Your brain continuously perceives information coming from all
parts of your body. As it perceives this information, it learns and continues
to grow. You continue to learn more and more throughout most of your life. But
when does the brain stop developing? Most, if not all, cultures recognize the
age of adulthood to be 18 years old. It is widely held that at this point in
one’s life, the brain stops developing and you are “mature”at that point.
However, many studies suggest otherwise. A new directive is being initiated for
psychiatrists which increases the age of adulthood till 25 years old. Why? "We
are becoming much more aware and appreciating development beyond [the age of
18] and I think it's a really good initiative," says Laverne Antrobus, a
child psychiatrist who works at London's Tavistock Clinic, who believes we
often rush through childhood, wanting our youngsters to achieve key milestones
very quickly.
Many psychiatrists and even scientsts are developing a new
understanding of adolescent emotional maturity, as well as hormonal and brain
activity. Antrobus states that, “Neuroscience has made these massive advances
where we now don't think that things just stop at a certain age, that actually
there's evidence of brain development well into early twenties and that
actually the time at which things stop is much later than we first thought."
There are three stages of adolescence that psychiatrists are beginning to follow:
Early Adolescence – 12-14
Middle Adolescence – 15-17
Late Adolescence – 18+
Middle Adolescence – 15-17
Late Adolescence – 18+
Scienistists show that until the prefrontal cortex (responsible
for making prudent decisions) is fully developed, a young person’s cognitive
development continues into the later stage of adolescence. This view sheds new
light on the wide perception of “early”adulthood in adolescents.
In the past few years, I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to figure out how to incorporate this new understanding from neurobiology into my own thinking about teaching. I'm not sure how to do that yet. It seems essential that we teachers figure this out, though. Since our job is to educate, and education involves the brain, we should be taking what neuroscience has to tell us into consideration...but how? I'll be interested to hear what you have to say.
ReplyDeleteThe problem would inherently lie in the curriculum aside from teaching. Although it's difficult to make any drastic changes to it, neuroscience suggests that active learning is far better than any form of passive learning/lecturing. Studies also show that students who ask more questions in class often retain much more material than those who do not. One of the best forms of teaching that is being practiced today is this form of having discussions with students. Younger and older students alike both show more interest in this method of teaching, since they are actively involved in the learning and brainstorming process. Although I'm not sure if this particular study would call any particular attention to a form of teaching, sometimes teachers may have unrealistic expectations from students, many of whom are still not mature enough to 'function' like adults. Teachers should therefore take into consideration that students are still adolescents and should be treated maturely, but probably not at the same level as adults.
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