The presentation discusses the adolescent brain and strategies for teaching middle and high school teens. It outlines 8 key facts about the adolescent brain, including that the emotional brain develops before the reasoning brain. It also discusses 5 evolutionary advantages and 23 risks of adolescence. The presentation then provides 8 underlying causes of teen risk and 57 adolescent brain-friendly practices teachers can use, such as opportunities for choice, self-awareness activities, and real world experiences.

1. The Power of the Adolescent Brain
Strategies for Teaching
Middle and High School Teens
Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.
www.institute4learning.com
The Amazing
Adolescent Brain
Summit
Tobacco Free Lake
County Indiana
Coalition
June 8, 2021

2. “Our youth now love luxury. They have
bad manners, contempt for authority;
they show disrespect for their elders and
love chatter in place of exercise; they no
longer rise when elders enter the room;
they contradict their parents, chatter
before company; gobble up their food
and tyrannize their teachers.”
Socrates – 4th Century BCE

3. “The young are
heated by Nature as
drunken men by
wine.“
- Aristotle

4. ‘’I would there were no age between
sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that
youth would sleep out the rest; for there
is nothing in the between but getting
wenches with child, wronging the
ancientry, stealing, fighting . . . ‘
- Shakespeare, Winter’s Tale, Act
III.iii.58-64)

5. Outline of This Presentation
• 8 Key Facts About the Adolescent Brain
• 5 Evolutionary Advantages of
Adolescent Traits
• 23 Risks of Adolescence (11 Prehistoric
and 12 Contemporary)
• 8 Underlying Causes of Teen Risk
• 57 Adolescent Brain-Friendly Practices

6. 8 Key Facts About Adolescent Brain
1. Gray Matter is Decreasing (Pruning)
2. White Matter is Increasing (Myelination)
3. Neurogenesis is Occurring (New Brain Cells)
4. Pruning Moves from Back to Front Over Time
5. Emotional Brain Develops Before Reasoning Brain
6. Process is Shaped by Environment (Neuroplasticity)
7. Evolutionary Advantages of Adolescent Traits
8. Brain is Extraordinarily Sensitive to Environment

7. Limbic System Prefrontal Cortex
Mostly developed by
early adolescence
Doesn’t fully mature until
early twenties
• Risk-taking
• Motivation
• Hunger
• Long-term memory
• Sensation seeking
• Reward seeking
• Novelty-seeking
• Impulsivity
• Emotionality
• Decision-making
• Planning
• Working memory
• Prioritizing
• Inhibiting impulses
• Reflecting
• Organizing
• Strategizing
• Self-control
A Tale of Two Brain Systems

8. Evolutionary Advantages of Adolescent Traits
Adolescent Traits Evolutionary Advantage
Risk taking Drives them out of the parental nest and
into the world
Sensation seeking Ignites a desire to explore the world of
which they will become an integral part
Preference for being with peers Creates affiliations with the people they
will be spending most of their time with
in adulthood
Reward seeking Impels them to seek, find, and consume
survival-essential natural rewards such
as food, water, and warmth
Romantic and sexual
attraction to others
Connects them with possible mates
with the potential to procreate and pass
along genes to the next generation

9. Prehistoric Risks of Adolescence
• Attacked by Predators
• Starvation
• Poisoned by Plants
• Exposure to Inclement Weather
• Infections
• Killed or Injured by Enemies
• Hunting Accidents
• Acute Disease
• Childbirth
• Geological Accidents
• Risky Sexual Behavior

10. Positive: Traits
Help Pass
Genes Along
Negative: The
Same Traits
Can Prevent
Genes From
Being Passed
Along
A Delicate Balance

11. Functional Interventions in Rites of Passage
Adolescent Traits How Rites Manage These Traits
Risk taking Initiates exposed to high-risk situations
(e.g., exposure, feats of pain and
endurance etc.)
Sensation seeking Initiates exposed to strange and
unusual sensory experiences (e.g.,
bullroarers, nature spirit costumes etc.)
Preference for being with peers Initiates go through the rites together as
a peer group
Reward seeking Initiates are welcomed back into the
culture as full-fledged members often
with special artifacts (e.g., charms,
weapons, tattooing etc.)
Romantic and sexual
attraction to others
Male and female initiates are separated
and instructed as to culturally
appropriate ways of pairing and mating.

