Taking Center Stage – Act II (TCSII)

A Portal for Middle Grades Educators

Adolescent Development

Recommendation 2—Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention

A summary of young adolescent development, including brain research, as it pertains to the California Department of Education's Recommendation on Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention.

As a car mechanic needs to understand how the motor works in order to fix its parts, so a teacher needs to understand how the brain learns in order to teach. Because the cognitive development of young adolescents is in the midst of a lot of changes, teaching this age group is very challenging.

Thinking matures

Cognitive development means the way the mind goes through stages of thinking. The late Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget described young adolescent minds as shifting from concrete thinking to abstract thinking. When people think in abstract terms, they are thinking about ideas, principles, and symbols that represent them. Concrete thinking uses objects, such as persons, places, or things. Children think with concrete objects in mind. Young adolescents think concretely and are phasing into abstract thinking.

As middle grades students reach puberty, they can begin to understand democracy, Newton’s laws of physics, and algebraic letters representing unknown numbers. The difficulty for teachers of middle grades is that this transition is not uniform among the students. In a classroom of 30 students, each child might be at a different stage of development. There are also daily fluctuations of development within an individual.1 For example, in the morning, a student might be using abstract thinking and by the afternoon, be back into concrete thinking. It takes training and focused attention to bring understanding to each student in middle grades. Young adolescents at this stage of development especially need to be challenged with higher-order thinking. Using analogies that bridge the gap between concrete and abstract thinking helps students make this transition.

In the middle grades, as the brains and bodies of boys and girls change because of puberty, teachers need to be aware that every day, every hour, every minute brings about changes in behavior. Expressed more overtly by boys, this tendency toward rapid mood and behavioral changes has been the undoing of many new teachers. More than anything else, it requires extreme patience. Successful middle grades teachers are a unique breed who have learned that boys and girls will be different almost every day.2

Paying attention

One of the topics of brain research that affects classroom learning came to light in the 1990s. During that fertile time for brain research, scientists learned more about what makes the brain pay attention. They found that emotion drives attention, which drives learning, memory, problem solving, and almost everything else people do.3

Deep inside the brain are some structures that, collectively, are called the limbic system. They generate emotion and process memories.4 Two of the structures are right next to each other. One has a lot to do with influencing emotion, especially aggression and fear (the amygdala), and the other with packaging up learning and putting it into long-term memory (the hippocampus). When the amygdala is activated, the brain says, “Pay attention to this!” So when a teacher incorporates emotion to the lesson, the brain sends the same message: “Pay attention to this!” The emotion is then “tagged” with the information that the student is learning. This process makes it very likely that this information will be remembered. Research has found emotions are crucial to memory because they hold the key to the storage and recall of information.5

For middle grades students, the role of emotions is especially pertinent. Hormones are surging through the brain, which has a dramatic effect on the limbic system. The result is an intensification of emotions that causes the young adolescent to seek avenues where these emotions can be released. By tapping into this warehouse of emotions, teachers can help them pay attention to and remember what is being taught.

Examples of how emotions can be used to enhance learning might include:

• Humor
• Active learning experiences (i.e., speaking, movement, manipulating objects, writing)
• Differentiating instruction
• Piquing the child’s curiosity with realia
• Interaction with peers
• Relevance to their personal lives
• Project-based activities
• Solving real-life problems
• Self-selected projects or papers
• Anything to do with helping them survive in their world6

See the California Department of Education's Recommendations on Relevance and Relationships for more information about how teachers can make emotional connections.

