Author, educator, and university professor Robert Sylwester explains in this volume that adolescence is a prolonged odyssey toward maturation and autonomy affecting teachers, parents, family, and the community. This marvelous rite of passage often frustrates adults because adolescents reaching for autonomy don't appreciate the level of adult direction they accepted as children. Sylwester suggests that educators, parents, and other adults can shift their perspective from child management to adolescent mentoring, and explains how to do this in ways that enhance the relationship. The key lies in understanding what's occurring in an adolescent's brain during this important developmental period.

Moody. Reckless. Impractical. Insecure. Distracted. These are all words commonly used to describe adolescents. But what if we recast these traits in a positive light? Teens possess insight, passion, idealism, sensitivity, and creativity in abundance--all qualities that can make a significant positive contribution to society. In this thought-provoking book, Thomas Armstrong looks at the power and promise of the teenage brain from an empathetic, strength-based perspective—and describes what middle and high school educators can do to make the most of their students' potential. Thoroughly grounded in current neuroscience research, the book explains what we know about how the adolescent brain works and proposes eight essential instructional elements that will help students develop the ability to think, make healthy choices, regulate their emotions, handle social conflict, consolidate their identities, and learn enough about the world to move into adulthood with dignity and grace. Armstrong provides practical strategies and real-life examples from schools that illustrate these eight key practices in action. In addition, you'll find a glossary of brain terms, a selection of brain-friendly lesson plans across the content areas, and a list of resources to support and extend the book's ideas and practices. There is a colossal mismatch between how the adolescent brain has evolved over the millennia and the passive, rote learning experiences that are all too common in today's test-obsessed educational climate. See the amazing difference—in school and beyond—when you use the insights from this book to help students tap into the power of their changing brains.

In recent years there have been tremendous advances in understanding how brain development underlies behavioural changes in adolescence. Based on the latest discoveries in the research field, Eveline A. Crone examines changes in learning, emotions, face processing and social relationships in relation to brain maturation, across the fascinating period of adolescent development. This book covers new insights from brain research that help us to understand what happens when children turn into adolescents and then into young adults. Why do they show increases in sensation-seeking, risk-taking and sensitivity to opinions of friends? With the arrival of neuroimaging techniques, it is now possible to unravel what goes on in an individual’s brain when completing cognitive tasks, when playing computer games, or when engaging in online social interactions. These findings help reveal how children learn, control thoughts and actions, plan activities, control emotions and think about intentions of others, offering a new perspective on behaviour and motivations of adolescents. This is the first comprehensive book to cover the many domains of adolescent brain development, stretching from cognitive to affective to social development. It is valuable reading for students and researchers in the field of adolescent development and developmental cognitive neuroscience and those interested in how the developing brain affects behaviour in the teenage years.

Brain Based Teaching With Adolescent Learning in Mind addresses adolescent learning and its implications and applications for curriculum design and research-based instruction. Glenda Crawford connects new research to the larger picture of students' social, emotional, and intellectual needs and points to productive ways to help adolescents learn and succeed.This resource acknowledges the wide range of differences that new century adolescents bring to classrooms. The author offers lesson examples that easily differentiate for very individual brains of students who have varying cultural backgrounds, levels of English language proficiency, background experiences and prior knowledge, and individual abilities and interests. Readers will find key concepts related to adolescent learning, including metacognition, motivation, social cognition, and self-regulation. Educators will learn about linking instruction to relevant issues and reality-based problems, and about student-directed inquiry, interpretation, debate and analysis, technological access, cooperative learning and global collaboration. Standards-based content examples and scenarios focus on the elements of relevance, active learning, content depth, collaboration, inquiry, challenge, student ownership, ongoing assessment, and guided reflection. The Adolescent-Centered Teaching (ACT) Models in each chapter illustrate this framework, with emphasis on: Essential content understandings Strategies for inquiry Adolescent motivation and challenge through intriguing and authentic events, problems and questions Teachers serving as active facilitator as students become progressively self-directed Metacognitive development and assessment, during which adolescents are involved in evaluation, reflection, and the transfer of learning to comparable and extended experiences Technology connectionsMultiple examples illustrate these interacting social, affective, and cognitive dimensions of an environment that is conducive to adolescent learning. This handbook also provides strategies for promoting transfer of learning to new contexts and more practical ideas for putting brain-based, adolescent-centered teaching into practice.

Draws on neuroscientific research to provide advice on creating brain-compatible classrooms for middle school and high school; and includes case studies.

Adolescent brain development is a fascinating, newly developing field that has so much to offer almost anyone interested in learning more. Adolescence has only come to be established as a unique developmental phase in the last few decades or so. We now know that the human brain undergoes dramatic developmental changes in the postnatal period, not only early after birth but also extending all the way into adulthood. These changes are not uniform, in that the brain regions undergoing the most change during adolescence are not the same as the regions that changed most in the early life period, and the processes of change also differ as we age. Some of the most important changes that we see during the adolescent period are: 1) pruning (or removal) of excessive neural connections, 2) increases in white matter, the portion of brain matter that allows different regions to communicate with one another, and 3) thinning of the cortex, which is comprised of the outer layers of brain matter. Compared with other areas of the brain, the frontal and temporal cortices undergo the most protracted changes in their structure, implying that developments in these areas play a large role in providing the foundation for adolescent behavioural changes. In this book, we compare adolescent behavioural changes with ongoing changes in the brain and discuss potential implications for health and educational policy-making.

The updated edition offers a unique blend of cutting-edge research, fresh instructional strategies, and insights into the adolescent brain to help educators better support their teenage students.

Teenagers can be mystifying to educators and parents. They exhibit a daunting array of dangerous tendencies and characteristics: emotional swings, forgetfulness, and fondness of risk-taking. What are teens thinking? What’s the best way to reach them? The revised and expanded edition of this hands-on guide helps unlock these secrets by explaining the biological and neurological changes happening in the teenage brain. Educators can use these insights developed from current research to help students achieve their full potential both in and out of the classroom. Organized around specific areas of adolescent development, Secrets of the Teenage Brain is packed with fresh instructional strategies that teachers can modify and adapt to various contexts. In addition to presenting the latest facts and research findings, this guide offers: · “Secrets Revealed” sections that present compelling stories and research about the growing adolescent brain · Straightforward demystification on the differences between girls’ and boys’ brains · Insights into the effects of technology on the brain · Strategies for approaching such issues as ADHD, steroid use, and aggression · An educator’s book club guide, with discussion questions Enjoy reading and talking with your colleagues about how to understand and tap into the secrets of the teenage brain!

Teenagers are perplexing, intriguing, and spirited creatures. In an attempt to discover the secrets to their thoughts and actions, parents have tried talking, cajoling, and begging them for answers. The result has usually been just more confusion. But new and exciting light is being shed on these mysterious young adults. What was once thought to be hormones run amuck can now be explained with modern medical technology. MRI and PET scans view the human brain while it is alive and functioning. To no one's surprise, the teenage brain is under heavy construction! These discoveries are helping parents understand the (until now) unexplainable teenager. Neuroscience can help parents adjust to the highs and lows of teenage behavior. Typically, this transformation is a prickly proposition for both teens and their families, but the trials and tribulations of adolescence give teenagers a second chance to develop and create the brain they will take into adulthood.

This comprehensive yet brief overview of the adolescent human brain discusses how the brain develops during this critical period of life and how that development impacts decision-making and risk-taking behavior in the adolescent. - This originated as a white paper requested by the Canadian government for a specific group looking to understand adolescent brain development in the context of adolescent behaviour - The paper was not made available to the Canadian government outside of the specific task force that requested it nor to the general public