View Course
The Adolescent Brain™ (6–12)
The Adolescent Brain™ is a graduate-level course developed for teachers of grades 6–12. The course, created by experts in the emerging field of neuroeducation, uses advances in brain research to examine the mysteries of the adolescent brain and explain how teens learn best. Participants develop a practical understanding of the brain’s anatomy, including how the adolescent brain’s unique characteristics affect learning. They learn brain-compatible teaching strategies that work with the teen mind to make lessons more memorable and engaging. The course covers how to create a classroom environment that respects teens’ unique social and emotional needs and explores how to teach students how their brains work and what they can do to enhance their own learning. Participants discover how to dispel prevailing myths about the limitations of teen learning and help all students realize they have the potential for academic achievement.
Course Topics
|
|
Canter Course Outcomes
- Examine the emerging field of neuroeducation, a combination of neuroscience and education research.
- Explore the concepts of “fixed” vs. “growth” mindsets and how to help students adjust how they view themselves as learners.
- Become familiar with the basic structures of the human brain and how it processes information and stores it in memory.
- Identify the developmental, physical, and personality characteristics that affect how adolescents learn.
- Develop the knowledge to show students how their decisions about sleep, nutrition, and exercise affect their ability to learn.
- Analyze current instructional strategies for compatibility with the workings of the teen brain.
- Build a plan for creating or improving the three areas of a brain-compatible learning environment: physical, intellectual, and socioemotional.
- Understand how fear, peer pressure, and other emotional situations can influence learning and develop strategies for addressing these situations.
- Learn to help students become conscious of their own learning processes.
- Become aware of the importance of metacognition to learning and understand how to help students think about their thinking.
- Explore which technology tools resonate with the adolescent brain and why.
- Learn to design assessments that motivate rather than intimidate.
- Understand why teens learn best from immediate feedback and how to offer it constructively
Course Assessment
- Discussions
- Activities
- Application
- Quizzes
- Reflection Paper
Education Experts
Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
Dr. Dweck, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton professor of psychology at Stanford University, is one of the world’s leading researchers in the field of student motivation. She has held professorships at Columbia and Harvard universities and has lectured to education, business, and sports groups around the world. Her numerous honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and her recent book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, has been translated into 17 languages.
Robin J. Fogarty, Ph.D.
Dr. Fogarty is the president of Robin Fogarty and Associates, Ltd., an educational publishing and consulting company. A leading proponent of “The Thoughtful Classroom” approach, she has written numerous articles and books and has trained educators throughout the world in curriculum, instruction, and assessment strategies. She has taught students from kindergarten to college, served as an administrator, and consulted with state departments and ministries of education in several countries.
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Ed.D.
Dr. Immordino-Yang is a cognitive neuroscientist and educational psychologist who studies the brain bases of emotion, social interaction, and culture and their implications for development and learning. A former junior high school teacher, she is an assistant professor of education at the Rossier School of Education and an assistant professor of psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute, both at the University of Southern California. She is also the associate editor for North America for the journal Mind, Brain and Education.
Judy Willis, M.D., M.Ed.
Dr. Willis, an adjunct lecturer at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is a board-certified neurologist who returned to school to become a classroom teacher. She practiced child and adult neurology for 15 years and has taught elementary and middle school for 10 years. With her combined expertise in neuroscience and education, she advises audiences around the world on classroom strategies derived from brain research.
Pat Wolfe, Ed.D.
A former K–12 teacher and adjunct university professor, Dr. Wolfe is an expert on the application of brain research to educational practice and an award-winning author. In her 20 years as an educational consultant, she has conducted workshops for thousands of administrators, teachers, boards of education, and parents in schools and districts throughout the United States and internationally.
