write a ONE PARAGRAPH Why is it important for us to understand the difference between teenage brains and fully developed adult brains?

Question

Why is it important for us to understand the difference between teenage brains and fully developed adult brains?

Answer 1

Teenage brains are still what is termed as "plastic" in that they are more capable of making new neural connections than adult, fully formed brains. These connections help form new pathways for learning, in some theories called "neural networks." It is interesting to note that the brains in young adults are not fully formed until they are 25 or so. However, the teenage brain has other special characteristics. For one, there is the issue of the Critical Period in language learning, whereby children are easily able to acquire their native language seemingly miraculously from their cultural environment with little effort, whereas adults have a hard time learning a new language and may not learn with native fluency the grammar, intonation, semantics and vocabulary. Some put the age of the Critical Period at mid-childhood, but others later, at puberty, the start of the teenage years when non-native language learning would be easier for this population. There is more, but I don't want to lecture!

Answer 2

You could start with another question: What problems might arise if we treated adults and teenagers as if they had the same level of brain development? Why would we wish to avoid these problems?

Hope this helps you get started!