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Although many people have begun to understand the importance of the early years to human development, achievement and lifelong success, we have been slow to recognize the elephant in our midst—the adolescent learner. Dropout statistics, plummeting rates of school connectedness, declining academic performance and an increased dislike of school are signs of trouble underlining a disturbing pattern of disengagement as youth enter their teens. It seems that we may be getting it wrong for adolescents learners more than anyone in our schools.
The Teenage Brain
Contrary to previous beliefs, adolescence is a period of profound structural change in the brain, a critical period of development that rivals the importance of the early years1”. Far from being fully formed, as was once assumed, the teenage brain “remains a teeming ball of possibilities, raw material waiting to be synaptically shaped . . . wildly exuberant and receptive2”. At age 11 or 12, the brain experiences a wave of synapse formation (similar to the growth spurt seen in the early years), followed by a process of synaptic pruning (much like pruning the weaker branches of a tree). What this means is that the “use it or lose it” principle becomes critical in adolescence. What teens do—or do not do—during this stage of development will affect them (and the very structure of their brain) for the rest of their lives3”.
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Building the Wrong Skills? If the ‘use it or lose it’ principle is so important for teenagers, we must carefully consider what skills are being fostered in the average high school. Typical classrooms, separated subjects and traditional pedagogical approaches would seem to reinforce strong neural pathways for following the rules, memorizing abstracted facts and thinking in a linear fashion. Is it possible that the rigid framework of schools and the conformity required could actually “prune out” attributes such as creativity, independence, innovation, thinking outside the box and working in novel and untraditional ways? If so, the current education system is, in fact, helping to shape the adolescent brain in complete opposition to the skills required by our 21st century world. Read more Do Schools Kill Creativity?: Ken Robinson Speaks
A Critical Evolutionary Adaptation.Here is where things get really interesting. We are coming to understand that there might be some explanation for the so-called craziness of the teenage years—both for individual development and for the survival of our species4. New scientific research indicates that the massive structural changes in the adolescent brain effectively shake the internal mechanisms of a teenage brain to its roots. If this is true (and all the signs would suggest that it is), then these have to be essential evolutionary adaptations that ensure the survival of the human race by forcing teenagers to break away from their parents and teachers, start working things out for themselves, solve problems in novel ways and head off in new directions. This process of synaptic upheaval is a deep-seated biological adaptation that makes it possible and necessary for youth to become independent and ready to start a life of their own5”. Read more. Are Teenagers Key to Human Progress?: John Abbott Re-examines Adolescence
Getting It Wrong. And here is where we have gone terribly wrong in how we ‘handle’ adolescence. The colossal social, cultural and economic changes in our society have resulted in circumstances that reward teens for being passive learners, both confined and motivated by external standards and rewards, as opposed to cultivating innovators who can lead the progress of civilization, generation by generation. In modern society, fewer and fewer young people grow up participating in family farms, family businesses or community projects – situations that allow adolescents to learn by doing meaningful and important real-life tasks. Youth have fewer and fewer opportunities to experience hands-on learning, mentoring from working side-by-side with adults or the pride of taking on responsibility with purpose and building increasing levels of expertise. Read more. Battery Hens or Free-range Chickens?: John Abbott on the Goals of Education
The Need for Cognitive Apprenticeship. What has become the traditional Western model of schooling is the exact opposite of the ways adolescents naturally learn. Instead of undertaking ever more responsible tasks and building increasing levels of skill side-by-side with adult mentors, a typical 12 year old is now sitting docile in a classroom filled with other children sitting equally passively in the next row. The adolescent brain is designed to learn by doing, to increasingly take on more responsibility and to take part in meaningful and authentic activity. Recent research in cognitive science and neurobiology indicates clearly that apprenticeship learning is a far more appropriate response to the pace and nature of adolescent brain development than traditional classroom learning. Read more
Let Me Do and I Understand: John Abbott on Cognitive Apprenticeship
An Urgent Need for Change Civilization simply cannot afford to continue wasting the power and potential of adolescence by ignoring or even subverting the innate processes of human maturation within our schools, homes, communities and economic models. We are creating generations of young adults ill-prepared for the realities of their environment or the challenges that lie ahead. It goes without saying that changing schools, minds and systems is difficult work. But we avoid this hard work at our own peril. We risk losing the immeasurable potential of individuals and short changing our species out of the benefits that truly engaged, passionate and fully-evolved young adults can offer to civilization as a whole—most notably in helping us to avert the crises facing humanity in the 21st century (global warming, human conflict, over-exploitation of resources and epidemic levels of depression, to name a few). We must begin to educate youth in ways that work with ‘the grain of the brain’, both to optimize the life outcomes of every child and to create future generations that can work not only to tackle the urgent and complex problems of the 21st century, but to help us progress, advance and evolve as a species. |
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1Barbara Strauch, The Primal Teen: What the New Discoveries about the Teenage Brain Tell Us about Our Kids. Anchor Books. New York, 2003.
2Jay Giedd, as cited in John Abbott’s article Crazy by Design: Adolescence, a Critical Evolutionary Adaptation 21st Century Learning Initiative, 2005.
3Jay Giedd, as cited in Sarah Spinks, “ Adolescent Brains Are Works in Progress: Here’s Why,” in FRONTLINE: Inside the Human Brain, PBS.
4John Abbott, Crazy by Design: Adolescence, a Critical Evolutionary Adaptation 21st Century Learning Initiative. 2005.
5Aaron White. “The Changing Adolescent Brain”, Education Canada, Canadian Education Association, Spring 2005.
2Jay Giedd, as cited in John Abbott’s article Crazy by Design: Adolescence, a Critical Evolutionary Adaptation 21st Century Learning Initiative, 2005.
3Jay Giedd, as cited in Sarah Spinks, “ Adolescent Brains Are Works in Progress: Here’s Why,” in FRONTLINE: Inside the Human Brain, PBS.
4John Abbott, Crazy by Design: Adolescence, a Critical Evolutionary Adaptation 21st Century Learning Initiative. 2005.
5Aaron White. “The Changing Adolescent Brain”, Education Canada, Canadian Education Association, Spring 2005.
