Characteristics of the Young Adolescent Learner

Every now and then, seventh-grade social studies teacher, Mr.

Oakes, stands back and takes a look at what’s going on in his class-
room. Today, in pairs or small groups, his students are working on
projects. Sarah and James are poring over a stack of books from
the library, writing notes on index cards. Shonese draws detailed
illustrations, while Tony designs charts and graphs on the com-
puter. Pedro is bouncing his pencil eraser on his desk and tapping
his foot against the chair leg. Mr. Oakes knows this helps Pedro to
stay focused on his reading. Clara is so excited about explaining
her ideas to her partner that she’s twirling around her braid of
hair as if it were a propeller. Megan is staring out the window,
watching the traffic move along the busy street that borders the
school. Mr. Oakes doesn’t call her back to work quite yet. He knows
Megan needs this dream time to relax and allow her ideas to perco-
late. At the back of the classroom, good friends Percy and David are
laughing and fooling around. He remembers their huge disagree-
ment from yesterday and knows that neither can accomplish any
work until the friendship is reestablished. Slowly, he heads to the
back of the room, knowing that his presence alone will remind
them to get back to work. Mr. Oakes notices that Mariela is finally
engaged in her group’s project. It took the stack of letters written by
seniors at the senior center about her project to capture her imagi-
nation and inspire her research. “These kids are working hard,”
Mr. Oakes thinks. Only a middle school teacher would recognize
that amid all these varied activities, real learning is taking place.

Turning Points Transforming Middle Schools 7

Understanding the breadth and Young adolescents are a wondrous group. Eager to learn, full of
variety of young adolescents’ energy, curious, ready for adventure, sociable, disarmingly honest,
developmental characteristics and ready to solve the problems of the world—this group of stu-
can only help teachers teach dents can be both a delight and a challenge for teachers to motivate,
and students learn. hold their attention, and channel their enthusiasm and energy into
real learning. Young adolescents draw on a wide range of experi-
ences when they come to school. Helping students to use their
strengths in the classroom to achieve valuable learning is every
teacher’s challenge. Knowledge of how widely young adolescents’
developmental experiences vary and what some of these varying
characteristics are can only help teachers teach and students learn.

Between the ages of ten and fourteen, the young adolescent grows
and develops more rapidly than during any other developmental stage
except for infancy. Even then, “infants are not the conscious wit-
nesses of their development as are young adolescents” (National
Middle School Association, 1995). This means that adolescents have
an acute, sometimes painful, self-awareness of their growing process.
These changes, then, have enormous implications for learning.

Adolescents grow at a rapid pace, and they grow erratically in fits

and starts, as well as unevenly across the different areas of develop-
ment. So, while a fourteen-year-old boy may seem physically mature,
he may be quite young socially or emotionally. Similarly, while cogni-
tive skills expand during early adolescence, the “growth of these
abilities is inconsistent, variable and situation-specific” (Scales, 1996,
24). For example, although in social studies class a student might do
well imagining what society would be like if only wealthy, White
males could vote, in a real life situation this same student might not
be able to imagine the ramifications of making poor choices in taking
care of his or her own health.

Understanding five key areas of young adolescent development can

provide a strong foundation for meeting the needs of these learners.
The National Middle School Association (1995) identifies these
important areas as:

Intellectual: Young adolescent learners are curious, motivated to

achieve when challenged, and capable of critical and complex
thinking.

Social: Young adolescent learners have an intense need to belong

8 At the Turning Point: The Young Adolescent Learner -- EXCERPT -- Complete Guide available from www.turningpts.org
and be accepted by their peers while finding their own place in the
world. They are engaged in forming and questioning their identities
on many different levels.

Physical: Young adolescent learners mature at varying rates and go

through rapid and irregular physical growth, with bodily changes
that can cause awkward and uncoordinated movements.

Emotional and Psychological: Young adolescent learners are vulnera-

ble and self-conscious, and often experience unpredictable mood
swings.

Moral: With their new sense of the larger world around them, young
adolescent learners are idealistic and want to have an impact on
making the world a better place.

