“Young adolescents need meaningful, challenging learning experiences in order to develop and sustain cognitive growth processes. Cognitive processing won’t improve or develop as well if students are consistently taking notes or memorizing dates without opportunities to make genuine connections between content and their experiences” (Brown & Knowles, 2007, p. 27)”

I think this idea is really important in that it captures the idea of how brain development plays a major role in how students learn, and it allows teachers to understand how to alter and modify teaching instruction so that it supports their students’ cognitive development. When students are in their adolescent years and their brains are developing and creating new neural networks, they need to be challenged intellectually so that they may “capitalize on their cognitive potential” (p. 33). Too often we misjudge the capabilities of our students, thus leading us to teach less challenging material which we believe is “appropriate” for their level, whereas in reality, our adolescent students are ready for much more and are capable of much more. Additionally, the traditional methods of teaching that some teachers still practice actually hinder this brain development and is more detrimental than beneficial–the traditional classroom setting of sitting and taking notes, listening to the teacher lecture, practicing drills, and leaving little room for establishing meaningful connections does not allow for the students to make use of their ever-growing cognitive abilities and stages of brain development. Some methods for fostering this are using interactive activities so that students may satisfy their growing curiosity, as well as allowing for discussion-like settings, such as debates, so that they may practice their reasoning. As educators, it is important that we understand how our adolescent students are developing cognitively so that we may create a learning environment in which we teach to their needs.