Brain development of teenagers... some useful websites

The Office of Population Affairs has a series of tutorials that are helpful.   I pointed readers to this website when we looked at Social Media and Brain Development.



http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familylife/tech_assistance/etraining/adolescent_brain/Development/prefrontal_cortex/index.html

This series is worth a look

1. The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet : NPR

   www.npr.org › News › Health › Your Health‎

   Mar 1, 2010 – Jensen is a Harvard expert on epilepsy, not adolescent brain development. As she coped with her boys' sour moods and their exasperating ...

2. COMMENT:  This interview evolved from a National Geographic article.  

   
   

   1. Teenage Brains - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine

      ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text‎

      The first full series of scans of the developing adolescent brain—a NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH) project that studied over a hundred young people as they ...

   2. The Teenage Brain - National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com

      ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2011/10/teenage-brains/dobbs-text‎

      The first full series of scans of the developing adolescent brain—a NationalInstitutes of Health (NIH) project that studied over a hundred young people as they ...

   3. National Geographic's October 2011 Article, "The New Science of ...

      

      www.breakingthecycles.com/.../national-geographics-october-2...‎

      by Lisa Frederiksen - in 409 Google+ circles

      Oct 6, 2011 – This article, “The New Science of the Teenage Brain,” by David ... October 2011 National Geographic magazine is well worth the read. ... the teen brain's physical development [see image, as example] and its activity patterns.

   4. Beautiful Brains - National Geographic | WYMAN

      wymancenter.org/the-beautiful-teenage-brain-highlighted-in-the-national...‎

      Oct 18, 2011 – National Geographic highlight on the complexity of the humanbrain. ... The Beautiful Teenage Brain – Highlighted in the National Geographic... extremely necessary to help brains complete their development into adulthood.

   
   

   
   

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   HowStuffWorks "Teenage Brain Development"

   science.howstuffworks.com/life/teenage-brain1.htm‎

   Teenage brain development is like an entertainment center that hasn't been fully hooked up. Learn about teenage brain development and the prefrontal cortex.

3. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore: The mysterious workings of the adolescent ...

   ► 14:26► 14:26

   www.ted.com/.../sarah_jayne_blakemore_the_myste...‎

   Sep 17, 2012

   Why do teenagers seem so much more impulsive, so much less self-aware than ... typically “teenage” behavior ...
4. More videos for brain development of teenagers »

5. Work In Progress - Adolescent Brains Are A Work In Progress ... - PBS

   www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/.../adolescent.html‎

   As the prefrontal cortex matures, teenagers can reason better, develop more control over impulses and make judgments better. In fact, this part of the brainhas ...

6. Overview of Adolescent Brain Development

   www.hhs.gov › ... › OAPP Adolescent Brain Development‎

   Overview of Adolescent Brain Development. Over the past 25 years, scientists and researchers have made enormous strides in the area of brain functionality ...

7. Adolescent Brain Development

   www.hhs.gov/opa/familylife/tech_assistance/.../adolescent_brain/‎

   Adolescent Brain Development self-directed module.

8. NIMH · The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction

   www.nimh.nih.gov/health/.../the-teen-brain-still-under-construction/‎

   An understanding of how the brain of an adolescent is changing may help explain.... This last question has been the central reason to study brain development ...

9. The teenage brain | Science News for Kids

   www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/10/the-teenage-brain/‎

   Oct 17, 2012 – By peering into the brains of teenagers, scientists who study brain development have begun finding answers. The evolved teenager.

10. Dream Online: The teenage brain - Children's Hospital Boston

    www.childrenshospital.org/dream/summer08/the_teenage_brain.html‎

    Two discoveries prompted much of their scientific interest: that teenagers' brains are only about 80 percent fully developed and that brain development isn't ...

11. Scientists unravel the mysteries of the teenage brain - Telegraph

    www.telegraph.co.uk › Science › Science News‎

    May 15, 2013 – So by the use of imaging and other tools we can really tap into these features of the adolescent brain and understand how they develop over ...

It's difficult to remember the limitations of the teenage brain.  "If only I knew then what I know now about the brain's capacity."  Or maybe the lack of a fully developed brain would have kept me from absorbing this information...

Dan Heath points out that "to make a change in behavior, we often need to SEE it, so we can FEEL it, to get the energy to MAKE the change."

Dan Heath: Want Your Organization to Change? Put ... - YouTube

► 3:26► 3:26

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhBzxy7CneM‎

Sep 17, 2010 - Uploaded by FastCompany

Making Strategy Simpleby FastCompany 5,488 views; 2:13. Watch Later Readitfor.me Trailer: Switch by Chip ...

Why Change Is So Hard - YouTube

► 4:03► 4:03

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpiDWeRN4UA‎

Sep 17, 2010 - Uploaded by FastCompany

Dan Heath: Want Your Organization to Change? Put Feelings Firstby FastCompany 15,552 views; 2 ...

CONFIRMATION BIAS (links to items by Dan Heath)
We tend to confirm what we know

Decisively fun time with Dan Heath (Human Business Way podcast 57)

Confirmation bias can get in the way of smart hiring decisions (ere.net, Mar 20, 2013)

Confirmation bias: why both sides of the global warming debate are nearly always right (Forbes, Aug 2012)

Confirmation bias (You Are No So Smart, June 2010)

Do you only see what you want to see? (Pokhran)

Confirmation bias (Wikipedia)

- See more at: http://www.marketingactuary.com/2013/03/the-wrap-on-decisive-new-book-from-chip.html#sthash.B2lFU3f3.dpuf

I wonder if reading this list of articles might be a way of letting kids know that "If you just survive the next ten years, you'll wake up with a fully developed brain and then you can decide whether or not to try this risky actions..."