Intellectual Development
While the intellectual growth of young adolescents differs from indi- The transition from concrete to
vidual to individual, in general this age is characterized by a transi- abstract thinking does not
tion from concrete thinking to abstract thinking. Young adolescents always take place in an orderly
are developing the ability to analyze their own and others’ thinking, or predictable manner.
and to think about abstract ideas such as justice or equality. They
are making the transition from thinking logically about real life
experiences to reflecting on and reasoning about abstract concepts
and ideas.

This transition, however, does not always take place in an orderly or

predictable manner. The same student who in the morning can
explain the motivation of a character in a novel cannot be convinced
in the afternoon that two differently shaped containers are holding
equal amounts of water. The same student who volunteers to serve
food to HIV-infected children at a community center is at risk for
making irresponsible decisions about his or her own sexual behavior.
Some students can visualize and solve math problems in their heads,
while others need to manipulate objects or draw diagrams to help
them come to a solution.

The intellectual focus of the young adolescent is not primarily on

academic matters, but rather on the self in relation to these topics.
“Why does this matter to me?” “How can I help or influence this sit-
uation?” “How good will I be at this?” “What are others doing and

Turning Points Transforming Middle Schools 9

 thinking?” “What will they think of me?” These are all questions
that a young person might ask while engaging in intellectual pursuits.
To teachers, such questions might seem a diversion from the pursuit
of knowledge. In fact, posing these questions ultimately assists the
learning process of the young adolescent.

CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT INTELLECTUAL

DEVELOPMENT INCLUDE:

Moving from concrete to abstract thinking

An intense curiosity and wide range of intellectual pursuits, few of which are sus-
tained over the long term

High achievement when challenged and engaged

Preferences for active over passive learning experiences

Interest in interacting with peers during learning activities

An ability to be self-reflective

HOW TEACHERS CAN SUPPORT THE INTELLECTUAL

DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT STUDENTS:

Differentiate instruction.

Focus on complex thinking skills that ask students to apply their

knowledge and skill to worthwhile tasks.

Ask students to make choices and pursue their own interests.

Provide cooperative learning opportunities, one-on-one feedback,

and time for personal reflection.

10 At the Turning Point: The Young Adolescent Learner -- EXCERPT -- Complete Guide available from www.turningpts.org
Have regular student-teacher conferences.

Provide opportunities for individual projects such as Expert Studies

and I-Search papers.

Social Development
If young adolescents seem egocentric and overly concerned with
what others think of them, it’s because they are! This is the develop-
mental work of the young adolescent. Needing to belong to the peer
group is probably the strongest single characteristic of early adoles-
cence. Young adolescents are becoming aware of the larger world
around them for the first time. They are beginning to consider them-
selves as individuals outside of their families. A strong sense of
group identity and acceptance by one’s peers can have an overriding
effect on all other aspects of the young adolescent’s development.

Who am I? How do I fit in? What does everyone think about me? Acceptance by one’s peers is
are questions constantly running through young adolescents’ heads probably the strongest social
as they experiment with their new independence and develop strong impetus of the young adolescent.
relationships with their peers— all the while avoiding embarrass-
ment and self-exposure at any cost. It’s no wonder, then, that social
and emotional concerns often block out academic issues. The young
adolescent’s primary lens is that of social interaction: finding one’s
place in the social context. This is the lens through which much
learning occurs in early adolescence. As the world of young adoles-
cents expands and they begin to develop their own beliefs, attitudes,
and values, the media, adults outside the family, and peers influence
their decisions more and more. These conflicting influences often
contribute to intense feelings of vulnerability, confusion, rebellious-
ness, and insecurity. As young adolescents strive to figure out how
the world works and what their role in it is, sometimes they experi-
ment with attention-getting behaviors. Learning how people respond
to their actions, both positive and negative, is a challenging part of
growing up. For students who are different from the dominant
group— in terms of race, ethnicity, primary language, class, sexual
orientation, or gender— the challenge is that much greater.

