go from two half cells; then growing to 50 - 75 trillion living human cells, banded together into a community that perceives itself as one being. I had done this same research some 35 years ago with the adult being. Not until the last two years did I look at what happened before adulthood.

Educational continuum shows the progression of the individual interfacing with educational opportunity outside the home, from birth to freshman in college. DC means day care. PS means pre-school. K-12 is self explanatory. F is freshman in college.

All of you out there excited about brain based research, hang on. You’re going to love this.

The next line on the chart shows Brain Wave Generation capability at any given age. In later posts we will look at the relationship between age, capacity and capability in much greater depth. 


I try next to tell the charts in pictures. 

The next line shows Brain Wave State’s specific manifest capability at any given age on the chart. 

In average development, a child from birth to the age of 2/3 range generates an electrical field with a frequency of ½ to 4 Hz. This is called a Delta brain state. The behavioral capability of this age range is considered a trance state.

Between ages 2/3 years and 6/7 years of age is called Theta. The frequency is between 4 Hz and 7 Hz. This range generates a frequency considered a Hypnagogic State. The picture below shows a boy in such a state. He fights an imaginary foe right here/now. His physical feet well planted in the real and wet world; however, his actions are fully conceived and fulfilled in the land of make-believe.

The next slide shows Alpha State behavior which begins ages 6/7 to 10/11. The Jesuit priests are a very old Catholic order of teachers. They call 7 years of age, “The Age of Reason.” This is the age at which the human brain begins to display traits of consciousness. A brain in Alpha State can generate between 8 and 13 Hz. This brain state begins to look outside itself and nuclear family for bonding and support. These individuals gather together in groups or may run in packs or may become a lone wolf.

Beta state is the last stage of development this chart considers. As beta state develops, the individual manifests the ability to perform concentrated and focused tasks. These capabilities begin age 10/11 years and can generate a frequency of 13 to 40 Hz.  

40 Hz is just the beginning of the journey. An adult, mature and healthy human brain can generate a measurable 800 Hz when needed. I wonder what its speed limit is in Hz during uncontrolled circumstances?

This truth is something that should guide our discussions about children and education. This is also fascinating information to the scholar studying the act of…………anything.