Child and Adolescent Brain Development: Concepts and Applications in Education

This essay discusses the concepts of child and adolescent brain development, including the use or lose it principle, peer influence, and mismatch in maturation rates. It also explores the applications of these concepts in the education setting. Subject: Health Science

Running head: HEALTH SCIENCE 1
Health Science
Name
Institution

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Child and Adolescent Brain
Introduction
The brain of a child develops rapidly between the ages of 3-5 years. By the time a child
gets to 9 years, all the building blocks and structures are present. Over time, the different rain
centers develop and become functionally connected. The prefrontal lobe is the last part to mature
and it happens during adolescence. It is important to note that a mismatch in the development of
the brain networks exposes the adolescents to various risky behaviors (Anderson, 2010).
Notably, though, the mismatch allows for leaps in adaptability and cognition. Contrary to other
reports, recent studies have revealed that the teenage brain is not simply an old child’s brain or
an underdeveloped adult brain. The teenage brain can be described as a unique entity
characterized by an increasing level of networking among the regions of the brain. The brain of
teenagers, through evolution, has been forged to function differently from that of an adult or a
child (Anderson, 2010). In this essay, we will talk about three concepts about the child and
adolescent brain. Additionally, we will apply these concepts in the education setting.
Mismatch in Maturation Rates
There is always a mismatch in the maturation of a teen’s brain. This mismatch happens in
such a way that the limbic system which is responsible for emotions intensifies at puberty. The
prefrontal lobe, on the other hand, which controls the impulses, matures in the early 20s (Giedd,
2015). This mismatch in maturation makes the teenagers take more risks as well as enabling
them to readily adapt to their surroundings. The fact that the limbic system starts developing at
the onset of puberty between 10-12 years and matures over the next years while the prefrontal

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cortex that is responsible for control starts developing approximately a decade later makes the
teenagers prone to risk-taking.
Normally, the limbic system that is usually hormone fuelled undergoes dramatic during
puberty that is known to begin at around the age of 10 and 12. This system interacts with the
prefrontal lobe during adolescence to encourage risk taking, novelty seeking, and a shift towards
the interaction with peers. As a result, the teens separate from the comfort of their families to
seek new relationships and explore new environments (Mills, Goddings, Clasen, Giedd &
Blakemore, 2014). It is, however, important to note that when mixed with the modern
temptations of substance abuse, possession of firearms, and high-speed motor vehicles, these
behaviors can pose a significant threat to the teenagers.
This concept of mismatch in the maturation of the brain can be applied in the education
setting in several ways. Firstly, the imbalanced brain development of the limbic versus the
cognitive control regions tends to suggest that the teenagers who are still experiencing
adolescence may be resistant to information about risks. Studies have revealed that the
adolescents are normally responsive to the harms and risks that are associated with some of their
behaviors (Steinberg, 2010). They tend to learn about the harms of drug use through various
channels that may include school-based education and parental influence. The adolescent brain is
thus sensitive to the adverse consequences of risk-taking.
Secondly, during adolescence, the students are very responsive and can easily learn from
negative feedback which may further impact on their education. Recent pieces of research have
provided links between cognitive abilities of adolescents and school performance. An example is
an association between the working memory performance and its neural correlates with a

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student’s arithmetic skills (Steinberg, 2010). Additionally, an improvement in one’s
understanding of complex relations normally supports the learning of math. Thirdly, the
educators can challenge the brain of these adolescents with tasks such as the critical evaluation
of expanse data and contents synthesis and the application of this synthesis into real-world
problems (Tang, 2016). This is aimed at training the plasticity of the brain in the current age of
digital systems.
Peer Influence
There is a time known as the period of social reorientation where an individual
experiences the transition between childhood and adolescence. During this period, the adolescent
will be spending more of their time with peers compared to their families. This theory has been
proven to be the basis where many studies regarding cognitive neuroscience are founded
(Blakemore, Burnett & Dahl, 2010). As a matter of fact, pieces of evidence have revealed that
the time spent with the family reduces by almost half between the ages of 9 to 15 years. In
females particularly, the time spent with peers was found to increase between the above-stated
age set.
On conformity, peer influence is said to show a curvilinear pattern between early
childhood and late adolescence. This can be exemplified by the influence of popularity ranking
of a particular song on the adolescents. In a research carried on adolescents, a functional
magnetic resonance imaging task was carried out where teenagers listened and rated the
likeability of a song before and after receiving its popularity ranking (Albert, Chein & Steinberg,
2013). There was a clear change in the evaluation of a song depending on its popularity among

