What do I know about my brain?Answer True or False

1. The brain learns best by reciting and repeating information.

2. The brain is largely a finished product by age 12.

3. During adolescence, the brain is becoming more efficient, but it is also losing some of its potential for learning.

4. The teen brain responds to stimuli differently than the adult brain.

5. Hormonal changes are responsible for teens’ emotional outbursts.

6. We notice depression and mental illnesses more during the teen years because teens have more feelings.

7. The teen brain reacts in the same way to emotional threat as it does to physical threat.

8. The average teen needs more than 9 hours of sleep every night.

9. The reason teens struggle to get up in the morning is because they don’t go to bed until late at night.

10. The teen brain should stop every 15 minutes to process new information.

Learning

Is

Connecting

How are teen brains different?

Neural Pruning • Starts in the womb when neurons over

populate • Neural pruning ends around age 3• Like pruning a tree; the strong survive• Scientists see this happening again

around 11• More neural pruning…over half by age 15

Use it or lose it!

Stop!• List what you do in a day.

• Create a pie chart.

• Divide up sleeping, reading, writing, studying, playing an instrument, playing a sport, listening to music, working, TV, movies and video games.

• How are you wired?

What fires together wires together.

What’s happening with my emotions?

• Information is processed differently• Rely on amygdala rather than frontal lobes• React, don’t process• Fewer executive functions-motivation,

planning• Rapid changes in dopamine levels• Face studies• From driving to drugs…

… risky business

What emotion is this woman expressing?

The teen brain responds differently to the outside

world.

• 100 % of adults identified fear.

• Fewer than 50% teens saw fear

• Teens saw sadness, confusion, anger and shock

• Teens read visual cues differently

• Boys were more impulsive

Too much emotion…

• Produces adrenaline

• Produces cortisol-stress hormone

• Energy is re-directed—fight or flight

• Difficult to think and remember

• Brain can not differentiate between emotional and physical danger

• If rejected, takes 32x before you feel safe

Stop!

Think about….a time when you or someone you know over-reacted in a

situation. How could you hav

Share with your neighbor

During adolescence mental illness can surface…

• In the 10th grade, 64% of boys and 89% of girls report being concerned about a friend who is depressed.

• Higher percentage of depressed teens used drugs and alcohol

• Schizophrenia is thought to be

triggered during neural pruning

Research has shown that…

Writing about a problem helps rid

our minds of upsetting thoughts and thus improves our ability to maintain and process information—

memory and learning

We need our sleep...

• Our brains review and sort material

while sleeping• Information is stored and discarded • Rats reconstructed their days in their dreams• Studies have shown sleepers perform better • Teens need 9.25 hours of sleep; most get 7.5• Melatonin levels differ

How does the teen brain learn best?

• Scientists saw more activity in the Cerebellum—physical coordination

• Use movement• Use emotion• Take brain breaks• 20 minute maximum attention span• Review 10, 24 and 7• Pause, reflect, discuss, connect…• Know your memory

Puzzles Prime the Brain for Problem Solving

When encountering a mental block, take a brain break and focus on a

puzzle or word game. Puzzles, word games and brain teasers stimulate activity in the frontal lobe and right

hemisphere, making neural connections more flexible for future

problem solving.

Mind MappingMimics how our brains work

• Uses BOTH left and right hemispheres

• Visual• Spacial• Kinesthetic• Shows

– Connections– Relationships– Associations

Ticket Out the Door

Ideas that “struck” you

Questions you still have

Thoughts, connections or suggestions