12. Contemporary Risks of Adolescence
• Traffic Accidents
• Violence
• Suicide
• Alcohol Abuse
• Illicit Drug Abuse
• Tobacco and Nicotine Abuse
• Mental Illness
• Sleep Disorders
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Prescription Drug Abuse
• Media Addiction
• Bullying

13. 8 Underlying Causes of Teen Risk
• Poor Decision-Making
• Identity Confusion
• Negative Peer Influence
• Emotional Turmoil
• Body Image Disturbances
• Uncritical Thinking
• Impulsivity
• Poor Reality Testing

14. Adolescent Risk Brain Friendly Practice
Poor Decision-Making Opportunities To Choose
Identity Confusion Self-Awareness Activities
Negative Peer Influence Peer Learning Connections
Emotional Turmoil Affective Learning
Body Image Disturbances Learning through the Body
Uncritical Thinking Metacognitive Strategies
Impulsivity Expressive Arts Activities
Poor Reality Testing Real World Experiences
8 Adolescent Brain Friendly Practices

15. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Opportunities to Choose
• Provide Homework Options
• Use Teen Polling
• Allow Teens to Do Their Own Projects
• Let Teens Be Involved in School Policy
• Set Aside Time for a Genius Oasis
• Allow Teens to Choose Books
• Permit Teens to Learn at Their Own Rate
• Create Independent Study Options
• Offer More Electives

16. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Self-Awareness Activities
• Use Self-Awareness Assessments
• Encourage Teens to Keep Personal
Journals
• Connect Content to Teens’ Personal Lives
• Teach Mindfulness Meditation
• Have Teens’ Create Autobiographies

17. Peer Learning Connections
• Set Up a Peer Teaching System
• Use Collaborative Learning Projects
• Establish Peer Mentoring
• Let Peers Critique Each Other’s Work
• Create a Peer Mediation Program
• Establish Small Learning Communities
• Develop Class-wide Simulations
• Encourage Frequent Peer Sharing
• Facilitate Learning Through Games

18. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Affective Learning
• Be Emotionally Supportive of Teens
• Express Emotion as a Mentor
• Use Appropriate Humor
• Engage Teens’ Imaginations
• Teach Controversial Issues
• Help Teens Understand and Self-Regulate
Their Emotions

19. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Learning Through the Body
• Provide Exercise Breaks in Class
• Integrate Role Play into the Curriculum
• Engage Teens in Hands-On Activities
• Use Movement to Teach Concepts
• Incorporate Augmentative and Virtual
Reality Into Learning

20. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Metacognitive Strategies
• Engage Teens in Critical Thinking
– Ask open-ended questions
– Have teens brainstorm ideas
– Teach teens to evaluate sources
– Challenge teens to take different sides

21. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Metacognitive Strategies
• Engage Teens in Critical Thinking
• Show Teens How to Use Metacognitive
Tools
– Cognitive Organizers
– Think-Alouds
– Heuristics
– Thinking Journals

22. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Metacognitive Strategies
• Engage Teens in Critical Thinking
• Show Teens How to Use Metacognitive
Tools
• Teach Goal-Setting
• Instruct Teens in How Their Brains Work
• Explain the Importance of a Growth Mindset
• Provide Opportunities for Existential
Questioning

23. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Expressive Arts Activities
• Incorporate Creative Writing
• Encourage Teens to Express Ideas Visually
• Let Teens Be Creative with Media
• Allow Teens to Show Learning Through
Music
• Permit Teens to Express Ideas Through
Drama and/or Dance

24. COPYRIGHT © 2016 ASCD
Real World Experiences
• Have a Job Shadowing Day
• Create an Internship Program
• Use Community-Based and Service
Learning
• Encourage Entrepreneurial Enterprises
• Affiliate with Apprenticeship Programs
• Establish Career Academies

26. Contact Information
Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.
P.O. Box 548
Cloverdale, CA 95425
707-328-2659 phone
707-894-4474 fax
thomas@institute4learning.com
www.institute4learning.com