Abstract
This case study explains why and how research findings from educational psychology and cognitive neuroscience were used to develop adolescent learning strategies for the military education and training program at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). ADFA's adolescent learning strategies were introduced gradually from 2011 to 2013. Data collected through the Academy's six-monthly training review process shows statistically-significant and substantial improvements in trainee engagement and trainee satisfaction during this period. The learning strategies applied were based on well-established research in educational psychology on improving the motivation and engagement of learners and on the important roles that thinking and reasoning play in constructivist models of learning. They were also shaped by more recent research in cognitive neuroscience on the potential implications of adolescent brain development for adolescent learning. This research posited that the uneven process of brain development observed in those aged 15 to 25, could be expected to have implications for cognition and behaviour during this ·adolescent period. Specifically, it suggested that adolescents are different from adults and children in: their attitudes to risk and reward, their sensitivity to peers, their heightened fight-flight-freeze response, and the heightened effect of stress on their reasoning and learning. All of these, if true, would be important considerations in the design of learning environments for adolescents . This study is not intended as a scientific contribution to the disciplines of educational psychology or cognitive neuroscience. Instead, it is intended to illustrate some of the practical ways that findings from these disciplines can be incorporated into curriculum design in a military education program.