Secrets of the Teenage Brain: Research-Based Strategies for Reaching and Teaching Today's Adolescents

Teenagers can be mystifying to educators and parents. They exhibit a daunting array of dangerous tendencies and characteristics: emotional swings, forgetfulness, and fondness of risk-taking. What are teens 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 developed from current research to help students achieve their full potential both in and out of the classroom.

Organized around specific areas of adolescent development, Secrets of the Teenage Brain is packed with fresh instructional strategies that teachers can modify and adapt to various contexts. 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

· Straightforward demystification on the differences between girls’ and boys’ brains

· 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 into the secrets of the teenage brain!

Sheryl G. Feinstein, EdD, is an associate professor at the Education Department at Augustana College, where she teaches courses in educational psychology and adolescent development. She also serves as an educational consultant for an adolescent correctional facility in Minnesota. Feinstein has worked as a public school teacher, a K-12 curriculum coordinator, and a director at an alternative secondary school, and during the 2007-2008 school year she was a Fulbright Scholar in Tanzania, where she continued her research on adolescents. Feinstein currently resides in South Dakota.

Eric Jensen co-founded the world's largest brain-compatible academic enrichment program, SuperCamp, which now has over 50,000 graduates. In 1985, he founded Turning Point, which later became Jensen Learning and currently is an active member of the Society for Neuroscience, The President's Club at Salk Institute of Biological Studies, NY Academy of Science, American Psychological Association and International Mind, Brain and Education Society. Jensen is on the Advisory Board for Body, Mind and Child in Barnstead, New Hampshire. He is a partner and consultant in the Temporal Dynamics Learning Center Project at University of California at San Diego.