The Adolescent Brain
Adolescents in the 21st century aren’t necessarily different from their predecessors, we just know more about them. In the last 20 or so years, the field of adolescent brain development research has gained momentum. It would seem that with this new awareness of what’s going inside adolescents’ heads, educators and parents would be less perplexed by teen behavior. Alas, that’s not the case. As adolescents move through middle school and high school, some adults expect them to automatically make mature decisions, as if these external events magically grant adolescents adultlike thinking skills. This is a recipe for future conflict; adults become disappointed, and teenagers feel misunderstood. To get a firm understanding of this, let’s take a look inside the head of a teenager. This information is from the article The Adolescent Brain from September 2016.pdf