Change makes the brain pay attention. At any time, the human senses are detecting many signals—sirens, pet cage odors, the movement of a person close by, the sound of a zipper of a backpack, the sight of a friend’s name blinking on a cell phone. People are constantly bombarded with sights, smells, and noises. If sensory input is the same minute after minute, the brain stops paying attention to it. This phenomenon is called habituation. For example, when people put on cologne, they enjoy the smell, but after a little while they cannot detect it. Someone else walking by will notice it, but the user’s brain has become used to it and has stopped paying attention to it. Without habituation, the brain would be on overload trying to pay attention to every little thing the senses detect every second of the day. When the same stimulus is detected over and over, the brain goes into a “sleep mode” as a computer does when it is not used for a certain period of time. The single most important thing a teacher must do is to manage the attention, or learning state, of his or her students so that the brain does not go into sleep mode or shift its attention.7 Research says that 20 minutes is about as long as a person will give attention to any one thing (without further motivation) before boredom sets in. For middle grades, the time is lessened to a maximum of 15 minutes.8

Middle grades students lack not only the ability to keep focused for a longer period of time; they also lack “brakes” to keep their attention from jumping from one thing to another. The reason is that when puberty begins, the part of the brain that is responsible for holding a person’s attention (the prefrontal cortex) is undergoing reorganization. In addition, the part of the brain that is responsible for impulsive, emotional activity (the amygdala) is being overly activated by hormones.9 In essence, there is a role reversal so the amygdala becomes dominant and the prefrontal cortex takes a back seat.10 The following scenario is an example of role-reversal and how the amygdala takes control:

The students are quietly listening to the instructor teach a lesson. A student leans over and grabs a pencil off another’s desk. Instead of quietly asking why the person took the pencil or quietly requesting that the person return it, the student whose pencil was stolen unleashes his or her frustration. The student jumps up, grabs the other student who took the pencil, and yells, hits, and calls names.
Another change that makes paying attention difficult is the fluctuation of basal metabolism. This fluctuation causes students to have spurts of extreme energy and then times of extreme lethargy. At one end the students need physical activity to release the energy, and at the other students need to have periods of rest and snack times. However, their ravenous appetites may overtax the digestive system with large quantities of improper foods.11 Adults who are sensitive to young adolescent physical development make adjustments of activity to respond to adolescents’ physical needs.

Teaching tips:

Thinking matures:

• Think of ways to present information more visually, aurally, and physically, including for example, storytelling, manipulating material or incorporating PowerPoint presentations or movement.12
• Young adolescents need experience analyzing, applying, and adapting new information and skills.13
• Using the verbs in Bloom’s Taxonomy (DOC; 24KB; 1p.) in the analysis, synthesis, and evaluation columns, create questions and activities that engage abstract thinking (in the frontal cortex of the brain).14
• Use inductive reasoning (Outside Source) by letting students discover what examples have in common before a definition is provided.15
  

Paying attention:

Students have a difficult time keeping their minds focused and their emotions in control. This is caused by the underdeveloped frontal cortex. Because the immature brain does not do a good job of putting on the brakes, the brain responds to more than it should. “In other words, if you can’t inhibit your brain from responding to every urgent e-mail from your friends, you’ll forget your homework again.”16

• Change the pace, activity, and instruction frequently so that boredom or impulsive behavior does not take students off task. Humor can be an excellent change agent.
• Allow for frequent stretches and incorporate movement into the lessons.
• As young adolescents become more preoccupied with their body image, help them keep focused on the work by assigning group presentations rather than presenting alone.
• Give boys more space to do their work and give them more opportunities for movement.
• Help students remember by having them put the information to music or mnemonics.
• Bring closure to a lesson at the end of the day by asking students individually to tell you one new thing they learned during the day (so they can be ready to tell their parents). Also, have students tell you what their homework assignment is by showing you the materials needed for it as a ticket to exit the classroom.
• As a fun way to help students remember to bring homework or other items back to school, have them draw a string with a bow on a finger using a pen.
• Emotions are crucial to memory because they facilitate the storage and recall of knowledge and information.
  • Using thematic teaching, integrating subjects across the curriculum, and making learning relate to real life are ways teachers can tie in material with an emotional context thereby helping students remember what they are learning.17
• Because the emotion and memory centers are linked together, emotional experiences can create strong memories.
  • Use positive emotions to enhance memory by bringing in a pet, starting class with a joke, or assigning a long-term community project where students connect with people.18
• Emotion is the driving force for attention and drives every other aspect of learning, memory, and problem solving.
• Engage students’ attention with games, project-based learning, role playing, simulations, taking field trips, or taking virtual field trips on the Internet.19
  

