Summary of Lecture and Tutorial Notes for Adolescent Development and Teaching

Question 1 (Robert Epstein’s)

If we adopt Robert Epstein’s (see first lecture) view of adolescents, what would be the implications for
adolescents in today’s society? Discuss positive and negative aspects of Epstein’s ideas and whether you
agree or disagree with his position. Provide evidence to support your arguments.

What is Epstein’s view of Adolescent?

• Adolescent is the artificial extension of childhood past the onset of puberty.

• That means the turmoil generating teen brain is the product and creation of modern culture.
• Over the past century teenagers are treated as children
• Isolating them from adults
• Passing laws to restrict their behaviour.

On the other hand G. Stanley Halls argues the following:

• Adolescence is a period of “storm and stress”.

• This is carried over from our past which was believed to be turbulent and stressful.
• Mood swings peak during this period
• Criminal activity peak during adolescent

The implication of Epstein’s views?

• Adolescents between the ages of 13-15 years should be given the right to marry, sign contracts,
own property, start their own business and make decisions about health care.

Positive and Negative?

• Positives: treating adolescents like adults increases their memory, skills, abilities and
intelligence.
• Negatives: infantilising adolescents results in peaks of criminal activity, suicide, conflict with
parents.

Agree or disagree?

• Agree because we are influenced by culture around us and this impacts on how we turn out.
Adolescent delinquency was not present a century ago. Which explains and adds credence to
Epstein’s assertion that we should allow adolescent to have greater say and decision making
such as marriage, signing contracts, owning property etc.

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Question 2 (Human memory and Cognitive Load)

Jazz is a keen student who performed generally well in Years 7 and 8. However, as a Year 9 student, Jazz
has struggled to grasp abstract concepts and the pace of instruction in some of her school subjects.
Discuss difficulties that Jazz might be having from the perspective of human memory and cognitive load.
What can be done to assist Jazz?

Difficulties Jazz is having?

• She is struggling to grasp abstract concepts because at her age the brain in pruning connections
between the brain cells and the brain begins to ‘specialise’.
• Short term memory is limited while the long term memory is unlimited incapacity.
• Her attention is extremely limited because lots of information is discarded.
• Jazz has low Elemental Interactivity which means she can gather information by learning on
element at a time. E.g vocabulary, elements on the periodical table etc.

How to help Jazz?

• To help Jazz we must set up activities in order to teach her based on her strengths and capacity.
• This could be declarative knowledge (factual) , procedural knowledge (applying) or conditional
knowledge (knowing when to apply).
• Accumulate schemas by changing the scheme to adapt to new information.
• Explore her to as many learning experience as possible.
• Allow Jazz time to develop and automate her schemas. That is, allow her more time to develop
procedural and conditional knowledge.

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Question 3 (Adolescence Paradoxical time – Jay Giedd, Laurence Steinberg)

Discuss the idea that adolescence is a paradoxical time in our life trajectory. What are the implications
for how we educate adolescents?

According to Jay Giedd:

• Adolescences is a period where the body peaks in health but also peaks in risk taking.
• This is explained as follows: the maturation rates of the socioemotional network (limbic system)
is different to the cognitive control system (frontal lobes)
• In order words, the emotion development is quicker than the system that controls the
regulation of the emotion.

According to Laurence Steinberg:

• The paradox is explained in the context of hot or cold cognition.

• Hot cognition means high arousal, such as risking taking activities
 • Cold cognition means low arousal such as problem solving activities

Implication for how we educate adolescents?

• Implication of teaching adolescents based on the assertion of Jay Giedd is that informing
teenagers of risks may be of limited value until their cognitive control system has fully
developed.

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Question 4 (Biopsychosocial approach to development)

Provide a description of what is understood by the biopsychosocial approach to development. In your

answer provide an example of how the model could be used to explain school failure by some students
and examples of intervention actions to prevent school failure based on the biopsychosocial approach.

Biopsychosocial approach to development:

• Highlights that biological, psychological and social factors interact to influence risk and resilience
in adolescents, emerging adults and people of all ages.
• Biological relates to genes, hormones and puberty
• Psychological relates to self-control, decision making ability and emotion regulation ( aka
cognitive development)
• Social relates to schooling, neighbours and family

Intervention actions:

• Adopting protective factors such as: good social and emotional skills, optimistic coping style,
Family Harmony, good family values, positive school environment and strong cultural identity.
• Also get to know the risk factors such as: family disharmony, instability or breakups, parents
with mental illness, peer rejection, discrimination or drug use.

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Question 5 (Brain reorganisation)

Adolescence represents a period of dramatic brain reorganization. Outline some of these changes and
their implications for teaching and learning in schools.
Outline some of these changes:

• Frontal lobe delays leading to inability to control gratification, impulse control and emotion.

Implication for teaching and learning?

• Affects teens by becoming risk takers, poor decision making skills and sensation seeking.

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Question 5 (Short term memory/long term memory)

Distinguish between short-term/working memory and long term memory. What are implications for
teachers which flow from having an understanding of these memory structures?

Short term memory:

• Short term memory is limited to processing 2-4 elements

• Is the seat of consciousness, makes mistakes, effortful and slow

Long term memory:

• Long term memory is unlimited in capacity
• Represents our knowledge base
• Minimal cognitive burden, fast and error free.
• Takes time for schemas to become automated

Implication for teachers?

• Our conscious attention is extremely limited lots of information registered unconsciously by the
brain but quickly discarded. So much get student to ‘use it or lose it’.
• Expose students to entering adolescence to as many learning experience as possible.
• Provide students with time and opportunity to automate their schemas allowing students to
develop procedural and conditional knowledge.
• Minimise wasteful load when teaching complex material.