The Adolescent Brain

Last Monday night, our Education Psychology class had the privilege of hearing a lecture by Karen Williams about the Adolescent Brain. I found this presentation very valuable. Even though this speech was geared towards a younger audience, I still thought it was incredibly engaging. Karen Williams was able to stand up in front of an auditorium of many college students and act out different scenes, make funny faces, and encourage us to participate in her lecture.

Her main focus was to show how the brain develops from age 5 to about age 20. What we learned was that by age 20 the brain was still not fully developed. In fact, the part of the brain that controls thinking and decision making is that last to develop. Despite the fact that I went to this lecture a week ago, I can still remember what her main points were. I believe that this is because she took the time to have us participate. To demonstrate the concept that the brain is rapidly making connections at a young age she had the audience clap as fast as they could. More energetic clapping signified the times in a person's life where their brain is overactive and drinking in as much information as it can.

These two periods in time were from 2-3 years of age and from 14-15 years of age. Of course these ranges are not the same in every person, but in general these few years of our lives are important times for our brain. It just so happens that these years are also very important to learning. What children are exposed to in these years will help them grow in those abilities. This presentation really helped me understand how the brain works. And as a teacher I plan on making sure my students get exposed to many ideas during this wonderful time in their lives.

To learn more about the adolescent brain click here.