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the teenagers. Additionally, peer influence affected the involvement of adolescents in driving
games.
Studies have also revealed that peer influence is a major contributing factor in the
involvement of the adolescents in heightened habits of making risky decisions (Blakemore et al.,
2010). Taking an example of the crime statistics, many adolescents engage in acts of delinquency
in peer groups where an association with deliquescent peers is a contributing factor. This
concept can be applied in the education setting in several ways that we will discuss in the
following paragraphs.
Firstly, it is important to note that the academic achievements of a student are directly
related to the level of peer engagement. For examples, when the levels of engagement are high,
students tend to have better academic performances. Several studies have shown that peers have
an influence on the school adjustment of fellow adolescent peers (Breiner et al., 2018). Schools
should, therefore, attempt to encourage peer engagement to improve performances. Secondly,
schools can apply formal peer tutoring to enhance the research on effects of peers within the
classroom. There are several pieces of evidence that reveal the extent to which peer relationship
can influence learning outcomes. Studies indicate that peers will tend to associate with peers
with high levels learning outcomes (Peper & Dahl, 2013). Thirdly, contrary to the belief that peer
influence only leads to engagement in unhealthy behaviors, reports have shown that it can also
motivate the youths to apply more effort in their academic studies in addition to sports
participation and other productive endeavors. It is thus important to treat peer influence
especially one that may cause antisocial behavior, as an educational related professional issue
(Silva, Chein & Steinberg, 2016). This will ensure that the peers associate to study and improve
one another academically and in terms of other activities such as sports.

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The Use or Lose it Principle
This concept is a principle of brain plasticity that suggests that the human brain changes
physically, chemically, and functionally every time an individual acquires any skills or ability.
An adolescent will be well aware of this instinctively and the result is that the brain machinery is
getting remodeled by practicing the acquired skill (Kolb & Gibb, 2011). The physical variations
in the brain will thus account for an individual’s learning. The design of the brain, as is reported
by several studies is such that it is constructed to be stimulated and challenged. This helps in
carefully resolving and interpreting the environment (Shors, Anderson, Curlik & Nokia, 2012).
This concept of the use or lose principle can be applied in the education setting in several ways,
some of which will be discussed below.
Firstly, it is important to educate the adolescents on the importance of the seriousness of
purpose as a factor that helps in preventing brain degeneration. A task that one engages in must
be important to them to help in improving the functionality of the brain and counter degeneration
(Shors et al., 2012). The act of memorizing unimportant items does not stimulate the brain to
make new connections. Secondly, it could be important if an educator continuously adjusts the
difficulty level of a task for each and every student. This ensures that each of the learners is at a
stage where they can get most things correct but leaving a room for error. It is important to note
that the machinery turns to change the brain only when the task at hand is demanding (Shors et
al., 2012). Finally, the learners should be encouraged to pay attention to their bodies. This
implies that an adolescent is trained to move in a variable and controlled way. Additionally, they
can be advised to pick a specific refinement tool that they can work on, on a daily basis.
Conclusion

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Brain development in a child occurs between 3-5 years, and by the time the child is 9
years old, all the building blocks of the brain are present. The adolescent brain has been forged
through evolution to function differently from that of an adult or a child. There are several
concepts that relate to the group of child and adolescent brain. Some of these concepts include
the use or lose it principle, peer influence, and a mismatch in the maturation of the brain. It is
important to understand these concepts and their applications in the education setting, to clearly
understand how the brain of a child and an adolescent develops.

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References
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