African-American students and students of other racial and ethnic

groups often begin to explore questions of racial identity intensively
for the first time. As Beverly Daniel Tatum writes in Why Are All the

Turning Points Transforming Middle Schools 11

 Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? “Why do Black
youths, in particular, think about themselves in terms of race?
Because that is how the rest of the world thinks of them. Our self-
perceptions are shaped by messages that we receive from those
around us” (Tatum, 1997, 53–54). At the same time as they are enter-
ing the social turmoil of early adolescence, students of color may
also be experiencing racism more intensely. The seventh grader who
grew four inches over the summer may notice that store clerks fol-
low him closely when he shops for CDs. An eighth-grade girl who is
the only person of color in her class finds she is not invited to the
coed dance parties in the community. Students of color will often
seek peers who share these experiences and can help them form
their own racial/ethnic identity (Tatum, 1997, 52–74).

For gay and lesbian students and those struggling to understand or

define their sexual orientation, the early adolescent years are often a
time of intense feelings of estrangement from the dominant social
world. Because their difference is often invisible, gay students may be
extremely isolated and are at high risk for depression as they contend
with sexual identity. If they are open about their identity or are just
“outside the norm” in terms of how they express masculinity or femi-
ninity, they are at risk for harassment and physical abuse. Again, sup-
port from peers and teachers will help gay students contend with
their questions of identity and cope with challenging social dynamics.

Teachers can provide opportunities for the social interaction neces-

sary to navigate this phase of life, both with peers and adults, so that
young people can be influenced positively at a time when they can be
deeply affected by those around them. For students of diverse back-
grounds and identities, effective support can come in formal and
informal ways as teachers demonstrate empathy and take time to
learn about and openly discuss issues facing students. Teachers
themselves serve as powerful role models simply by regularly model-
ing academic tasks such as writing, problem solving, reading criti-
cally, and being honest and self-questioning with students. Teachers
also play a critical role in modeling acceptance of differences, being
willing to learn and talk about difficult issues, and confronting
racism, prejudice, and homophobia whenever they occur.

12 At the Turning Point: The Young Adolescent Learner -- EXCERPT -- Complete Guide available from www.turningpts.org
 CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT INCLUDE:

Modeling behavior after that of older students, not necessarily that of parents and
other adults

Immature behavior when social skills lag behind mental and physical maturity

Experimenting with ways of talking and acting as part of searching for a social posi-
tion with peers

Exploring questions of racial and ethnic identity and seeking peers who share the
same background

Exploring questions of sexual identity in visible or invisible ways

Feeling intimidated or frightened by the initial middle school experience

Liking fads, and being interested in popular culture

Overreacting to ridicule, embarrassment, and rejection

Seeking approval of peers and others with attention-getting behaviors

HOW TEACHERS CAN SUPPORT THE SOCIAL DEVELOP-

MENT OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT STUDENTS:

Provide cooperative learning opportunities as well as time for large-

group and one-on-one discussions.

Require students to apply their knowledge and skills to social issues

and topics of concern to young people.

Provide positive examples from history and literature, and positive

role models for different groups.

Maintain clear expectations for social interaction.

Turning Points Transforming Middle Schools 13
 Create learning experiences in which students practice democracy,
governance, and conflict resolution.

Foster classroom and team identity, and provide time for regular
student-led meetings to discuss issues, plan events, and make impor-
tant decisions regarding the team.

Foster opportunities for personal reflection and for students to share

their concerns and feelings with teachers.

Create structured support groups to enable students of color and gay

and lesbian students to share their experiences and concerns.

Create separate focus groups for girls and boys to explore issues of
gender, body-image, relationships, health, feminine and masculine
identity, etc.

Create mixed forums (such as a “Gay-Straight Alliance”) to build

mutual understanding between groups and a common agenda of
unity, acceptance, and antiracism.

Physical Development
Young adolescents are painfully Along with changes in social development, the physical development
self-conscious about the of young adolescents is probably the most striking to any onlooker.
changes in their physical Rapid and irregular physical growth, bodily changes that cause awk-
appearance. ward and uncoordinated movements, and varying maturity rates,
especially between girls and boys, mark the young adolescent’s phys-
ical growth. Girls tend to mature one and a half to two years earlier
than boys, and development rates among both girls and boys vary
widely, making school look more like a family reunion than classes
of students of the same age group.

