Educating for Diversity

Description

Teenagers, Youth, Young People, Adolescents, Pubescents, and Whippersnappers: While the names may change, the developmental period marked on one end by the physical changes associated with puberty and on the other end by the assumption of adult roles and responsibilities is increasingly recognised as one of the key developmental transition periods filled with both opportunity and risk. While the hormonal changes have long been recognised, new research has documented significant neurological changes (that often don’t coincide with one another), and when combined with societal opportunities, expectations, and challenges provides the potential for developmental plasticity or entrenchment, resilience or deviance, and well-being or psychopathology. In EDUC302, we will explore theory and research that specifically focuses on the period of adolescence and consider some of the research methods that have helped to uncover the complexities in human development during the ‘teen’ years.