Secrets of the Teenage Brain
Research-Based Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Today's Adolescents
- Sheryl G. Feinstein - University of Nebraska, Kearney
Foreword by Eric Jensen
Secondary General Methods
"This book explains almost all of the 'headshaking' frustrations educators express about teens. Educators will enjoy discovering that there is a biological reason for the behaviors and attitudes that teens demonstrate. They will also appreciate the practical and down-to-earth suggestions to help students find school more appealing."
—Kathy Tritz-Rhodes, Principal
Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn Schools, IA
Cutting-edge research meets brain-friendly strategies for teaching adolescents!
Teenagers can be mystifying to educators and parents, exhibiting a daunting array of characteristics: emotional, forgetful, and fond of risk-taking. What are they thinking? What's the best way to reach them? The revised and expanded edition of this hands-on guide helps unlock these secrets by explaining the biological and neurological changes happening in the teenage brain. Educators can use these insights from current research to help students achieve their full academic potential.
Organized around specific areas of adolescent development, this resource is packed with fresh instructional strategies that can be modified and adapted to various content areas. In addition to presenting the latest facts and research findings, this guide offers:
- "Secrets Revealed" sections that present compelling stories and research about the growing adolescent brain
- Insights into the effects of technology on the brain
- Strategies for approaching such issues as ADHD, steroid use, and aggression
- An educator's book club guide, with discussion questions
Enjoy reading and talking with your colleagues about how to understand and tap the secrets of the teenage brain!
"This updated edition is a very significant and timely resource for educators and parents of teenagers. Teachers will relate well to the many observations and vignettes about teenagers and will see many of their own students in these descriptions. The science and research-based evidence is explained simply and in easy-to-understand terms with connections to teen behavior clearly established. Readers can easily appreciate how the strategies described in the book link to the neuroscientific findings and research. The newer research, ideas, and supplementary material greatly enhance the book—particularly the new stories, vignettes, and other teaching strategies."
"This book explains almost all of the 'headshaking' frustrations educators express about teens. Educators will enjoy discovering that there is a biological reason for the behaviors and attitudes that teens demonstrate. They will also appreciate the practical and down-to-earth suggestions to help students find school more appealing."
"As a parent, I found myself applying this information to understand my own children’s behavior better. The neurological content coverage is based on very current functional MRI brain science that is being used and understood for the first time. It is an exciting time with the promise of substantially more new information for many years to come. Feinstein presents complex information in an accessible manner with the tone of a real person who has worked with real teenagers."
Secrets of the Teenage Brain, Second Edition, expands knowledge of the teenage brain and brain-compatible instructional strategies. Because the field of neuroscience is continuously and extensively emerging with new research, it was important to supplement the first edition with the latest cutting-edge research, fresh instructional strategies, and current insights into trends and topics.
Special features in the second edition include the role of mirror neurons in learning through observation, technology and the brain, students with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), cutting, steroid use, and violence and aggression; giving new perspectives and insights. The Book Club Discussion Questions are an added addition that facilitates teachers and other educators to form learning communities to discuss and learn from colleagues.