“Everyone’s looking at me!” a young adolescent thinks as he or she

walks through the halls, stands in front of the class to give a report,
or dribbles a ball down the basketball court. Young adolescents are
painfully self-conscious about their appearance. All they want is to
blend in and look like everyone else, but the range of physical
appearances found during this age group makes that impossible.
Some young people seem to shoot up in height overnight, while oth-

14 At the Turning Point: The Young Adolescent Learner -- EXCERPT -- Complete Guide available from www.turningpts.org
ers grow barely an inch during the middle school years. While one
boy has lost his baby fat, developed broad shoulders, and speaks
with a deepened voice, his best friend since elementary school
despairs at still sounding like a girl and being shorter than most of
his female classmates. Some young adolescents have learned to
move with ease, while others clump around school with feet that are
suddenly too big and limbs that are uncoordinated and awkward. To
add to the problem, young adolescents worry about what’s happen-
ing to their bodies and wonder how it will all turn out.

These intense and unfamiliar changes not only affect the student phys-
iologically, but bring a host of social and emotional issues to the fore
as well. A teacher sensitive to the physical changes his or her students
are experiencing can make a world of difference to a young person.

CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT PHYSICAL

DEVELOPMENT INCLUDE:

Restlessness and fatigue due to hormonal changes

A need for physical activity because of increased energy

Developing sexual awareness, and often touching and bumping into others

A concern with changes in body size and shape

Physical vulnerability resulting from poor health habits or engaging in risky behaviors

HOW TEACHERS CAN SUPPORT THE PHYSICAL

DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT STUDENTS:

Respect and understand the physical changes that students are

going through.

Vary instructional methods to allow for physical activity

and movement.

Turning Points Transforming Middle Schools 15

 Allow for open and honest discussion about issues of development,
puberty, and sexuality.

Allow for stretch, bathroom, and snack breaks during long blocks
of time.

Allow ample time in the school schedule for developing

physical fitness.

Emotional and Psychological Development

One minute young adolescents are fretting about what to wear to
school, and the next they’re tackling global issues such as world
hunger, pollution, and a cure for AIDS. Excitement about a topic
they’re studying makes them overly ambitious and creative about
For the middle school student, presentations complete with skits and costumes, slides and hand-
daily life is an emotional roller outs; then anxiety sets in, with stomachaches and sweaty palms
coaster marked by unpre- when the time comes to stand in front of the class. A new sense of
dictable mood swings and humor brings laughs and acceptance from classmates, but those
changing best friends. good feelings are quickly forgotten when the contents of one’s lunch
tray spill onto the cafeteria floor. For the middle school student,
daily life is an emotional roller coaster marked by unpredictable
mood swings (often due to hormonal imbalances) and changing best
friends. At no other stage of development are young people more
likely to encounter so many differences between themselves and
their peers. This, coupled with the intense physiological changes
common to early adolescence, makes most students this age vulnera-
ble and self-conscious, both mentally and physically.

Young adolescents are enthusiastic and eager, angry and anxious,

shy, outgoing, depressed, frustrated, proud, stressed, confident,
scared—all in the same day. Feeling all these emotions at any given
moment, young adolescents often don’t know where to position
themselves or how to get their bearings. Moody and restless, they are
often frightened by a gamut of emotions they can neither name nor
understand. They exaggerate seemingly small concerns and think
they’re the only ones in the world ever to experience these feelings.
This may cause regression to more childish behavior patterns and
can also translate to low self-esteem and risky behaviors.

16 At the Turning Point: The Young Adolescent Learner -- EXCERPT -- Complete Guide available from www.turningpts.org
By taking time to listen to students and personalize their learning,
schools can help young adolescents feel safer and less vulnerable to
criticism, less concerned with their changing bodies, and more aware
that they are not alone with their personal problems and feelings, that
these are natural and often shared experiences among people.

CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT EMOTIONAL

AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT INCLUDE:

Mood swings marked by peaks of intensity and by unpredictability

Needing to release energy, with sudden outbursts of activity

A desire to become independent and to search for adult identity and acceptance

Self-consciousness and being sensitive to personal criticism

Concern about physical growth and maturity

A belief that their personal problems, feelings, and experiences are unique
to themselves

HOW TEACHERS CAN SUPPORT THE EMOTIONAL AND

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG ADOLES-
CENT STUDENTS:

Create opportunities for small-group discussions.

