GRADE 8The Truth about the Teenage Brain By Carly Relf

Introduction

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT . . . . .

Why do you think differently to adults?

Are you ruled by emotion rather than logic?

Do you have any ideas? Discuss these questions briefly with a partner

Do you think your brain has finished growing?

Now lets take a vote for the this question . . . .

Aims

To understand more about how the teenage brain works.

To understand how your brains development affects your learning, your emotions, your thoughts, your ideas, your feelings, your decisions, your memory and your behaviour

To learn about the differences between the male and female brain

To learn about the impact of technology on your brain

The Brain Basics

How does your brain develop?

0-10 years of your life your sensory lobes are developed (use of the 5 senses – what are these?)

FACT. By the age of six - 95% of brain development is completed

10-12 years - major growth spurt in your brain (building new neural connections)

13-20 years - the more complex higher order functions in the frontal lobe develop. These include problem-solving, rational thought, reasoning, and analysis.

How does the brain work?

The brain “prunes” or gets rid of information that you do not make connections with – so the phrase “use it or lose it” is true

Pruning follows overproduction of neural connections. . .so the parts that you use the most will stay which is like “survival of the fittest”

So . . . you have to be interested in the topic for your brain to process the information and remember it . . . . this is why your teachers are asking you to pay attention in class.

How do you remember things?

SHORT TERM MEMORY (the immediate things that you learn at the time)

WORKING MEMORY (you can use the information but you may forget it later)

Information goes into long term memory

when you sleep and if you have practiced

and revised the knowledge

LONG TERM MEMORY (you are able to recall the information because it is stored).

You can ‘design’ your own brain. As you make connections to the information the brain will remember it and store it to the long term memory

The Boy/Girl Brain Read the differences below and discuss a specific

example that you have experienced for each one

Girls are more likely to be verbal (talk more)

Girls are more likely to remember and show their emotions

Boys are more likely to enjoy visual (look at things) and spatial tasks (move around )

Boys are more likely to be competitive

Remember these are general rules but we are all INDIVIDUALS.

Is this always true for everyone? NO

Are you Lost in Electronica?

How does it affect the brain? A chemical called dopamine is released when you are stimulated by technology so beware it can be addictive. Exercise releases this hormone too!

Beware too much technology will stunt or slow down or deactivate the development of the frontal lobe – we need this part of the brain for social interaction, emotional intelligence skills, multitasking, developing reading skills, and acquiring general knowledge

BUT . . . .. research has shown that the internet can actually enhance brain function too! It can help your working memory and decision-making skills

ALLOW . . some “downtime” so that you can reflect and help your brain to develop its thinking

Conclusion

THE BRAIN IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING AND CHANGEABLE

Remember you are adding gray matter (thought processes) and pruning (getting rid of) connections all the time

Men and women have a different brain structure and differing levels of hormones which affects how they behave and think

So guys . . the choices you make now affect you for the rest of your lives (positive experiences = highly efficient brain)