Lessons with Dr. Nathaniel Kendall-Taylor Artwork

Lessons in Adolescence

Join us in exploring the many facets of adolescence from the adverse, to the awkward, to the awesome! Host Jason Cascarino and his guests, including educators, researchers, developmental scientists, thought leaders, and other caring adults, tell us why middle school can and should be awesome.

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Lessons in Adolescence

Lessons with Dr. Nathaniel Kendall-Taylor

March 08, 2022 • Youth-Nex: Remaking Middle School • Season 2 • Episode 24

This episode features a conversation with Nat Kendall-Taylor, CEO of FrameWorks Institute. FrameWorks plays a unique role in the social sector. It uses the science behind how human beings learn about and understand the world around them in order to position or frame social causes in ways that compel people to take positive action or change. For a number of years, FrameWorks has been developing strategies and resources to help educators and advocates reframe adolescence in ways that better call out aspects of exploration, discovery and openness, which balance out traditional messages of angst and risky behaviors.

Nat and Jason talk about how FrameWorks got its start and the role it plays in the social sector, the research-based process it uses to develop compelling narratives for important issues and topics, and how FrameWorks has used that process to reframe adolescence. They also talk about some of the ways FrameWorks supports organizations and the broader field to use the most effective language and channels of communication to showcase the opportunity of adolescence, how to help parents and families balance their understanding and impressions of their own adolescent children, the power of positive examples and stories of adolescents, the role of framing in bridging polarization and the cultural and political divides in education as well as other domains, and some of the new areas FrameWorks is looking to expand into or go deeper in.

Additional Readings and Resources

FrameWorks Institute
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kaheman, Random House, 2011

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