Sara Tinney

This topic was based upon Adolescence: Canadian Edition chapter one (McMahn & Thompson, 2015, pp. 3-33), which introduced the book along with the major themes and concepts used to discuss the material. The flex-learning and in-class discussion centered on defining and understanding adolescence, although, the definition of adolescence changes depending on multiple factors (i.e. biological, social, economic, legal and more) (p.7). Based on my flex-learning and in-class discussion I feel that intellectual development is the most defining characteristic of adolescence.

 

Jean Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development argues that the structures supporting thought change as people actively construct understandings, creating the sequential four stages (p.27). As adolescents gain abstract and hypothetical reasoning they transition to the last stage, from concrete operations to formal operations. People do not exist in a vacuum, so the transition to formal operations means that the ways in which adolescents interpret, respond to and engage with social environments also changes. Social cognitive theory focuses specifically on how social environments influence the thoughts and actions of individuals (p. 29). An individual in the concrete operations stage is just beginning to think about how each individual might think and feel differently from others. An individual in the formal operations stage is beginning to think abstractly/hypothetically, use deductive reasoning, problem solve (using the scientific method), and engage in metacognitive thinking.  

 

The intellectual development of adolescent students directly influences the way I will teach. The social environment that I create in the classroom must be a safe space that supports students in developing the skills of the formal operational stage. Each student must be supported based on their individual skills and needs. Vygotsky’s theory suggests using scaffolding that keeps learning tasks within an individual’s zone of proximal development (ZPD). This means that each student receives support in a way that allows them to work towards and reach their own goals.