Dr Jen introduces us to the workings of the adolescent brain and the ways that it puts young people at risk by hindering their capacity to make safe decisions or not being fully developed enough to help young people keep themselves safe. 

You will learn about hot cognition and how to support young people during times of cold cognition, to prepare for hot cognition phases in a way that will implement strategies to keep them safe. 

This episode will help you to understand the "bad" behaviours that are so commonly attributed to young people and gain insight into why they behave that way, and methods to support and change the thinking patterns of young people. Start to learn about how to "change the context" for young people as they navigate their adolescent brain. 

Dr Jen introduces us to her course on Working with the Adolescent Brain, starting with an overview of  the course content and introducing us to the knowledge, skills and strategies that educators can use to support young people to implement strategies to keep themselves safe. 

Episode 8 is the last chapter in the Road Ready course and Dr Jen focuses on how adolescents can use visualisation as a technique for keeping safe on the road. This episodes reviews hot cognition examples that young drivers may be faced with and uses the Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions (MCII) technique to work through the process of young drivers planning in advance to keep safe on the road. 

The idea that road safety takes deliberate practice is discussed and specific examples are talked through by Dr. Jen for young people to implement in their lives. Integrating adults and teachers into the process of working with young people to keep them safe on the road is explored and role play exercise to support young people in working with adults to explain how they will keep themselves safe are explained and outlined step by step.

Let's all work together to keep our precious young people safe on the road. 

Safe driving everyone! 

In this episode Dr. Jen explains the dangers of stress for the developing brain and explores why it is so important for the "adolescent" brain not to succumb to overwhelming stress while driving. Dr. Jen talks about strategies that young drivers can use to avoid chronic stress taking over the brain and keep young people safe, emotionally and in the driver's seat. The concept of using empathy and exercise to calm stressful interactions is explained using what neuroscientists know about implementing empathy and exercise to improve brain function. 

In this episode, Extra Credit Tutor Liz Fletcher talks about the value of excursions and taking students outdoors and providing them with immersive, hands on and authentic learning experiences. Incorporated within this concept is the need to manage risk for teachers, students and anybody else involved in an excursion and Liz talks about the need for considering and planning for a safe excursion. The concept of a risk management plan is introduced and then discussed in detail to begin building the framework that is needed for teachers to confidently and successfully manage risk on an excursion and feel confident in providing their students with outdoor learning experiences. 

In this episode Dr. Jen explains how exercise and mindfulness can save the lives of young drivers.  Self-regulation can be a difficult task for the "adolescent" brain but this episode will explain some of the ways that young people can practice self-regulation to keep themselves safe on the road.  The link between exercise and mindfulness is explained using neuroscientific knowledge and Dr. Jen explains the strategies for putting your mind in the driver's seat!

In this Episode Dr Jen teaches us about the neuroscience behind sleeping and what is known as "the sleep zone" She discusses ways that 'adolescents' can change their context to avoid accidents during the the sleep zone and the importance of getting enough sleep for the "adolescent" brain to drive safely. Nutrition for fuelling the road ready brain is also covered in this episode, telling us about the importance of giving our bodies the fuel that it needs to stay alert and safe on the road. 

Extra Credit Tutor Liz Fletcher gives you a welcome to the Extra Credit Academy and specifically welcomes you to the Excursion Risk Management course. 

This podcast gives an an overview of the course contents, highlighting the importance of giving your students authentic, real life, hands on learning experiences, but acknowledging the paperwork that comes alongside these experiences from a teacher's perspective. 

Liz explains the confidence, knowledge and skills that you will learn as you move through the course and encourages learners to consider the value in taking their students on field trips and excursions knowing that they have a solid safety framework once they have completed the Excursion Risk Management course. 

In this episode Dr. Jen tells us about the "adolescent" brain and it's reward seeking tendencies. Neuroscience tells us that when the reward outweighs the risk, it makes the "adolescent brain" behind the wheel of a car dangerous. Dr. Jen explains to us the dangerous influence that peers can have on young drivers and the importance of changing a young drivers context to driving alone to keep young drivers safe.