In these examples they are both used in the same way. "As" means the same thing as "while.." here. 1) "as she laughed" = "While she laughed." / "While she was laughing, she covered her mouth." 2) "As she grew up" = 'While growing up." / "During the time that she was growing up." The other use of "as" is to replace "because": 3) I couldn't pass the driving test as I hadn't prepared enough. You could also use it to mean "in the way in which..." 4) They completed the work, just as I instructed them to. 5) As I had predicted, the computer system crashed.

that's easy, it means 'while that was happening/during that time' :)