Personal & social development // Emotional Literacy
Brain Science of Emotions
Understand how the amygdala triggers emotional responses and how the prefrontal cortex (still developing in adolescence) regulates them; explain why stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline) affect thinking and memory; understand that the adolescent brain's dopamine system makes feelings more intense; distinguish between emotion regulation (managing feelings effectively) and emotion suppression (pushing feelings down, which is counterproductive); introduce cognitive reappraisal as a research-backed technique for changing how we interpret a situation
Quick check
Can the learner explain, in basic terms, why teenagers tend to feel emotions more intensely than adults — what's happening in the developing brain that makes feelings so powerful during adolescence, and what's the difference between managing a feeling and suppressing it?
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- RequiredMust come first
- HelpfulHelps, but not essential
Before this
3 topics- How Emotions Feel in Your BodyRequired
Emotional Literacy // Ages 7 to 9
Advanced emotional literacy depends on earlier foundational emotional skills
- Emotions and Decision-MakingRequired
Emotional Literacy // Ages 9 to 11
Advanced emotional literacy depends on earlier emotional awareness skills
- Good Stress and Bad StressHelpful
Self-Regulation & Resilience // Ages 11 to 12
Neuroscience of adolescent emotion (particularly the stress response) provides the biological basis for the stress and coping topic in a neighbouring SEL domain
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Brain Science of Emotions
Ages 11 to 12 // Concept
Leads to
1 topicEmotional Literacy // Ages 12 to 13
Advanced emotion regulation depends on foundational advanced emotional literacy skills
Personal & social development // Emotional Literacy
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