LEVERAGING COGNITIVE

SKILLSCEDAR HILL PREP

SCHOOL152 Cedar Grove

Lane, Somerset, NJ 08873

What sparks Innovation?●MOTIVATION/PASSION

●EFFORT

●COGNITIVE SKILLS

COGNITIONWhat is it? Why is it relevant to Education?

What are Cognitive Skills●Visual Motor Speed

●Processing Speed

●Working Memory

●Verbal Reasoning

●Abstract Reasoning

●Language Skills

●Attention

●Flexible Thinking

●Spatial Perception

●Motor skills

DID YOU KNOW?

THE CONNECTION – COGNITIVE SKILLS- NON COGNITIVE SKILLS AND EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

Cognitive Skills Non Cognitive Skills

● FLEXIBLE THINKING

● SPATIAL PERCEPTION

● ABSTRACT REASONING

● VERBAL REASONING

● WORKING MEMORY

● ATTENTION

● PROCESSING SPEED

● LANGUAGE SKILLS

● MOTOR SKILLS

● MOTIVATION

● PEER GROUP INFLUENCE

● PARENTAL CREDENTIALS

● POSITIVE MENTORS

Did You Know?

What Every Student/Child NeedsNo one is perfect, but there is a blueprint to a successful child:

Every student needs Self-knowledge. Who am I ? What are my expectations? What are my goals.

Every student needs inspiring role models – peers and adults – to model their actions.

Every student needs an audience.

Every student needs creative spaces and tools.

Every student needs learning strategies.

Every student needs ideas.

Every student needs feedback, not judgement.

What Every Child/Student Needs

Every student needs a champion.

Every student needs a chance to practice.

Every student deserves as many chances as it takes.( in terms of life skills)

Every student needs to be able to read and write.

Every student needs self –efficacy or believe in themselves.

Every student needs to play.

POWER OF WORDS – THE UNDERLYING MESSAGE! – THE IMPLICATIONS

WORDS CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT COGNITIVE SKILLS

SEVEN CRIPPLING PARENTING BEHAVIORS – that adversely affect mastery of cognitive skillsVia FORBES.com

1.We don’t let our children experience risk.

2.We rescue too quickly.

3.We rave too easily.

4.We let guilt get in the way of leading well.

5.We don’t share our past mistakes.

6.We mistake intelligence, giftedness and influence for maturity.

7.We don’t practice what we preach.ALL THE ABOVE PRACTICES AFFECT THE CHILD’S FLEXIBLE THINKING, SOCIO –EMOTIONAL

WELL BEING AND HIGHER ORDER COGNITION LIKE ABSTRACT REASONING, SPATIAL REASONING, VERBAL REASONING!

Signals of ChangeNeuro fitness programs such as Quantified Mind, Lumosity, and Cognifit seek to measure and improve users’ cognitive abilities.

Cedar Hill Prep School, Somerset, NJ, is using a proprietary cognitive abilities test to show each students Learning Profile to help set students’ academic goals and provides students with a tool box to prove students’ capabilities(starts at Grade 5).

The data from the CAT helps motivate students and parents to realize that students can achieve more than perhaps their academic records are showing.

My Mind Mapped – the future of targeted instruction. “My Mind Mapped” is the future in which breakthroughs in both the mapping and tracking of brain functions have created a new type of credential reflecting students’ cognitive abilities and social and emotional skills.

It will be the criteria for admission to colleges and workplaces.

A recent paper published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience found that cognitive training improved the brain performance of students living in poverty.

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR CHILD’S COGNITIVE ABILITIES?COGNITIVE SKILLS - A BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Executive Function 1 - Attention controls the flow of information in and out of the mind. If a student is actively focusing, the quality of work will likely be consistent. If a student tunes in and tunes out, she will miss details in the information and have more inconsistent results. While it is easier to pay attention for tasks that we enjoy, such as a television show or a game, it is harder to maintain consistent focus for tasks that we might not find fun or interesting.

Executive Function 2 - Working memory is the ability to hold information long enough to use it for completing a task. Remembering a phone number long enough to dial is a simple example of working memory. This type of memory is used for following multi-step directions, completing mental arithmetic, listening to a complex story, or answering reading comprehension questions.

Processing speed is the rate at which a student takes in and analyzes information. Students with efficient processing speed work quickly and accurately. Working quickly is not the same as working efficiently, however, as a fast pace but scattered errors can indicate that a student is processing information with insufficient depth. Students who work too quickly often have grades that do not reflect the student's best ability.

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR CHILD’S COGNITIVE ABILITIES?COGNITIVE SKILLS - Cont.

Flexible thinking, or the ability to shift gears or change direction to adjust to unexpected changes in the surroundings, is an important problem solving skill. Shifting is central to handling transitions, tolerating change, problem solving, and changing from one topic to the next. Flexible thinking relies on abstraction, or the ability to develop meaning, structure and order from complex information. Making connections, seeing the relationship between different events or topics, and meaningfully interpreting stories, are all experiences that help abstraction skills develop.

Visual motor speed is the rate at which a student can see and physically respond. Athletes usually have excellent visual motor speed. In school, students with strong visual motor speed might be fast at typing, copying assignments from the board, or efficiently handling procedures in the science lab.

Visual memory is the ability to acquire information through images. In school, visual learning can include looking at demonstrations, diagrams, and illustrations.

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR CHILD’S COGNITIVE ABILITIES?COGNITIVE SKILLS - Cont.

Abstract reasoning is the use of critical thinking to solve problems that offer information in visual form, rather than words or numbers.

Spatial perception includes an understanding of direction, orientation, scale, and relationship between objects in space.

Verbal reasoning requires students to make connections, identify relationships, predict potential events, read between the lines, and make inferences when concepts are presented in words.

Verbal memory is the ability to acquire information through words. School emphasizesverbal memory, including remembering information read in a text book, written on a board, or discussed in class.

LEARNING PROFILE – 3 DIFFERENT CHILDRENTHREE DIFFERENT PROFILES!

BUILD YOUR CHILD’S COGNITIVE SKILLS

DISCOVERY CHANNEL,SCI-FI, HISTORY.COM, PBS, DOCUMENTARIES

CREATIVE HOBBIES

STORY TELLING/ PERSONAL STORIES

SUDOKU

SPORTS

DEBATE

COOKING

MINECRAFT AND SIM CITY

BOARD GAMES

MUSEUM VISITS

ENGAGE THE CHILD WITH MULTI SENSORY LEARNING

OPPORTUNITIES! THEY ARE THE ENGINES

OF TOMORROW!