Adolescent Development Saba Siddiqui EDHD 5007 August 17, 2004

Table of Contents Cognitive Development Social Development References About the Author PowerPoint Questions

Cognitive Development Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive DevelopmentPiaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Parent-Child Relationship Critical Thinking Intelligence Testing

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Concrete operational stage – (Elementary and early adolescence) – During this stage, children can use symbols to represent other things. They can also manipulate these symbols logically. Source: (1) Formal operational stage – (Adolescence and adulthood) – During this stage, adolescents can think logically and abstractly and reason theoretically. This is the highest stage of cognitive development and is only achieved by 35% of high school graduates. Source: (1 and 2)

Parent-Child Relationship It is normal for conflict between parents and children to increase while children are going through adolescence. Most conflicts relate to “chores, finances, appearances, substance abuse, family relations, school, curfew, dating, friends, and sexual behavior.” Source: (1) Many conflicts arise during adolescents because children are beginning to develop their true identity and beginning to realize that their parents are not always right. Source: (1) These conflicts are a natural part of development and do not threaten the relationship between the parent and the child. Source: (1)

Critical Thinking During adolescence, children gain a greater ability to think critically. Critical thinking refers to “thinking that involves not merely memorizing information but analyzing it, making judgments about what it means, relating it to other information, and considering ways in which it might be valid or invalid.” Source: (3) Small classes and a classroom environment that promotes discussion between the students and the teacher would further the ability to think critically. Source: (3)

Intelligence Testing Intelligence tests are helpful in looking at cognitive development. Two of the most widely used intelligence tests are known as the Stanford-Binet and the Wechsler scales. Source: (3) Performance on IQ tests are often stable over time. This means that someone who scores above average as a child will more than likely score above average as an adult. Source: (3) Differences in IQ scores between various races are due to cultural and social class differences and not genetics. Source: (3)

Social Development Dating Peer Groups Time Allocation Parent-Child Relationship

Dating Most girls begin to date around 12 or 13 years old and boys usually begin to date a year or two later. Dating partners change frequently during adolescence. Source: (4) Dating helps adolescents to “develop intimacy, the ability to love, care and be close to another.” Source: (1) Adolescent girls who do not date usually have “delayed social skills, have an excessive dependency on their parents, and have feelings of insecurity.” Source: (1) Adolescents who date often are usually more popular and accepted by friends. They also have a higher self esteem. Source: (1)

Peer Groups During adolescence, children give more importance to peers than family. Source: (5) Most peer groups are made up of individuals of the same sex during early adolescence and gradually begin to include both sexes. Source: (5) Adolescents feel a great need to be accepted by their peers. Source: (5) As adolescents mature, they are more able to accept individual differences. Source: (5) Peer groups provide adolescents with “emotional support, information, and advice, and an increased self esteem.” Source: (1) Friends’ influence can help to discourage risk behaviors as well as encourage risk behaviors. Source: (3)

Time Allocation Adolescents spend 15% of their time with adults and parent, 23% of their time at school, and 29% of their time doing leisure activities. Source: (1) Girls spend more leisure time at home than do boys. Source: (1) Adolescents spend most of their leisure time with their friends rather than family. Source: (3) Most leisure time is spent with friends because they “understand one another and share similar beliefs and interests.” Source: (1) Adolescents watch an average of three to four hours of television per day. Source: (6)

Parent-Child Relationship During adolescence, “children [admire, love, and appreciate, and often turn to parents for advice].” Source: (1) There is an increase in conflict between children and parents during early and middle adolescence. Source: (5) Most conflicts between adolescents and their parents revolve around the ideas of independence, “school, work, chores, friends, dating, and curfews.” Source: (1) Adolescents spend an average of 28 minutes per day with parents and 103 minutes per day with friends. Source: (3) Adolescents turn to parents for advice on educational and occupational advice and they turn to friends for more personal matters. Source: (3)

References 1) 2) 3)Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach. Prentice Hall ) 5) 6) 7)Steinberg, Laurence. Adolescence (Sixth Edition). McGraw-Hill )

About the Author My name is Saba Siddiqui, and I attend the University of Minnesota. I am an elementary education major and plan on graduating next semester. I can not wait to get into the classroom.

PowerPoint Questions 1) How do you believe you will use this technology in your classroom? Why? Click Here for answer to question #1.Click Here 2) How do you believe your students could use the technology to have meaningful learning? Click Here for answer to question #2.Click Here

1) How do you believe you, as the teacher, will use this technology in your classroom? Why? I will use this technology in the classroom in many ways. I could use it as a way to transfer information to the students, or I could use it to assess the students in what they have learned. Since the students usually like using the computer, I could ask them to work in a group and put together a PowerPoint presentation to share with the class. This would allow the students to use their creativity to show me and the rest of the class what they have learned. The only down side that I see with PowerPoint is that many teachers incorporate too much information into each slide. This leads them to move too quickly, and the students do not get the opportunity to fully grasp the information. However, I think the pros greatly outweigh the cons.

2) How do you believe your students could use the technology to have meaningful learning? I think the students could use this technology to have meaningful learning experiences because it engages them “in active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative learning". Some PowerPoint presentations require students to be active because they must click on links and buttons in order to navigate through the presentation. On the other hand, PowerPoint presentations can also turn students into passive learners by simply feeding them information. In this scenario, students would not be having meaningful learning experiences. PowerPoint presentations require students to be constructive by making them work in groups to construct a meaningful project. This technology requires students to condense what they have learned in order to effectively put together a slideshow. While students work in groups, they will get the opportunity to share ideas and gain a deeper understanding of the material. This technology helps to make learning intentional by providing the students with a specific goal that they need to accomplish. Since the goal of preparing a PowerPoint presentation is very broad, this allows them with the freedom to create something that is meaningful to them. This will help the students connect the new knowledge that they have gained to their previous knowledge. PowerPoint presentations help to make learning authentic by allowing students to incorporate real world ideas. PowerPoint enables students to include their personal pictures into their presentations. Students are able to build a presentation that represents their life. They are also able to personalize the presentations so that they represent their individual personality. This technology promotes cooperation among students because most PowerPoint presentations are put together by groups of students. Most of the time, teachers allow students to collaborate and share their ideas before building a presentation. This collaboration allows the students to further their understanding of the concepts as well as practice using their social skills. Overall, I think PowerPoint is a great tool to use in the classroom.