STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATORS: COMPREHENSION AND STRENGTHENING OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN STUDENTS

ISON, MIRTA SUSANA; KORZENIOWSKI, CELINA

Oxford

Simposio; OXFOR D SYMPOSIUM i n School-Bas e d Famil y Counseling; 2019

University of San Francisco Center for Child and Family Development

Executive functions (EF) play a key role in the cognitive, social and emotional development of children and adolescents. Their proper development contributes to their success in schooling, promotes well-being, health and purposeful social relationships. The stage of formal education overlaps with sensitive periods of the evolutionary trajectory of the EFs, and for that reason, there is high importance and relevance in the training of teachers as promoters and facilitators of the cognitive development of children and adolescents. In line with this position, the general objective of this work was to design instances of professional training of educators aimed at the understanding of Executive Functioning in students and its application to the educational curriculum. The training was structured in three stages. In the first stage, a theoretical-practical training was offered on the implication of EFs in school performance, and 420 counselors and psycho-pedagogical advisers from the province of Mendoza, Argentina participated. The second stage was structured through a virtual platform and consisted of four theoretical-practical sessions, in which 3,000 primary and secondary level educators participated. At this stage, the teachers assessed the executive functioning of their students through the Executive Function Scale of students (EFE, Korzeniowski & Ison, 2019). The EFE assesses behaviors in students that denote: attention, metacognition, inhibitory control, working memory, planning, organization, and cognitive flexibility. 55,000 Argentine students between 10 and 15 years of age were evaluated. The results obtained indicated that the most strengthened capacities in the students were cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control, while the weakest ones were attention, metacognition and planning, according to the perception of their teachers. At the third, the teachers made proposals to improve the weakest cognitive capacities in their students, with a view to facilitating the transition between primary and secondary level. 95% of the teachers gave a positive assessment of the training sessions, highlighting the relevance and theoretical support of the provided materials and strategies. Providing instances of training and reflection for educators on the implications of schooling experiences in the cognitive development of their students is a way of promoting innovative and enriched educational practices aimed at improving student resources.