Early Adolescence: A Review of the Literature - RTI

1 Early Adolescence: _____A Review OF THE LITERATUREA Paper Prepared ForThe Department of EducationOffice of Educational Research and ImprovementbyTim UrdanSteven Kleinfor the Conference on Early AdolescenceMay 7 8, 1998 Elliott Medrich, Project DirectorMPR Associates, Shattuck Avenue, Suite 800 Berkeley, CA 94704 Tel: 510-849-4942 TABLE OF CONTENTSPageOverview ..1 Structure of the Paper ..2 Cognitive Development and for Consideration ..6 Developmental Shifts in Motivation ..8 The Influence of the Learning Environment on for Consideration.

2 13 Social Development in and Social for Consideration ..21 Physical Development ..23 Physical Development and Schooling ..24 Questions for Consideration ..25 Future Person-Environment Interactions ..26 Evaluating Middle School Reform Efforts .. adolescence can be described as a period of life, typically occurring between theages of 10 and 15 years, in which youth undergo rapid physical, cognitive, and social trans-formation. Since the turn of the century, and probably before that, Early adolescence has beenviewed as a period of tremendous upheaval, or storm and stress, for children and virtuallyall who come into contact with them.

3 The stereotypical image of young teens being trappedin changing, awkward bodies and caught in the swirl of their own raging hormones has beenpervasive among psychologists, parents, and educators for decades. The difficulties associ-ated with making the transition from childhood to Early adolescence have historically beengiven much weight in research, and have also led many to view the qualities of control andpatience as key for adults who are trying to interact with Early , over the last 25 years, a more nuanced view of Early adolescent develop-ment has emerged.

4 Recently, educators and researchers have begun to recognize Early adoles-cence as a period of development that is unique and distinct from late childhood and lateradolescence or adulthood. Rather than viewing Early adolescence as one of unmitigated tur-moil to be endured, researchers and educators have begun to view this stage of developmentas one of dramatic change that brings both multiple stressors and new possibilities forgrowth. The recognition that Early adolescence is a unique period of development has led tochanging beliefs about the nature of this developmental period as well as appropriate methodsfor educating this age group.

5 The middle school movement which emphasized creating de-velopmentally appropriate schools designed to ease the transition into adolescence whiletaking advantage of the new strengths ( , increased cognitive sophistication, greater matur-ity) produced by development was born out of this new understanding. A wave of reformefforts that have occurred at the intermediate school level, fueled in part by Turning Points,the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development s 1989 report, represents a continuation ofthis recent research has begun to answer some of the questions regarding developmentduring Early adolescence and the institutions designed to serve these youth ( , schools, so-cial welfare and health agencies), new questions have emerged.

6 The purpose of this paper isto Review some of the research on Early adolescent development, particularly as it relates toEARLY adolescence : A Review OF THE LITERATURE2schooling, and to generate some ideas for future research in this area. Rather than providing anexhaustive Review of the Literature on adolescent development, this paper provides a selectivereview that presents the major issues of Early adolescent development. Particular attentionwill be paid to the relationship between middle-level schooling and the physical, cognitive,social, and motivational changes that occur in Early OF THE PAPERE arly adolescence is a formative period in which youth explore a variety of personaland social issues.

7 Since decisions made during this interval can affect subsequent life and ca-reer outcomes, it is important that youth are given the proper support during this time. Thispaper explores the Literature on Early adolescence to identify key issues and challenges thatyoungsters and their parents confront during this difficult developmental period. A funda-mental assumption underlying this work is that schools, and the manner in which they areorganized and function, can have an important impact on students academic growth and per-sonal development.

8 Accordingly, this paper focuses on relating characteristics and risk factorsof young adolescents to the manner in which educational programs are structured and paper, which focuses on raising questions for future discussion regarding the inter-action between development and schooling for Early adolescent students, has three primaryobjectives. The first is to provide a representative overview of the Literature on Early adoles-cent development in the physical, cognitive, social, and motivational domains.

9 Second, withineach of these domains, the paper examines the relationship between Early adolescence devel-opment and educational policies and practices in middle-level schools, paying particular at-tention to the quality of the fit between development and education. Third, the paper raises aset of questions regarding adolescent development and middle-level schooling in each of thedomains. The conclusion suggests a set of potential areas for future research at DEVELOPMENTFor many years, Piaget s theory dominated views of cognitive development in earlyadolescence (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958).

10 According to this theory, sometime during Early ado-lescence, children undergo a fundamental shift in the way they think and view the world thatinvolves moving away from thinking in concrete terms to thinking in a more abstract, logicalmanner. Upon entering what he labeled the formal operations stage, Early adolescents,Piaget believed, developed the ability to think more scientifically; to design and test multiplehypotheses; and to manipulate objects, operations, and future outcomes in their minds with-out having to actually interact with physical objects.