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SUMMARY:Taking Executive Functions to School - Dr Michelle Ellefson\, Facu
 lty of Education\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20091117T163000Z
DTEND:20091117T180000Z
UID:TALK21246@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Nichola Daily
DESCRIPTION:Recent studies have suggested that students with better execut
 ive functioning abilities have higher academic achievement. Generally\, ex
 ecutive functions include the processes involved in goal-directed behavior
 s across a variety of cognitively challenging situations. Executive functi
 ons undergo various developmental changes throughout the lifespan and appe
 ar to be related to the development of the frontal lobes\, hinting to a li
 nk between academic performance and \nbiological constraints. During this 
 seminar\, I will focus on the development of executive functions and wheth
 er the links between educational achievement and executive functions might
  be constrained by educational materials (and not biology alone). Further\
 , I will \npresent evidence regarding the potential impact of regular use 
 of executive functions in the classroom and how this practice might relate
  to improved classroom learning and achievement test performance. \n\nBiog
 raphy:\n\nMichelle is a university lecturer in the PNE group. She has scie
 ntific interests in cognition\, neuroscience\, child development\, and edu
 cation\, integrating them into a multi-disciplinary research programme aim
 ed at improving math and science education. Using an iterative process\, s
 he pairs laboratory based research with classroom learning and curriculum 
 development in order to better understand mechanisms responsible for cogni
 tive development and to leverage that understanding to improve educational
  practice. Her current projects focus on the role of executive functions i
 n school achievement and how children’s reasoning about causes and effec
 ts impacts how they think about scientific phenomena. In addition\, she is
  applying cognitive principles to classroom learning\, including simplicit
 y and desirable difficulties. Initially trained in developmental cognitive
  neuroscience\, her interests in improving cognitive outcomes for children
  have inspired her to reach beyond this initial training to develop her in
 tegrative\, multi-disciplinary approach that informs both school practice 
 and theoretical accounts of cognitive development.
LOCATION:2S8\, Faculty of Education\, 184 Hills Road\, Cambridge\, CB2 8PQ
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