Everyone knows that teens have a larger appetite for quick rewards than either adults or children.  But up until now scientists have been uncertain about whether this tendency had any beneficial impact. Some have argued, in fact, that this propensity is maladaptive insofar as adolescents’ engage in risky behavior (e.g. joyrides, drugs, sex) to get...Read More

A new study reported on in the journal Psychological Science reports that high school students who were given a simple reading and writing exercise at the beginning of the school year designed to communicate the idea that social traits are not fixed but can change over time, were better able to meet stressful situations than...Read More

Here is a link to an interview I did with Rod Berger on edCircuit about how we need to pay attention to recent research on adolescent brain development as we reform our secondary schools. It is based on my new book The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students. Share...Read More

This is part 3 of a video series based on my book The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students.  You can watch the video, or if you’re more of a reader, I’ve included a transcript of the video below.  To see the entire 12-part video series I did...Read More

I’m starting a new video series based upon my book The Power of the Adolescent Brain: Strategies for Teaching Middle and High School Students (ASCD).  This is the first video, entitled ”The Passion and Promise of the Teenage Years.”  For those of you who prefer to read a transcript rather than watch the video, I’ve...Read More