Action Research Report: Why do

Teeneagers Behave Like They Do?

Rationale / Issue
At SBS this year, one class has stood out from all the
others for their bad behaviour, lack of academic
performance, and general low motivation: M. 4C.

Investigative Process - Why do Teeneagers

Behave Like They Do?
Parents and teachers are often confused by a lot of
adolescent behaviour. Understanding the specific parts of the brain that develop during human
adolescence explains a lot of adolescent behaviour. When a specific part of the brain is still under
construction, it doesnt work the same way as it does in a mature, adult brain.
The PRE-FRONTAL CORTEX is the executive center of the brain. Its job is to think ahead about
consequences and to plan. In an adult brain, the pre-frontal cortex helps control impulses coming
from other parts of the brain. The hormones that surge through the adolescent brain, however, cause
adventure and thrill-seeking behaviour.
Bottomline: Adolescents do not have the ability to control impulses, and understand cause and
effect in the same way that is possible in a mature adult brain.

Does this explain M. 4C?

Not entirely.
M. 4C is dominated by boys. Could this have something to do with it?
At about the age of twelve, boys go into their rooms, close the door, and turn up the stereo. They
come out six years later. Even when teenage are physically present, they themselves are somewhere
else.
The problem is boys have more difficulty dealing with sexuality than girls. They dont really know
how to handle it and it is something they definitely do not feel comfortable sharing with parents.
The best solution most boys come up with is to just disappear, until they work it all out themselves.
Boys have less trouble relating to their fathers because their overwhelming sexual feelings dont get
involved. When a teenage boy is home, all he wants is peace and tranquility. No, he does not want
to clean up his room and he certainly does not want to take out the garbage. In this regard, parents
become a new source of aggravation.
Girls also have the new feelings of sexuality, but they
react to these feelings in a completely different way.
Boys disappear, girls do not.
Girls are more used to dealing with their emotions,
which means they are better able to handle the emotional
ups and downs. For the most part, boys would rather
just run away from it all.

Other Issues
Giving in to Peer Pressure:
Adding friends to the mix makes it even harder for teens. The brains of adults and teens react very
differently to the presence of friends when making a decision. Teens who would not take risks when
alone or with an adult were far more likely to take risks when their friends were watching. The
reward centre of the teen brain becomes much more active in the company of their peers.
Lack of Concentration:
While teens may look more like adults than kids, actually they resemble teenagers with the brains of
children. Thats because their brains are rearranging themselves in a way that temporarily makes
themt act the same way they did when they were younger. Teenagers often become distracted during
tasks as their brains try to take in and process everything going on around them, literally
overloading them. The more streamlined adult brain works more efficiently, making concentrating
on one thing much easier.
Getting Dumber:
Parents of teens often wonder what happened to the bright child they used to have. How can
someone go from getting A's to getting C's when they seem to be doing the same amount of work?
Once again, changes in the brain are to blame. It turns out IQ can fluctuate widely in adolescence.
Logically, why should your brain waste energy remembering things that arent very necessary to
your day to day life? Its one of the reasons that younger children can learn a second language much
faster than adults; they have more synapses to store that information. And if they keep speaking that
second language often enough, they will remember it the rest of their lives.
But if there is a subject they didnt concentrate so hard on, like maths, suddenly they start forgetting
things they used to know because the brain is deleting that information.

Conclusion
From a teachers point of view, M. 4C are challenging and if any learning goes on whatsoever, then
that class can be called successful.
It is hard to be sympathetic towards moody, rude, lazy, and unmotivated teenagers like M. 4C, but
we do need to spare a thought to the difficult job the brain has of re-arranging and reconstructing
itself. It can take a long time. It can take years for emotions to start performing, and that accounts
for a lot of confusion about feelings, relationships and authority felt by all teenagers.
Parents and teachers must be the mature substitute. Clearly stated rules and discipline will help keep
an adolescents behaviour from becoming destructive, and only into the mid-twenties can we see
things like:
Mature judgment
Seeing into the future
Seeing how their behaviour can effect their future
Associating cause and effect
Moral intelligence
Abstract thinking

Seeing what is not obvious

Planning and decision-making
Rational behaviour and decision-making
Understanding rules of social conduct
Children love their parents. They also need and desire the love of their parents. Parents must make
sure they tell them verbally and communicate it physically. Parents and teachers too need to be in a
place where they can be easily found, but not in a way where your presence oppresses them. This
way, you can be there to relate, guide, and reassure them when they need it.
Adolescence begins at puberty and endssometime.
Mr. Colin Bradbury
Head of ICT