ADOLESCENTS – Cognitive Development

 Kayla is a Year 7 student who is physically more mature than her peers
 Excels in sports and visual arts at school
 Liked maths and science, but complains of forgetting content and not being able to keep up
 Students have said that she can be withdrawn and doesn’t share personal information
 Staff members have mentioned that she sometimes doesn’t show up for class
 You notice that she has difficulties with peers of her own age and hangs around with older students who
have been previously reprimanded for using illicit drugs
 She has a supportive home environment however her parents have very limited English language skills, and
are struggling financially
 She has said to you that she actually wants to do well at school and hopefully do visual arts at university, but
just needs more help.

The cognitive development of Kayla during adolescence is paramount to her development towards adulthood.
Choudhury, Blakemore and Charman (2006), state that the impacts of social relationships are incredibly important
during adolescence; moreover, the brain is subject to considerable structural development. Recent research on brain
development shows that during adolescence, synaptic pruning takes place, leading to more efficient but less flexible
cognitive functioning. In reference to Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development, Kayla may not have progressed from
the concrete operation stage towards the formal operation stage yet. Furthermore, Kayla’s cerebellum may not have
started to grow to its full potential, reducing her cognitive abilities. When these two details are coupled together, this
would be the reason she has started to struggle in maths and science; Kayla is currently incapable of thinking logically
and abstractly, and struggles with multiple variables.

Through the social process of Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, it is important to understand that Kayla learns about
the world through her interactions with the older students she hangs around with. These older students have been
previously reprimanded for illicit drug use – these interactions would negatively impact her development, therefore it
is crucial to find a way to counter these interactions. Lastly, Kayla has mentioned that she would like to do well at
school, but just needs more help. This comment links straight towards Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development; the
distance between what a student can and can’t do without instruction (Verenikina, 2008). Kayla will learn best if the
teaching she is provided with is near the top of the zone of proximal development. A strategy to help Kayla achieve to
her full ability is where teachers implement scaffolding; a metaphor where teachers give Kayla more help to start
with, but gradually decreasing the assistance when she improves, so Kayla can become more competent. This
technique has been studied in multiple learning areas by Hammond (2001), and has been shown to enhance
student’s learning.

References

Choudhury, S., Blakemore, S. and Charman, T. (2006). Social cognitive development during adolescence. Social
Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 1(3), pp.165-174.

Hammond, J. (2001). Scaffolding. 1st ed. Newtown, N.S.W.: PETA.

Verenikina, I. (2008). Scaffolding and Learning: Its Role in Nurturing New Learners. In: P. Kell, W. Vialle, D. Konza and
G. Vogl, ed., Learning and the Learner: Exploring Learning for New Times, 1st ed. University of Wollongong,
p.236.