So, that 7th grader with the surly mood and questionable judgment is merely a product of a poorly connected frontal lobe? While there are certainly a number of factors affecting the personality and performance of teen students, our understanding of development and the brain can explain a lot.
Check out NPR's Morning Edition and the story of Frances Jensen, a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. Her study of teen brains has helped her better understand her sons' behavior and helped them perform better in school. Having your neuroscientist mom tell you that studying and then getting a good night's sleep will actually help move the information from your short term memory to your long term memory proved to be pretty handy.
Understanding the teen brain a bit more won't solve all your challenges, but at least you can see it's not all in your head...it's in theirs.
Teen Brains Are Not Fully Connected
The brain's "white matter" enables nerve signals to flow freely between different parts of the brain. In teenagers, the part that governs judgment is the last to be fully connected.
