T. Berry Brazelton

Pediatrician

Thomas Berry Brazelton is a pediatrician and author in the United States, and the developer of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. 
Touchpoints is a method for strengthening parent-child relationships, continuing through the early childhood years.

Born: May 10, 1918 (age 99), Waco, TX

1965: Co-founded Head Start program
Studied at Cornell (Bachelor’s psych 1938), Harvard (Master’s education 1940), Michigan (PhD developmental psych 1942)

Developer of ecological systems theory of child development
Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, Chronosystem
Changed the way teachers interact with students, and how they shape a child's life

Died: May 29, 1961, New Haven, CT

The Maturational Theory of child development was introduced in 1925 by Dr. Arnold Gesell, an American educator, pediatrician and clinical psychologist whose studies focused on "the course, the pattern and the rate of maturational growth in normal and exceptional children". He pioneered the use of motion-picture cameras to study the physical and mental development of normal infants and children and whose books influenced child rearing in the US. As director of the Clinic of Child Development at Yale University(1911–48),  he collected and published a vast quantity of data and amassed a large collection of films on child development. In addition to his studies of normal development, Gesell also considered such questions as the psychological factors in child adoption and the effect of premature birth on mental development.

His impact on educators includes how teachers teach different children based on the average rate of physical and mental growth.

Died: September 25, 1958
From:  Greenville, South Carolina

Developed Watsonian Behaviorism, which became the most prevalent psychology in the 1920's and 30's. The main belief of behaviorism is that learning is acquired based on environmental experiences. The possible impact on educators is what methods are used for their teaching. With a belief that learning is based on environmental conditions, teachers may look more in depth at the environment they are providing for the students as well as consider every students varying home environments. Students all have diverse home lives and that can be taken into consideration for those students that may be struggling.