Chapter+3+Teen+Brain

=Teens in Fiction= =[]=

[] Short-Term memory a limited ability wherein information is generally kept for up to 15 to 30 seconds except when different approaches are practiced to hold on to it longer. P.105 The book Jumping the Scratch talks about a boy named Jamie Reardon who alongs with his mother has to go and live with his Aunt Sapphy because she has had an accident hitting her head which has caused short-term memory loss. Jamie along with his mother and a friend are trying to help Aunt Sapphy regain her short-term memory by finding a "magic trigger," something that will make her memory "jump the scratch. Santrock states "a common way to assess short-term memory is to present a memory span task or a list of items to remember. (M. Houston)

Dead Poets Society


When reading about the teen brain being stretched, confused, educated and molded it reminded me of the movie Dead Poets Society. In this movie students at a prep school learn English literature in a very unorthodox way, from a very unorthodox teacher. The movie begins with the students being told to tear the introduction out of their textbooks as it talks about formulas to carefully calculate the value of poems. Rather, teacher encourages the students to calculate worth personally rather than in a formulated way. The teacher continues to challenge his students schemas, even at one point having the students stand on their seats to views things in a different way. The movie continues with these students embracing the new teacher's challenges and rebelling against their prep school's status quo. The plot thickens though as a student (facing a great deal of pressure from his parents and uncertainty about his future) takes his own life while visiting home. His parents demand an investigation. The investigation ends up with the new English professor (whose waves he has created are very unwelcome on the traditional campus) being blamed for the boy's death (particularly after some other students are forced to sign documents implicating him.). The professor ends up being fired, but as he leaves the school he is bid farewell with a touching tribute. His students standing on their desks reciting "O Captain, My Captain" as an ode to him. Its a great movie overall, and I think it relates fairly well to the chapter's concepts of critical thought and schema (in particular being forced to assimilate and accommodate challenging information).(Joel K)

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This clip from YouTube demonstrates an example of brain structure, particularly the amygdala, which controls emotions (Santrock pg. 92). Though not directly referenced in this clip, the amygdala sends signals to the hypothalmus and medulla to activate response to various emotions. The amygdala, a part of the limbic system will develop faster than that of the prefrontal cortex, which controls reasoning, decision-making and self- control. (Katie)

Good Will Hunting Good Will Hunting is about a recently graduated student with a genius level intellect who chooses to work as a janitor at MIT and live a lifestyle that is reflective of past abusive events and relationships. While working at MIT Will Hunting stumbles across a graduate-level algebra graph theory question that he solves anonymously. This question was posted by an award-winning professor as a challenge for his students to solve by the end of the semester. It is eventually discovered that Will was the person who solved the difficult problem and he and professor develop a positive relationship. In order to avoid incarceration for a number of crimes, a deal is made that Will Hunting will study mathematics under the professor at MIT rather that go to jail. This movie made me think about the predominant theme of heredity vs. environment when considering human intelligence. Will Hunting clearly had the intelligence, which more than likely arose from his genetics, but environmental factors hindered him from making positive life choices that allowed him to use that intelligence. It was also interesting to note that Will's intellegence was in mathematics. I wonder how well he would have performed in Gardner's other frames of mind--verbal, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic. I am guessing that mathematics and spatial would go hand-in-hand especially with the algebraic graphing aspect. (Mary)

Lord of the Flies

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Great movie from 1990 based on the classic book of the same title written by Sir William Golding. While this movie offers a great deal that could be debated and discussed, I'm using it as an example of how the quick-tempered and emotional adolescent mind can operate in extreme cases. Per the chapter this is believed to be caused by the rapid development of the amygdala, the portion of the brain responsible for emotions. In adolescence, the amygdala's rapid development overpowers the brain's rational center of the brain, the pre-frontal cortex (Santrock, pg. 92). Ultimately, what emerges is an ill-experienced, yet passionate brain that lacks the ability to contain its emotions with any sense of rational thought. Here's the link if the embedded video doesn't work: [|Lord of the Flies] (Jason Pickler)

Research Summaries

 * 'Timing Is Everything' in Ensuring Healthy Brain Development**

Science Daily (January 6th, 2011) [] This article addresses the development of the brain and its the long-distance connections, the nerve cells that connect early in life and as the brain develops the connection stretches over the long-distance. The research found in this article was conducted at Newcastle University on the nervous system of the roundworm. They demonstrated the most successful way that the brain develops those long-distance connections is when two nerve cells develop close together, they form a connection which then stretches out when the two nerve cells move apart as the organism grows. The article conjectures that if these long-distance conections are built up in quantity in the youth of a brain that the brain will be better adept to respond to disabilities, injuries and disorders. (BradH)


 * Presence of peers heighten teen's sensitivity to rewards of a risk**

Science Daily (January 29, 2011) [] This article reflects concepts from the text on decision making and that the presences of peers in risk-taking situations increases the likelihood that adolescents will make risky decisions. Research done by Temple University psychologists Jason Chein and Laurence Steinberg look at brain activity in adolescents while alone and with their peers. It reveals that when adolescents are aware that the friends are watching, the risk taking behavior increases. (Melanie)

Temple University (2011, January 29). Presence of peers heightens teens' sensitivity to rewards of a risk. // ScienceDaily //. Retrieved January 30 (Santrock, 2010 pg 108)

