What is adolescence?

Adolescence is a period of transition in terms of physical, cognitive and socio- emotional

changes. The period of adolescence begins with the biological changes of puberty.

Three stages of adolescence

1.) Early Adolescence characterized by puberty may come at the ages of 11 and 12.
2.) Middle Adolescence may meet identity issues within the ages of 14 and 16.
3.) Late Adolescence marks the transition into Adulthood at ages 17 and 20.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL LEARNERS

Introduction

Adolescence is a stage of human development that coincides with puberty, a biological

development occurring at the average age of 11 for girls and 12 for boys. There are factors,
which contribute to early puberty and delayed puberty.

Puberty changes

Throughout life, growth hormones condition gradual increases in body size and weight.
Hormone flooding during adolescence causes an acceleration known as growth spurts.
Growth spurts include a change in body dimensions (leg length, shoulder width, trunk
length). Spurt in height is ascribed to trunk growth rather than leg growth.

Girls’ growth spurts begin at age 10, peak at 11 and- a-half, and slow until age 16, while
boys’ start at 12, peak at 14, and slow until 17.

Growth affects height, muscles, weight, and reproductive organs, all tied to bone
maturation. Both muscular and skeletal dimensions grow during adolescence.

Factors affecting development

Hormones are powerful and highly specialized chemical substances that interact with
bodily cells. Hormonal changes in the hypothalamus and pituitary glands signal the entire
process of sexual maturation.

Factors affecting development

In males, testosterone leads to sperm production, penis growth, voice changes, and facial
hair.

In females, estrogen causes breast development, pubic hair, wider hips, and menstruation.
The secular trend

The secular trend is a phenomenon of more rapid maturation during this century. In the
1800s, girls began menstruation at 15-17, and boys reached adult height at 23-25. Today,
boys reach full height by 18-20 and girls by 13-14.

Sexual identity

Adolescence is a time of sexual exploration and experimentation with sexual fantasies and
realities of incorporating sexuality with one’s identity quoted by Santrack, 2005 from one’s
identity (Christopher, 2001).

Adolescents form sexual identity through orientation, activities, and behavior, facing
challenges like societal pressures and identity acceptance. It is very important to have
homosexual orientation, heterosexual orientation, and bisexual orientation.

Self-esteem

Self-esteem is defined as one’s thoughts and feelings about one’s self-concept and
identity.

In a Meyer study, the end of a romantic relationship can affect both boys and girls, but girls
are twice as likely to experience depression, while boys are three to four times more likely
to commit suicide.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH SCHOOL LEARNERS

Introduction

Adolescence is a time for rapid cognitive development this stage of development, there is a
decrease in ego thoughts, while the individual’s thinking takes more of an abstract forms.

Two key brain developments:

Synaptic (corpus collosum) which join and coordinate the two hemispheres of brain.

Myelination enhances executive functions like attention, verbal fluency, language, and
planning.

Brain maturation peaks at 12, 15, and 18.5, aligning with advances in thinking abilities.
These cognitive shifts parallel physical changes during adolescence.
Piaget’s Formal Operational Thinker

Propositional thinking (beyond visual evidence).

Relativistic thinking (subjective opinions on facts).

Real versus possible (examining situations and potential solutions).

Siegler’s Information Processing Skills

Robert Siegler views the influence of the environment on thinking. He sees cognitive
growth, not as stages of development, but more of a sequential acquisition of specific
knowledge and strategies for problem-solving. He observes the quality of information the
adolescent processes that influences him/her in facing tasks at hand through strategies or
rules.

Metacognition

Among the cognitive advances in adolescence is metacognition which is the ability to

identity one’s own thinking processes and strategies inclusive of perception, memory,
understanding, application, analysis, assessment and innovation. “I know that” the
memory data stored in his mind, while “I know how” a procedural processes that improves
memory recall through the use of a mnemonic device.

Overachievement

During adolescence, he/she can achieve very high academic grades, In spite of not getting
IQ grades that are at the top 3 or 5 percent of the bell curve. The case of overachievers is a
reminder that the Intelligence Quotient test is not the only determinant in school
achievement.

Underachievement

The adolescent may perform below the standards set. Possible potentials do not cope with
the opportunity to learn and score in the top quarter of measured academic ability. Grades
are below measured aptitudes for academic achievement.

Two types of underachievers are:

Withdrawn underachievers are passive, quiet, and avoid class participation.

Aggressive underachievers are disruptive, talkative and rebellious.

Behavior and adolescent cognitive growth

1. Egocentrism thinking too much of themselves, while being too sensitive to social
acceptance of their appearance, actions, feelings, and ideas.
2. Idealism imagining far-fetched (unexpected low grades, family discord, etc.)
3. Increased argumentativeness teens enjoy learning through the use of group
dynamics like role play, debate, discussion.

Human emotions

Generally emotions are commonly known as human feelings that are manifested by varied
conscious or unconscious moods.

Positive and Negative emotions

For Charles Darwin there are six basic emotions, happiness, sadness, anger, disgust and
fear. Including love, pride, hope, gratitude, compassion, jealousy and anxiety.

Social emotions

Adolescent girls are more likely than boys to have both negative and positive interactions
with family and friends.

Adolescents especially feel stress, usually from relationships with parents, friends,
sweethearts, also from pressure of school work. Thus adolescents are stereotyped as
moody and negative, poor emotion control.

THE ADOLESCENT AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The adolescent has easy access to the culture of various media and social media, inclusive
of computers, cell phones, video games, music iPods, FM radio and cable television.

As face-to-face communication is replaced, social skills are impaired sometimes leading

to unsafe interaction with those who use social media to exploit others financially or
sexually.