Include reflective journal writing as part of the learning experience.

Offer individual positive feedback.

Vary instructional strategies to address different learning styles.

Create peer editing, tutoring, and mentoring activities.

Turning Points Transforming Middle Schools 17

 Teach students about goal setting and conflict resolution. (For more
on how teachers can personalize learning, see Teaching Literacy in
the Turning Points School.)

Invite experts from the community, such as nurses and counselors,

to answer students’ questions about their own development.

Provide training in peer mediation and other interpersonal skills.

Moral Development
In Susannah’s eighth-grade humanities class, students are learn-
ing about human rights. When her teacher, Ms. Gaines, first asked
the class what they thought their rights were, Susannah didn’t
really know if she’d ever heard the word “right” used that way
before. But after weeks of working on a campaign for the
International Conference on the Rights of the Child, Susannah
could now say what her rights were, which ones were being vio-
lated, and what could be done to change things, both here in the
United States and in her home country of Angola.

For this project Susannah chose to be in the “poverty” group because

she wanted to do something to help kids who don’t get enough to eat.
Susannah knows what it means to go hungry, and she wanted to
help students at her school see how they could help other kids. But
how? Each group was told they had to prepare a presentation on
one of the articles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child that connected to the issue they were researching.
Susannah’s group chose Article 24, which describes the right to the
highest attainable standard of health. As part of her research,
Susannah learned how the UN and the government in her native
country of Angola used traditional street theater to teach parents
about nutritional foods available to them to feed their children. So,
her group planned a skit focusing on Article 24 and showing kids
in her school how they could help kids in poverty.

Embracing idealism—having a desire to make the world a better

place—and wanting to be socially useful is how one might charac-
terize the young adolescent’s moral development. In making the tran-
sition from a focus on one’s own needs and interests to considering

18 At the Turning Point: The Young Adolescent Learner -- EXCERPT -- Complete Guide available from www.turningpts.org
the feelings and rights of others, young people have a profound abil- Young adolescents have a pro-
ity to feel compassion and concern, and to act boldly on moral found ability to feel compassion
grounds. Because young adolescents are also developing keener and concern, and to act boldly
intellectual abilities, they are more apt to notice and be concerned on moral grounds.
about the inconsistencies between what they are taught (i.e., the val-
ues and morals espoused by adults) and the conditions they actually
see and experience in society. Young adolescents are moving away
from simply accepting at face value the moral judgments of adults.
By reflecting on values, motives, and right and wrong, they are expe-
riencing, for the first time, what it means to form their own inde-
pendent personal values. Adults can capitalize on this when
designing learning experiences for young people.

CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT MORAL

DEVELOPMENT INCLUDE:

An understanding of the complexity of moral issues, and not seeing everything in

“black and white”

Being capable of and interested in participating in democracy

Impatience with the pace of change, and underestimating how difficult it is to make
social changes

Needing and being influenced by adult role models who will listen and be trustworthy

Relying on parents and important adults for advice, but wanting to make their own
decisions

Judging others quickly, but acknowledging one’s own faults slowly

HOW TEACHERS CAN SUPPORT THE MORAL DEVELOP-

MENT OF YOUNG ADOLESCENT STUDENTS:

Create learning experiences that are focused on complex and real

problems.

Turning Points Transforming Middle Schools 19

 Allow students to facilitate text-based discussions on topics of
interest.

Involve community leaders and other adults in authentic projects.

Engage students in the community.

Provide equitable access to learning opportunities for all students.

Encourage students to identify and pursue their own interests, pas-

sions, and strengths.

Allow students to work at their own pace, make choices about their
learning, and take responsibility for important tasks and decisions.

Structure learning experiences that utilize democratic processes—

debate, discussion, and giving voice to diverse perspectives.

20 At the Turning Point: The Young Adolescent Learner -- EXCERPT -- Complete Guide available from www.turningpts.org