Senior Project

Teenagers are subject to all kinds of changes from the onset of puberty to the beginnings of adulthood, from physical growth to mental development. This has held true since the early days of humanity, but new players have been added to complicate these developments, most notably are schools. It is necessary to understand why certain parts of high school affect teenagers because it would allow for the improvement of the education system. To do this, one must understand how the teenage brain works as well as analyze the culture of high school. The first step to understanding why the teenage brain is affected by school in the way that is is to actually understand how the teenage brain works in general and the effects of this construction. The adolescent brain development reveals much of how the teenage brain works, and shows how the genders differ at certain points of development. It is also necessary to examine the causes and reactions that teenagers have when going through different emotions. A large part of understanding how the adolescent brain works is knowing how the brain doesn’t work when compared to an adult brain. Another part of figuring out the teenage brain is knowing the solutions to the aforementioned problems.
The start of puberty causes a flood of changes to take place throughout the brains and bodies of children in order to transition them into adults. Such changes include an overproduction of neurons, dendrites, and synapses and the development of the prefrontal cortex. (http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ981198.pdf) These changes also proceed at different rates, as boys are able to process their motor and sensory functions earlier than girls and girls are able to better control their impulses and create long-term plans earlier than boys. However, impulse control and long-term planning are still amongst the latest developing skills in the