PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia educators are exploring the science of how teenagers' brains operate, in an effort to design more effective school programs.
Rather than being immature, the adolescent brain actually has a unique ability to acquire information, said UCLA psychology professor Andrew Fuligni. "Adolescents are remarkably good at exploring the world and learning from mistakes," Fuligni told KYW Newsradio. "When we are adolescents, we're going to take risks. We're going to do it because that's what we're designed to do."
Teenagers have higher levels of dopamine than adults, Fuligni explained, allowing them to learn from their mistakes. "It enables us to go out there to learn, to take risks, to figure out things," he said. "[They] do it far better than younger children and far better than you and me as adults."
"We need to give adolescents opportunities that they can take risks so that they can learn and not hurt themselves or the community around them," he continued.
Fuligni spoke to Philadelphia teachers and administrators Wednesday at a Center City forum entitled "Making (Brain) Waves" hosted by the nonprofit Philadelphia Learning Collaborative, which promotes experiential learning in city schools.
Project-based learning provides an environment for students to take risks, such as visiting a business to see how it operates. "Imagine a high school student going on a work site and figuring out how to be in that space," PLC executive director and Philadelphia School Board member Crystal Cubbage told KYW Newsradio. "All of the executive functioning that comes with that -- opening themselves to maybe not knowing, and getting direction from someone that's new to them."
The challenge for schools, she said, is to help students take risks by providing more real-world learning opportunities.
"We need to be even better at approaching students in a way that really leads to their blossoming and blooming," Cubbage said.