Adolescence is a period of remarkable neuroplasticity and cognitive development, particularly in executive functioning and social abilities.
Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to adapt and change based on experience. One aspect of this neuroplasticity is the increased “cross talk” that the teen brain experiences between its different regions.
For instance, as the prefrontal cortex (the brain region that supports most executive functions) begins to become more integrated with the hippocampus (the brain region that involves memory), teens become better able to take their past experiences and apply them to new situations.
Studies show that enriching experiences that actively work their executive functioning skills, such as planning, reasoning, problem-solving and self-regulation, helps teens refine their developing cognitive abilities by taking advantage of their brain’s heightened neuroplasticity.
The more practical experience they get with a task, the stronger their cognitive skills become, which helps them get better at learning itself. Because teen brains are primed for social engagement, they are also more likely to explore, learn and show cooperative behavior when they’re around their peers.
Experience matters
Together, these studies highlight that experience itself matters — family and peer relationships, school, cultural context, socioeconomic conditions, stress and opportunities for learning and engagement are all critical for shaping adolescent learning and development.
Because of this, researchers recommend targeted interventions that offer learning enrichment, safe spaces and mentoring. These interventions can lessen the effects of environmental stressors to best support the developing brain.
But the richness of these experiences also matters.
Active engagement
Youth don’t just need engagement — they need active engagement.
While there can be a lot of value in receiving information, such as through a video, youth also need opportunities to use their brain in increasingly complex ways. Because of the crucial role that social relationships play in shaping the teenage brain, they also need active engagement with people.
This engagement includes working with others with differing perspectives, cooperating towards shared goals, navigating conflict and learning to manage peer pressure.
Meaningful challenge
Youth don’t just need a challenge, they need a meaningful challenge.
A hard experience will be less effective in helping youth grow if it’s too hard, or too far removed from the teen’s experience or potential for internal reward.
Practice and feedback
They don’t just need practice, they also need feedback for that practice and the opportunity to make mistakes and try again.
Practice doesn’t just allow us to gain a skill. Practice makes learning the skill easier, giving youth the opportunity to discover the joy of learning itself. Feedback is also essential — youth need to see and recognize what is working and what isn’t so that they can adjust and try again.
They also need safe spaces to discover that mistakes are a valuable part of learning.
How youth programs can help
Out-of-school-time programs are prime spaces to provide the richness of experience that adolescent brains need.
We have the time and connections to build relationships with youth and discover who they are and what they need and want.
We have the flexibility to get to know their environmental context and supply the types of experiences that will fill in the gaps of their exposure and meaningfully challenge them. We can not only expose them to people who are different from them, but also create intentional ways for them to interact and learn from each other.
And we can enrich their experience of practice and feedback by engaging them in reflective activities that help them process and learn from what they’re doing.
Baker, A. E., Galván, A., & Fuligni, A. J. (2025). The connecting brain in context: How adolescent plasticity supports learning and development. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 71, 101486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101486
Murty, V. P., Calabro, F., & Luna, B. (2016). The role of experience in adolescent cognitive development: Integration of executive, memory, and mesolimbic systems. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 70, 46–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.07.034