The 5 key needs of the adolescent brain
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Ms. Sarah Boylin - Middle School Principal
Dear parents,
Welcome back to the new school year here in Middle School! We have already had a jam packed start with a whole range of activities from IMYC entry points to our annual bonding trips to sports competitions to student council elections - the list goes on and on!
Within Middle School great emphasis is placed on providing students with a holistic education and in providing a safe and caring environment that allows our students to truly grow and develop. Our students follow the International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC) that aims to bridge the divide between Elementary and Secondary education. One side of the bridge represents the needs of the adolescent brain and the other side represents the academic rigour required to ensure they are ready for the next stage of the secondary school. The IMYC is designed in order to meet the 5 key needs of the adolescent brain. The 5 key needs of the adolescent brain are:
#1: Interlinking Learning
The brain learns by making connections often referred to as “chunking”. The brain looks for links with previous learning when confronted with new experiences or information. The big ideas of the IMYC help students to interlink their subject, personal and international learning.
#2: Making Meaning
The adolescent brain goes through a process of specialising and pruning connections between brain cells that are not used or not viewed as important. This makes developing understanding and making meaning of learning a crucial aspect of adolescent learning. We therefore need to support students to make personal meaning of their learning, or risk losing their new connections as part of this pruning process.
#3: Taking risks and practising decision making in a safe environment
From many research studies, we know that adolescents do not view risk or make decisions in the same way as adults. Teenagers use different strategies to adults when faced with decisions, they even activate different brain areas, and rewards play a much greater part in their decisions than inhibitions or self control. Understanding how adolescents make decisions proves that we need to create opportunities for them to practice decision making and take risks during their learning activities, but to do so in a safe environment.
#4: Adolescents need to work with their peers
There have been many studies highlighting the sensitivity that adolescents have for their peers’ influence. It is therefore very important to create collaborative learning opportunities, where students are learning with their peers.