Sakinah Mentorship For youth (coming soon)

How Body and Brain Development Affect Student Learning 

Executive Summary

During adolescence, the body and brain experience a variety of biological changes that make this period of human development a time of learning opportunity and risk for students. As the human brain prepares for adulthood, its development depends strongly on the learning environment provided during adolescence. Events and activities experienced during this developmental period prepare
the brain for situations and circumstances it presumes the adolescent will experience as an adult. Consequently, students in middle and high school need opportunities to develop deeper learning competencies, such as problem solving and critical thinking, and other higher-order thinking skills to support application of those skills later in life. Therefore, education leaders must ensure that learning
opportunities support the development of adolescents’ increasing cognitive capabilities and provide additional resources and services necessary to support learning and development of students during this period.

This report examines learning and development research that supports the Alliance for Excellent Education’s (All4Ed’s) Science of Adolescent Learning (SAL) Research Consensus Statements 1–5 (see page 3 for statements). The report highlights the following essential findings about adolescent learning and development:

1. While researchers once thought that early childhood was the only major period of brain plasticity, or adaptability, research now
shows that adolescence is a second period of increased brain plasticity, making adolescence a critical period for students and
educators.

2. The learning environment plays a significant role in brain development. As adolescents perform complex mental tasks, the neural networks that support those abilities strengthen, increasing their cognitive, emotion-regulation, and memory skills. Without opportunities to use these skills, those networks remain underdeveloped, making it challenging for individuals to engage in higher-
order thinking as adults.

3. During adolescence, individuals face an increased risk for certain health issues that can affect their behavior and ability to learn. This report also includes recommendations for how educators, policymakers, and advocates can apply adolescent learning and development research to policy and practice. By understanding the science behind student learning and development, education
leaders can support adolescent learning and development throughout the entirety of the education system, closing achievement and opportunity gaps. Additionally, policymakers and educators can ensure that continuous improvement efforts at the secondary school level are comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, and support adolescents’ academic, social, emotional, physical, and health
needs.

https://tdlc.ucsd.edu/global/images/Science-of-Adolescent-Learning-How-Body-and-Brain-Development-Affect-Student-Learning.pdf

Adolescents are commonly thought of as risk takers. However, adolescents often avoid social risk
taking, that is, the risk of being socially excluded by their peers. Here, we review evidence
showing that the negative effects of social exclusion and loneliness are particularly high during
adolescence, and that adolescents actively seek peer approval and avoid being excluded by peers.
Evidence suggests that social belonging is especially important during adolescence and, given that
social exclusion and loneliness have negative effects on adolescents’ immediate and longer-term
well-being, young people tend to be especially motivated to avoid social risk. We review evidence
that suggests that the motivation to avoid social risk might lead to heightened peer influence in
adolescence. Heightened peer influence can lead to a range of behaviours, from increased health
risk taking to prosocial and healthy behaviour, depending on peer norms, that is, the types of
behaviour endorsed by the peer group. The evidence reviewed suggests that adolescents are not
always risk takers, but are often motivated to avoid social risk taking.

http://tomova.scripts.mit.edu/tomova/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Tomova_DevelopmentalReview_2021.pdf

Youth’s neurodevelopment (e.g., neural function and structure), which is shaped by

culturally rooted practices, further plays a key role in their behavioral and psychological

adjustment. Such processes are important because the purpose of studying youth’s brain

development in cross-cultural settings is not just to document how brain development varies in

different cultures, but also to examine how the neural underpinnings serve as a mechanism that

subsequently contributes to differences in youth’s adjustment. Without understanding brain-

behavior associations, the mean differences in neural activation between cultural groups is less

meaningful. Therefore, it is critical to link culturally shaped neural activity with youth’s real-life

functioning, such as learning, school engagement, risk-taking behavior, and emotional well-

being.

Guided by this framework, prior research investigated how culturally shaped neural

processes among Latin American adolescents plays a role in their adjustment. For example, Latin

American adolescents who report greater family obligation values show decreased activation in

reward-related regions during risk taking and increased activation in cognitive control-related

regions during behavioral inhibition (Telzer, Fuligni et al., 2013a). Importantly, the decreased

reward activation is related to less real-life risk-taking behavior and increased cognitive control

activation is related to better decision-making skills. Moreover, longitudinal research suggests

that Latin American adolescents’ mesolimbic reward activation when contributing to their family

predicts longitudinal changes in their risk-taking behavior (Telzer, Fuligni et al., 2013b). Taken

together, these findings suggest that family obligation – one key aspect of collectivistic values –

guides adolescents to put the needs of their family before their own, influencing activation in

neural regions involved in reward sensitivity and cognitive control, and such culturally shaped

neural processes may help adolescents make optimal decisions and avoid engagement in risk

taking in their everyday lives.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691620931461

SOME KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Psychoeducation: Greater investment in culturally appropriate education around mental
health problems among the SA population would reduce the prevalent stigma surround-
ing mental health conditions within this community. Mental health professionals of all
backgrounds also need culturally-appropriate awareness and education.

Integration of Culturally Appropriate Mental Health Support: SA participants reported
seeing spiritual and religious advisors and healers for their mental health problems. These
support systems should be acknowledged and integrated into current pathways to care.

https://www.camh.ca/-/media/files/cacbt-for-south-asians-report-eng.pdf