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Specific Executive Function Resources

on April 27, 2016

From the most recent blog posted on April 5th:

Looking across these frameworks it is possible to see that we expect students to become increasingly independent as learners. How well they can/will become independent learners depends on what learners know about learning in general and their own learning in particular. And that will depend at least in part on their teacher(s) and the learning environment.

Next the focus will shift to resources specific to “Executive Function” as it applies in general, in the classroom, and for students who struggle with learning.

Some sources/resources

Metacognition, Strategy Use and Instruction by Waters and Schneider, 2010, Guilford Press.

The Table of Contents shows a wide range of topics from Skilled Memory to Math and Science (focusing on conceptual knowledge), and Reading and Writing.  In describing themes across the chapters, the editors comment on several major themes:

“What develops has been replaced with a more complex set of questions that focus on the interplay between content knowledge, metacognition and strategy use….One of the most striking features of the chapters included in this volume, is the increasing prominence of metacognition…driven by the move into math and science areas and the corresponding importance of explanation and reflection on ongoing problem solving…. Forcing the issue of transfer….within a more metacognitive mind-set.” (pp. 281-2)

They follow up with separate sections on (a) goal-directed activity, (b) the interplay between metacognitive knowledge and self-monitoring, types of knowledge, and individual differences, the shift to microgenetic designs, the move into the classroom and peer support.

Along with this overview of Metacognition/Executive Function, a number of authors focus on one specific Executive Function skill, for example, working memory (See, for example, Gathercole and Alloways, Working Memory and Learning: A Practice Guide for Teachers (Sage Press, 2008) and Dehn’s Working Memory and Academic Learning (John Wiley and Sons, 2008).

And some authors focus on a specific population of children; for example:

Russell Barkley’s Executive Functions focuses on children with ADHS (Guilford Press, 2012)

Lynn Meltzer’s (Ed.) book on Executive Function in Education: From Theory to Practice (Guilford Press, 2007) has chapters specific to ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Nonverbal Learning Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Joyce Cooper-Kahn and Margaret Foster in Boosting Executive Skills in the Classroom, A Practical Guide for Educators (Jossey-Bass, 2013) does not focus on a specific type of disability but comments on ADDH, specific learning disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Two other “Executive Function” (EF) texts focus on specific E. F. skills rather than specific types of disabilities.  They provide lists of skills that are part of EF skills.

Peg Dawson and Richard Guare, Smart but Scattered, Guilford Press, 2009

Lynn Melzer, Promoting Executive Function in the Classroom, Guilford Press, 2010

In the next blog post, look for a chart listing the Executive Function Skills from the work on the last 3 authors.


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