Parenting tips:

Thinking matures:

• Due to their new ability to think for themselves, young adolescents often reject advice from adults. In calmer moments, parents can explain their thoughts and by doing so, are modeling critical thinking.20
• Encourage and model regular exercise for your child since it stimulates new cell growth in the brain and can increase mental abilities 20 to 30 percent.21
  

Paying attention:

The connection between the amygdala and the frontal lobes is just beginning to strengthen. In the meantime, the emotional part of the brain is in the driver’s seat. It’s not the adolescent’s fault that the brain isn't under control, but it is his or her responsibility to get it under control and it is the parent’s responsibility to help.

• Encourage teens to think before they speak or act.
• Be specific about what is tolerated and what is not.
• Do not try to reason in the middle of an argument. Be patient and save the conversation for when things are cool and calm.22

Being forgetful, disorganized, and late for everything are related to the new development and capabilities going on in their brains. Young adolescents can forget immediately what parents or teachers just said to them. Perhaps the most frustrating to adults is the adolescents’ ability to forget homework.

• Find a balance between picking up the slack and letting them suffer the consequences when projects or homework are forgotten at home.
• When your child does remember something important, praise him or her. (Say two praises each day.)23
• Help them keep a calendar and use a school planner.
• Work with your child’s teachers to sign off on the school planner on a daily or weekly basis.
• Eliminate distractions during regularly scheduled homework time each day.
• Be sure to schedule snack and stretch breaks after every 20-30 minutes of focused homework time.

Adolescent Development Index

Recommendation 2—Instruction, Assessment, and Intervention Contents

Footnotes
1Caught in the Middle: Educational Reform for Young Adolescents in California Public Schools. Sacramento: California Dept. of Education, 1987, p. 145.
2Raleigh Philp, Engaging ‘Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students, Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2007, p. 33.
3Ibid., pp. 94-95.
4David A. Sousa, How the Brain Learns (Third edition). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2006, p. 18.
5Raleigh Philp, Engaging ‘Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2007, p. 102.
6Middle Grade Task Force Report, p. 144.
7Raleigh Philp, Engaging ‘Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2007, p. 132.
8Ibid.
9Ibid., p. 65.
10Barbara Strauch, The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Brain Tell Us About Our Kids. New York: Anchor Books, 2003, p. 28.
11Caught in the Middle: Educational Reform for Young Adolescents in California Public Schools. Sacramento: California Dept. of Education, 1987, p. 145.
12Janet N. Zadina, Six Weeks to a Brain-Compatible Classroom. Brain Research and Instruction, 2008, p. 35.
13Jackson, Anthony W. and P. Gayle Andrews with Holly Holland and Priscilla Pardini, Making the Most of Middle School: A Field Guide for Parents and Others. New York: Teachers College Press, 2004, p.48.
14Janet N. Zadina, Six Weeks to a Brain-Compatible Classroom. Brain Research and Instruction, 2008. p.29.
15Ibid ., p. 59.
16Barbara Strauch, The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries About the Teenage Brain Tell Us About Our Kids. New York: Anchor Books, 2003, p. 29.
17Raleigh Philp, Engaging ‘Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2007, pp. 102-104.
18Janet N. Zadina, Six Weeks to a Brain-Compatible Classroom. Brain Research and Instruction, 2008, p.69.
19Raleigh Philp, Engaging ‘Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2007, p. 104.
20Getting Ready for high School, Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Office of Education, 2008, p. 7.
21Sheryl Feinstein, Parenting the Teenage Brain: Understanding a Work in Progress. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2007, p. 73.
22Ibid., p. 65.
23Ibid., pp. 84-85.

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