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A study by the Eastern Virginia School of Medicine Division of Sleep Medicine has shown a connection between the time that class starts and the amount of teenagers who get in car accidents. In 2008, classes in Virginia Beach started at 7:20 am, while classes in Chesapeake started at 8:40 am. There was a higher percentage of teenagers in car accidents in Virginia Beach. It would make sense that because Virginia Beach students get less sleep, they would have more problems with driving. (Zak)

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2010, June 10). Teen automobile crash rates are higher when school starts earlier. //ScienceDaily//. Retrieved January 31, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/06/100609083225.htm

Many Factors Contribute to Adolescents’ Decision-Making Autonomy Science Daily (April 2, 2010) [] This article talked about a nine year study about the decision making in teens. They followed 200 families and saw that teens’ decision making gradually increased as they got older as their parents’ relinquished control. This reminded me of Vygotsky’s theory of “Zone of Proximal” Development. It reminds me how a student needs assistance and guidance with, decisions in this case, because it would be too hard for them to handle on their own and that their parents make most of those decisions for them. As they grow older, their parents slowly give them more responsibility with their decisions until they are fully grown and can handle complete independence. (LeAnn) Penn State (2010, April 2). Many factors contribute to adolescents' decision-making autonomy. //ScienceDaily.// Retrieved Feburary 1, 2011, from []

Web Links
[|The Teen Brain: It's just not grown up yet]

"What were you thinking?" This seems to be a common question asked to teens when they behave in the manner they often do today. This question relates directly to many of the concepts in Santrock's Chapter 3 __Adolescence__ text we are using in class. In the attached link [] the article "The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Developed Yet" written by Richard Knox, he examines how "it's not so much //what// teens are thinking, it's //how.//" One of the reasons for this way of thinking, or not thinking, like everyone else is because the frontal lobes are not fully connected during adolescence. The reason for this is at this stage in their lives, "teenagers don't have as much of the fatty coacting called myelin, or "white matter."" (John B.)

Chapter 3 from the course textbook __Adolescence__ written by John W. Santrock, focuses on the brain and cognitive development of adolescents. The chapter emphasizes the concept of the brain's structure and how the variousw regions that make up the brain control the behaviors, emotions, and actions that are displayed by adolescents. One of the most important concepts that scientists discuss is that the amygdala, the portion of the brain responsible for emotions, develops much faster that the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for making rational decisions. Adolescents' brains are still developing and growing which helps to explain why some of their behaviors, choices, or actions may seem impulsive, dangerous, or irriational. The link below provides a nice discussion on how teens make impulsive decsions based on both their environment and the fact that the frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed, contributing to some of the decisions that teens make in life. The diagram below represents the gradual growth of the brain in adolescents and is taken from the second link. **(Kerry Leader)**

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For more information on learning and cognition, see the P510 Psych of Teaching Wiki at: http://p510-psych-teaching-spring-2011.wikispaces.com/

Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory



This is a great website for further exploration of Howard Gardner’s view on Multiple Intelligences, the “Eight Frames of Mind” theory (Santrock, 118). The website not only does a great job of explaining each of the eight original types of intelligence, but also includes a 9th Intelligence. The 9th Intelligence is the Existential Intelligence, which Gardner classifies as “the ability and proclivity to pose (and ponder) questions about life, death, and ultimate realities.” I especially liked this website because it includes tips on how to teach students with multiple intelligences. Additionally, the site gives links to websites and books that can help educators understand and use multiple intelligence teaching approaches in their classrooms. (Caitlin)

**Malinda Mansfield**: When the textbook, "Adolescence" by: Santrock explained that the prefrontal cortex controlled the decision making, reasoning, and self-control part of the brain, it made me think about a few things. (94) Marriage is almost expected, especially with teenage girls, while many studies have shown the divorce rate to be about 50%. “…the highest level of the frontal lobes…continue through the emerging adult years, approximately 18 to 25 years of age, or later.” (94) This link is an article written about this topic. The article makes the correlation between how many people are divorcing with the amount of people who are younger than the age of the average prefrontal cortex development. There source seems very reputable ( TheNational Marriage Project/University of Virginia, National Center for Health Statistics, Yale University and Columbia University-American Sociological Review), but besides that…it just makes sense. How can you possibly enter into a relationship promising to give your whole self to them at such a young age when you scientifically cannot possibly know who your whole self is yet? [|"Should We Wait To Wed?" By: Monica Watrous] Below is a video from YouTube that contains links to different YouTube videos with different experiments that have been done to demonstrate different experiments that have been to to illustrate [|Piaget's States of Cognitive Development]. Piaget's theory is discussed in Santrock's // [|Adolescence] //on pages 94-99. Piaget's notion of [|formal operational thought] is sometimes used to explain the reasoning processes of adolescents. To navigate this video, click on any of the boxes in the four corners. This will take you to a new YouTube window with a new video showing you examples of experiments that have been done. (Emily Grace) media type="youtube" key="l1hElrWb72M" height="390" width="480" align="center"

**Lilly the Genius:** This is a 2 year-old girl who can memorize the world map. It is amazing to see how this little girl can remember countries and she can barely talk. In the chapter, it talks about intelligence and environment. It seems to me that Lilly has a very supportive family. Besides, heredity might be relevant to her intelligence. Studies show that genetics and environment influence intelligence. In this video, it really shows you that this little girl has high IQ because she's only 2 years old. I am sure it might take a lot of time for young adults to memorize the map.(Gik)

[|Lilly the Genius]

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