This chapter did a great job of informing me of the various pubertal processes and the impacts made on an adsolescent's life, both physically and emotionally. This information is very useful to have when thinking about how kids behave in school.
The authors bring up a great point when explaining the troubles that arise in current research. Parents, kids, and educators don't really like to talk the subject. It is an awkward stage of human life in which we all have a different way handling.
The authors go through the physical changes that happen during puberty later in the text. This is interesting info to go over a review. The authors do point out new research that shows brain growth through midadolesence. This means that the mind is expanding. What a great time to fill the vast, new expanse with knowledge!
I was very interested in the section on the timing of maturation. The article talks about how some of the negative consequences of early maturation. These include poor emotional health and engaging in adult activities.
The chapter explains how gender roles are intensified during adolescence. This is easy to see in a Middle School. This is the time when kids start to take note of the opposite sex. Boys and girls are passing notes to eachother, starting new "relationships," and awkwardly talking to each other.
The last part of the text the authors tell us the implications which puberty has on education. They say that sex ed courses need to be given to all children, in 5th or 6th grade. They also tell us that puberty may influence school achievement. This is also easy to see. If a kid is having and emotional breakdown and hardtime, he or she will not be focused on school work. They will deal with their emotions, possibly in a harmful way.
I think this chapter was a good overview of puberty and how it works with the mind and body. This knowledge is especially useful when dealing with Middle Schoolers. I do not think that this chapter is really neccesary knowledge that I need to memorize, it will be useful though to have a background in how to deal with this issue.
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Do you really think that this information is all that useful? I think that one's personal experience with puberty is of greater importance. The reason that many teachers have difficulty dealing with this particular age group is that many of them have forgotten what it was like to be a teenager. From what I can recall, most of my problems were social, and not biological. Although I will admit that I found some points in the chapter interesting, I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call them useful. Knowledge is a great thing, but sometimes experience is far more useful.
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