Well, we know that an article is read more closely when there are photos, so here are some photos from the Oct. 2011 magazine article by National Georgraphic.

Thanks for reading so far.  See more photos here...

Do some of your students have a difficult time starting to write? How about FILL IN THE BLANKS? An example from National Geographic Magazine and tips from my mentor Cary Elcome in Japan

Look at the style of this blog.   The blog's owner, National Geographic magazine, has some stock phrases (in BOLD) and the guest is invited to complete the sentences.

Albuquerque is My City 

When someone comes to visit me, the first place I take them is ______________

Fall is the best time to visit my city because ______________

You can see my city best from  ______________

Locals know to skip  ______________ and check out  ______________ instead. ______________

 ______________ is the place to buy authentic, local souvenirs.  ______________

In the past, notable people like  ______________ have called my city home.

My city’s best museum is  ______________

If there’s one thing you should know about getting around my city, it’s that Albuquerque’s not a place you’d want to rely on public transportation. But there are wonderful bike paths and trails.

The best place to spend time outdoors in my city is at one of the city’s many golf courses, including the high-end Sandia Resort course. Or at Tiguex Park downtown on a summer night when live music is being played next door at the Albuquerque Museum.

My city really knows how to celebrate beer at our awesome Beer Week festival.

You can tell if someone is from my city if they finish sentences with “eh” and everything they say sounds like a question.

For a fancy night out, Iprefer the Bien Shurrestaurant at the Sandia Casino for drinks and food, followed by a concert at the casino’s spectacular outdoor amphitheater.

Just outside my city, you can visit    ______________

My city is known for beingt     ______________  , but it’s really    ______________

 ______________ are my favorite places to grab breakfast, and  ______________ is the spot for late-night eats   ______________

To find out what’s going on at night and on the weekends, read  ______________

My city’s biggest sports event is  ______________ Watch it at   ______________

When I’m feeling cash-strapped, I   ______________

To escape the crowds, I  ______________

If my city were a celebrity it’d be  ______________

The dish that represents my city best is  ______________  ,and  ______________is my city’s signature drink.

 ______________ is my favorite building in town because  ______________

The most random thing about my city is ______________

 ______________ is the best place to see live music. If you’re in the mood to dance, check out    ______________

In the spring you should    ______________

In the summer you should     ______________

In the fall you should  ______________

In the winter you should     ______________

If you have kids (or are a kid at heart), you won’t want to miss  ______________

The best book about my city is  ______________   

When I think about my city, the song that comes to mind is     ______________

In 140 characters or less, the world should heart my city because    ______________    Keywords:    ______________

To see how this could look, visit this blog.

http://intelligenttravel.nationalgeographic.com/2013/05/22/i-heart-my-city-claytons-albuquerque/

REPLY BY Cary Elcome in Japan

--------------------------------------------

I've been doing things like this in small chunks with my once-a-week older students here. 

My starting point is:

"I cannot read Japanese. Please tell me what this is all about"

OR

"Can you give me the major points from this?"

OR

"What's this line / symbol / name / picture?"

OR

"A foreigner is looking lost, but has this [map, guidebook] in his/her hand. Can you help him/her?"

OR

"You have volunteered to help non-Japanese-speaking tourists in your home town. Can you prepare a short talk using this leaflet?"

OR

"I'm thinking about going to (place). I've got these leaflets. Can you put together a programme for me?"

etc...

In fact, I collect all kinds of tourist fliers, train timetables, menus and other free bumf and distribute them either individually or in groups (for instant on-the-spot work or as homework preparation) get them to tell me about them (as I cannot read Japanese, this is an authentic exercise!!) I can isolate a grammar point or two and practise it/them, plus the students gain real, practical, LOCAL vocabulary. They also have to explain and/or translate... that's a useful skill!

If you have ENGLISH fliers, and you don't want to waste paper and photcopying, here's a way to develop your use of this material:

you need some fliers and post-it strips to hide certain expressions. Students write (on a piece of scrap) the missing words they hear when you read the text to them, then peel off the post-its. Another way (if you have an OverHead Projector) is to make an acetate of the original, then Tippex out certain words and phrases from ANOTHER copy and make an acetate of it. You're set up for life!

This all leads on to an essential feature of (language) teaching in a poor country. 

a) DON'T bombard (children) or learners with global coursebooks full of European / American / "White" faces, kids with mobiles, smart cars, houses with TVs and AC. We immorally introduce a nasty, insidious Western bias into a fragile cultuure which may be very ancient and interesting, deserving of our attention and usefully practised (tourism, commerce, school). 

b) Let's take our cue from LOCAL circumstances and lifestyles and base our lessons on what is immediate and relevant, at hand in the area, rather than arrogantly assuming that our learners should implicitly learn about our nonsensical accoutrements and time-wasters! 

(I have used this approach quite successfully in Laos. I believe it's crucial.)

Cheers,

Cary

M. A. Education (Applied Linguistics)

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