Name______________________________________________Date__________________________________Period__________
Netflix’s
The Mind, Explained
Teenage Brain
Before the Episode
1. In your opinion, how are teenagers unique from other age groups? Explain your answer below.
2. What do you like and/or dislike about being a teenager? Explain your answer below.
During the Episode
3. Name one of the teenage stereotypes listed in the opening of the episode:
4. Finish the Quote: “So some of the teen behaviors that we really see throughout species, cultures, is risktaking, novelty seeking, and ______________ __________________________.”
5. How old do you have to be to vote in the United Arab Emirates? _____________
6. True or False: Myelin helps our neurons talk to each other about 1,000 times faster. (Circle your answer.)
7. Which part of your brain controls rational thought and reasoning?
8. Which part of the brain can help explain a lot of teenage behavior?
9. When will one have an “adult brain” or a brain that has fully developed?
10. What causes an increase in the teen crash fatality rates?
11. Finish the Quote: “Those three teen traits, risk-taking, novelty seeking, and peer relationships, are all
intertwined, because when teens are around their friends, the ___________________ ________________ of
doing new or risky things feels so much more rewarding.”
12. Finish the Quote: “When we’re little kids, a lot of us get the message that we should be true to ourselves.
But then every teen, in different ways, starts to discover that _______________ ____________________ comes
with ___________.”
13. True or False: At around age three, we start to have a sense of our gender. (Circle your answer.)
14. What do teens have, that follow them everywhere, and make them feel like they’re continually the
central topic of interest?
15. What becomes a new priority for teens?
16. Finish the Quote: “The intensity of teen emotions and their need for social acceptance make this age
uniquely vulnerable to developing a _________________ __________________, and the most at risk of both
committing violence and ________________________ _______.”
17. Why does Greta Thunberg believe teenagers are the ones to be more likely to fight for change and
speak up?
18. True or False: The way that you use your neurons at this point in your life is going to have a lasting impact
on how they will function the rest of your life. (Circle your answer.)
After the Episode
19. Look back at the three intertwined teen traits and share how you have witnessed it play out in your life
or in the lives of your peers. Explain your answer below.
20. Do you feel like you have discovered who you are as an individual or do you still feel like it is something
you are figuring out? Explain your answer below.
Answer Key for Netflix’s The Mind, Explained: Teenage Brain
1. Opinion question. Answers will vary.
2. Opinion question. Answers will vary.
3. Only Needs One: Lazy/addicted to your phone/contrarian/Rebellious, but in a stupid way/kind of
bratty/we don’t listen/we don’t know how to follow the rules
4. Peer relationships
5. 25
6. False (3,000)
7. Frontal cortex
8. Amygdala
9. Mid-twenties
10. The rate increases if there are other teenagers in the car.
NOTE- You do hear the F word in the background. It is right before Nick is going to ride his bike on a ramp that
is on fire.
11. Potential rewards
12. Being yourself/risks
13. True
14. Imaginary audience
15. Finding a potential mate/some might say reproduction since the one teen did not want to say anything
else with her dad around J
16. Mental illness/experiencing it
17. She says a child is willing to not accept the lie because they are not as afraid to take risks and are more
open to change.
18. True
19. Personal question. Answers will vary.
20. Personal question. Answers will vary.
PLEASE NOTE- I remind students on personal questions to share with me only as much as they are comfortable
with sharing.
All images are fair use.