By David Robson
6th September 2022

Our brain changes hugely during adolescence. New research shows how we can use this transformation to help teens achieve their potential.

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It is only within the past two decades or so that scientists have been able to chart the neural changes across this core period of development, and decode the mysteries of the teenage brain.

These exciting new insights not only help explain why teens feel and act the way they do. They also show that some of the traits that adults tend to find difficult or baffling in teenagers can be turned into a strength, and used to acquire skills and insights at a time when the brain is still malleable.

After all, adolescence is also a time of various cognitive leaps. Teens are building on the basics they had learnt as young children to develop sophisticated and mature ways of thinking, including more abstract reasoning and a more nuanced "theory of mind".

"Fifty years ago, in schools, it would not have been seen as necessary for students to know about puberty," John Coleman, a clinical psychologist and author of The Teacher and the Teenage Brain. "And I think in 20 or 30 years, we'll be asking why we weren't helping students to understand what's going on in their brains. It can make a real difference."

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