The Empowering Local Learners project is one aimed at improving the executive function skills of the students that we teach, we informally call these our 'Stop and Think' skills.
"Executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. Just as an air traffic control system at a busy airport safely manages the arrivals and departures of many aircraft on multiple runways, the brain needs this skill set to filter distractions, prioritize tasks, set and achieve goals, and control impulses."
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/executive-function/ |
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What are the components of executive function?
Inhibitory Control
Inhibitory control is the ability to pause and think before you act, to overcome the strong inclination to do one thing in order to do what is most appropriate or needed. It helps us to not just do what first comes to mind (including giving up). Inhibitory control makes it possible for us to change and for us to choose how we react and how we behave rather than being unthinking
creatures of habit. Students demonstrate this by
Inhibitory control is the ability to pause and think before you act, to overcome the strong inclination to do one thing in order to do what is most appropriate or needed. It helps us to not just do what first comes to mind (including giving up). Inhibitory control makes it possible for us to change and for us to choose how we react and how we behave rather than being unthinking
creatures of habit. Students demonstrate this by
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Working Memory
Working memory is the ability to old or maintain information in your mind’s eye and mentally manipulate that information. Working memory is a strong predictor of academic achievement. It helps us to bear in mind one idea while we compare, link or build on another idea. Students demonstrate this by:
Working memory is the ability to old or maintain information in your mind’s eye and mentally manipulate that information. Working memory is a strong predictor of academic achievement. It helps us to bear in mind one idea while we compare, link or build on another idea. Students demonstrate this by:
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Cognitive Flexibility
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to flexibly adjust to changed demands, priorities or perspectives. It helps you to think about an idea in a way that is different to what was taught. It underpins the ability to make new connections, see implications and form analogies. Student's demonstrate this by:
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to flexibly adjust to changed demands, priorities or perspectives. It helps you to think about an idea in a way that is different to what was taught. It underpins the ability to make new connections, see implications and form analogies. Student's demonstrate this by:
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How do we build executive function?
We are capable of building our own executive function though all aspects of our lives. Because these are cognitive skills linked to how we focus our attention and approach tasks we can practice these skills at any point that we are trying to complete a task, especially one that is new or complex. The following tips come from the third video in the further information section below
Look Closely
If you start to look closely at yourself and the world around you then you will start to notice things, maybe things you have never seen or thought of before. You will get a better appreciation for the complexity and beauty of things around you. You may start to see patterns, connnections and relationships, these are very important in developing your executive functioning further.
Stop and Think
When you begin to look closely you begin to notice a lot of things, this is where you need to stop and think. You may notice that you skip questions with fractions in them as you don't like working with fractions, when you stop and think you can make the choice to try more question with fractions in them because you know you need to work on them. You may notice a pattern in a question that you are doing and you might stop and think about how you can use this newly discovered pattern to help you solve some more difficult problems. You might also notice that you do not do much work when you sit next to John so you might make the choice to sit next to someone else. Stopping and thinking allows you to turn poor choices into good ones and good choices into great ones.
Exercise
Exercise is great for the brain, studies have shown some strong links between exercising and the development of executive functions.
Challenge Yourself
Setting yourself challenges and complex tasks to complete is great in building both inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. In challenging yourself you are going to build a much deeper understanding of whatever it is you are taking. However in taking on complex and challenging tasks you are not likely to be successful the first time, you are likely to stumble, to fail, to hit a roadblock that you find it difficult to get past. It is at this time that your inhibitory control and flexible thinking kick in. If it is a goal or a task that you are committed to achieving then in these times of difficulty you will need to also find ways to overcome that difficulty.
Try Another Way
Iif you are challenging yourself, it is likely that you will fail, and not just once, you are likely to have a number of setbacks along the way. It is important to realise that those mistakes are expected, they always are when learning something complex or new, what matters however is what you do next. If something you tried doesn't work it doesn't mean you will never be able to do it, it just means that you may need to try to find another way of approaching the problem.
Look Closely
If you start to look closely at yourself and the world around you then you will start to notice things, maybe things you have never seen or thought of before. You will get a better appreciation for the complexity and beauty of things around you. You may start to see patterns, connnections and relationships, these are very important in developing your executive functioning further.
Stop and Think
When you begin to look closely you begin to notice a lot of things, this is where you need to stop and think. You may notice that you skip questions with fractions in them as you don't like working with fractions, when you stop and think you can make the choice to try more question with fractions in them because you know you need to work on them. You may notice a pattern in a question that you are doing and you might stop and think about how you can use this newly discovered pattern to help you solve some more difficult problems. You might also notice that you do not do much work when you sit next to John so you might make the choice to sit next to someone else. Stopping and thinking allows you to turn poor choices into good ones and good choices into great ones.
Exercise
Exercise is great for the brain, studies have shown some strong links between exercising and the development of executive functions.
Challenge Yourself
Setting yourself challenges and complex tasks to complete is great in building both inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. In challenging yourself you are going to build a much deeper understanding of whatever it is you are taking. However in taking on complex and challenging tasks you are not likely to be successful the first time, you are likely to stumble, to fail, to hit a roadblock that you find it difficult to get past. It is at this time that your inhibitory control and flexible thinking kick in. If it is a goal or a task that you are committed to achieving then in these times of difficulty you will need to also find ways to overcome that difficulty.
Try Another Way
Iif you are challenging yourself, it is likely that you will fail, and not just once, you are likely to have a number of setbacks along the way. It is important to realise that those mistakes are expected, they always are when learning something complex or new, what matters however is what you do next. If something you tried doesn't work it doesn't mean you will never be able to do it, it just means that you may need to try to find another way of approaching the problem.
This is an external link to the Harvard Centre for the Developing Child
Further information
The videos below are a video series from the myfuture website. Linked to career options and aspirations these are videos are useful to use with both students and adults alike. The contain some really great information in a brief and engaging way.
Video 1 - You, there! Adventurer!
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Video 2 - A brain full of lasers!
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Video 3 - The path to awesome!
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