Tag Archives: Executive Function

Student Perspective: Multisensory Learning

Multisensory Learning, Student Perspective

What are the benefits of teaching with multisensory activities? This student-authored post is part of a series that highlights student perspectives around learning and executive function in the classroom. 

One of the best ways you can engage your students with learning differences is by using multisensory practices.

What is Multisensory Learning?

Multisensory learning occurs when a student uses multiple senses to learn information. The goal of multisensory learning is to allow your students to connect to the material being taught in many different ways. Students with and without learning differences can benefit from a multisensory approach since it allows students to make new connections and strengthen memories.

Engaging through Multisensory Activities

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that teachers use the same multisensory techniques from first grade through high school, but it is important for teachers to adapt their multisensory practices to better serve older students.  

For instance, watching videos in class is a multisensory activity. In biology class, dissecting an animal is multisensory because it allows the students to see and touch the parts of the animal that are being studied. Science is a great subject for multisensory teaching because many experiments are naturally multisensory — a great reason to increase the number of hands-on experiments in science. 

One multisensory activity for English and history classes is acting out scenes of a book or scenes from history. This allows students to immerse themselves in the time or book, helping them learn by interacting with the text in another way. 

Students will learn best if you try to integrate different multisensory activities, instead of relying only on traditional teaching practices like lecturing. There are many different ways that you can approach multisensory teaching. It can be helpful to experiment and think of new multisensory activities that fit with what you are teaching.

Join us this November for the 36th Annual Executive Function Conference, which will focus on promoting resilience and equity for ALL students.

  • C. Solomon, Student Contributor

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

36th Annual EF Conference Speaker Spotlight: Dr. Lynn Meltzer on Creating Strategic Classrooms

EF Conference

This is the seventh post in a series that highlights the speakers of this year’s 36th Annual Executive Function Conference, which will focus on promoting resilience and equity for ALL students.

This November, we are honored to feature the Director of the Institutes for Learning and Development (ResearchILD & ILD), Lynn Meltzer, Ph.D., who will speak about “Creating Strategic Classrooms: Re-Engaging Students to Promote Self-Understanding and Resilience.”

Dr. Meltzer is a fellow and past-president of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities. She is the founder and program chair of the Annual Executive Function Conference, which she has chaired for over 35 years. For 30 years, she was an associate in education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Child Development at Tufts University. Dr. Meltzer’s 40 years of clinical work, research, publications, and presentations have focused on understanding the complexity of learning and attention differences.  

Dr. Meltzer’s extensive publications include articles, chapters, and books, most recently, Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice (2018), Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom (2010), and The Power of Peers in the Classroom: Enhancing Learning and Social Skills (2015). Together with her ResearchILD staff, Dr. Meltzer developed SMARTS, an evidence-based Executive Function and Peer Mentoring/ Coaching Curriculum for elementary, middle, and high school students.

2021 Executive Function Conference

Dr. Meltzer founded the “Learning Disabilities Conference” thirty-six years ago while at Harvard Medical School. This conference was the first of its kind, connecting theorists, researchers, and teachers to improve the lives of students with learning and attention difficulties. Over the years, the name of the conference has changed to emphasize students’ strengths and resilience. However, the focus has remained on executive function as the foundation of success for ALL students. At this year’s conference, you can hear from Dr. Meltzer and a number of distinguished speakers who will address issues related to executive function, resilience, and equity. Dr. Meltzer’s talk will focus on building strategic classrooms. 

Strategy Use in the Classroom

How can teachers ensure that their classrooms are places where students can develop and refine their strategy use? At ResearchILD’s 36th Annual Executive Function Conference, Dr. Meltzer will describe how teachers can create strategic classrooms and learning environments. Dr. Meltzer will also highlight ways to promote students’ self-awareness and self-understanding. Self-understanding is a critical aspect of metacognition, which is the key to academic and lifelong success. Dr. Meltzer’s talk will cover strategies for promoting metacognitive awareness so we can help students to learn HOW to learn. She will also discuss the new MetaCOG Online survey system, an interactive executive function survey tool that highlights students’ perceptions of their executive function strategy use, self-concept, perceived effort, and persistence.

Learn More

You can learn more about Dr. Lynn Meltzer and her work:

Raffle for New Registrants—starting 9/24! All new conference registrants will be entered into a special raffle through October 17. Choose one of many great options, including a full year’s access to the SMARTS Executive Function program, a seat at the upcoming Executive Function Essentials Workshops, or your own library of EF resources!

Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate

SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org

Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org

The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org

Executive Function and Junk Food

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There’s no question that what we eat has a major influence on our day to day behavior and our long term health. But how does what we eat affect our executive function processes?

Unsurprisingly, research has found that healthy foods are correlated to boosted executive function performance, and unhealthy foods are not. Personally, I was very happy to hear that blueberries and smoothies high in antioxidants appear to boost performance on executive function tasks.

The bad news, especially after an indulgent holiday season, is that sugar is not good for executive function. In the short term, eating sugar sends a pleasurable rush to the brain. As the brain seeks out this reward, it undercuts our inhibition to say no to sugary treats, undermining the executive function processes that allow us to delay gratification. Check out this great TedTalk for more on the neuroscience of sugar.

Even worse, unhealthy eating appears to have negative consequences  for our long-term brain health. A study done by Fania Dasseen and Katrijn Houben at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, found a link between obesity and lower reported levels of executive function performance, implying that individuals who struggle to maintain their weight also struggle with executive function tasks.

It is important to note that the study did not find a causal link; it is possible that being obese impedes executive function development, having executive function difficulties predicts the risk of being obese, or a third factor, such as genetics, could explain both.  Regardless, the risk to brain development is real. Another study by Amy Reichelt, at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, found that a diet high in fat and sugar impeded the neuroplasticity of adolescent rats.

The good news is that, by pairing executive function strategies with healthy eating programs, both diet and executive function abilities may be improved. A study by researchers  at Curtin University in Australia taught strategies for cognitive flexibility and improved metacognition and found that participants improved both their eating habits and their performance on executive function related measures. 

As more research is done to explore the role that food has on our application and development of executive function processes, and the influence executive function strengths and challenges have on diet, educators should be aware and look for opportunities to explore the relationship between diet and executive function in their students’ lives. When discussing healthy eating habits, find ways to teach strategies for eating healthy systematically and explicitly, providing opportunities for students to develop greater self-awareness. When teaching executive function strategies, ask students to reflect on how their diet influences their food choices.

Personally, now that the Christmas cookie season is safely behind us, I’ll be taking some time this January to reflect on the role of junk food in my own diet.

  • Michael Greschler, M.Ed.

Project-Based Learning and Executive Function

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Thinking about bringing project-based learning to your classroom? You can help students succeed by weaving executive function strategies into every step.

Project-based learning is a hot topic in education these days. By actively engaging in real-world projects, students often experience higher motivation and deeper learning. Students are able to explore issues that are personally meaningful, such as bullying, or make an impact on the community by helping out someone in need, like a homeless shelter or animal rescue. The skills and strategies needed to engage in project-based learning (e.g., organizing, public speaking, research) are essential for success in college and the real world.

Unfortunately, projects don’t always go smoothly and learning opportunities are lost. When we work with schools that are implementing project-based learning, it’s not unusual to hear stories of projects gone wrong: students who don’t understand the point, materials that got jumbled up or lost, or a timeline that left everything to the last minute.

To be successful when implementing project-based learning, executive function must be addressed explicitly. Students need to organize their time and materials, sift and sort information when conducting research, and self-monitor and check their progress.

Here are three steps to follow when thinking through how to integrate executive function into project-based learning.

  1. PLAN – A successful project takes thoughtful time management. This includes both long-term management (setting the timeline for each phase of the project) as well as short-term management (identifying work time and helping students use that time efficiently). Students must be engaged in the planning part of the project. While the teacher may need to do most of the calendar planning, students can create their own personal timeline to gain a sense of the scope of the project.
  2. DO – Project-based learning relies on academic tasks with a high executive function demand (note taking, reading comprehension, breaking down directions). This is the perfect opportunity to teach executive function strategies in the content of an engaging project! Model the successful use of an executive function strategy, and then let students practice this strategy on their project.
  3. REFLECT – Take time to ask students to reflect on how they used executive function strategies within their projects. This helps them to make connections between the problems they are exploring or to apply strategies they used on their project to other areas of their lives.

By explicitly embedding executive function into every step, you’ll increase the success and impact of your students’ project-based learning experience.

Want to learn more? Join us at the 10th Annual Executive Function Conference for a session on “Designing and Assigning Projects through an Executive Function Lens.” We’ll see you there!

  • Michael Greschler, M.Ed., SMARTS Director