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Setting the Stage

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Engaging Adolescent Learners

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Abstract

To be an educator requires one to have a deep understanding of how development unfolds in the children and young people you work with each day and the impact of this development on teaching and learning in the classroom. In this chapter, we will not foray into an in-depth examination of the intricacies involved in the neurobiology of the adolescent developmental period (we do not profess to be developmental psychologists); instead we will focus on what we believe our shared experience has made us experts in, and that is the impact of the adolescent developmental period on teaching and learning in our current classroom contexts. This chapter will explore what current research supports as appropriate and effective responses by teachers, instructional leaders, communities and systems in relation to adolescents’ changing developmental needs, along with the contextual philosophies and needs adolescents themselves have identified which have positively impacted their experience with schooling. In Chap. 3, we will bring this research into practical realms in what we like to refer to as “pedagogy and practice in action” across our three country contexts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Calgary Board of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Brandy Yee

  2. Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Anne Sliwka

  3. University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Matti Rautiainen

Authors
  1. Brandy Yee
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  2. Anne Sliwka
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  3. Matti Rautiainen
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Yee, B., Sliwka, A., Rautiainen, M. (2018). Setting the Stage. In: Engaging Adolescent Learners. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52602-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52602-7_2

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-52601-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52602-7

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