Marvel
at the neuroscientific reasons why smart teens make dumb decisions!
Behold
the mind-controlling power of executive function!
Thrill
to a vision of a better school for the teenage brain!
Whether you're a parent interacting with one adolescent or a teacher interacting with many, you know teens can be hard to parent and even harder to teach. The eye-rolling, the moodiness, the wandering attention, the
drama
. It's not you, it's them. More specifically, it's their brains.
In accessible language and with periodic references to
Star Trek
, motorcycle daredevils, and near-classic movies of the '80s, developmental molecular biologist John Medina, author of the
New York Times
best-seller
Brain Rules
, explores the neurological and evolutionary factors that drive teenage behavior and can affect both achievement and engagement. Then he proposes a research-supported counterattack: a bold redesign of educational practices and learning environments to deliberately develop teens' cognitive capacity to manage their emotions, plan, prioritize, and focus.
Attack of the Teenage Brain!
is an enlightening and entertaining read that will change the way you think about teen behavior and prompt you to consider how else parents, educators, and policymakers might collaborate to help our challenging, sometimes infuriating, often weird, and genuinely wonderful kids become more successful learners, in school and beyond.