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

"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!

Learn more about Sheryl Feinstein′s PD offerings


Sheryl Feinstein is an Associate Professor at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD where she teaches in the Education Department. She is the author of a number of books, including Secrets of the Teenage Brain 2nd Ed (2009), Corwin Press; The Praeger Handbook of Learning and the Brain 2 vol. (2006), Praeger Publisher; Parenting the Teenage Brain: Understanding a Work in Progress, Teaching the At Risk Teenage Brain, and Inside the Teenage Brain: Understanding a Work in Progress (2009), Rowman & Littlefield Publisher; 101 Insights and Strategies for Parenting Teenagers (Fall, 2009), Healthy Learning Publishers; and Tanzanian Women in Their Own Words: Stories of Chronic Illness and Disability, (2009), Lexington Press.

In addition to teaching at Augustana College, Feinstein consults at a correctional facility for adolescent boys and at a separate site for Emotionally/Behaviorally Disturbed (EBD) adolescents in Minnesota. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2007-2008 to Tanzania where she taught at Tumaini University in Iringa and conducted research involving the adolescent. In 2006 she was a fellow at Oxford, UK.

Prior to joining Augustana College, Feinstein was an administrator for a K-12 school district in Minnesota and taught in the public schools in South Dakota and a private school in Missouri.