How to Better Understand the Way Our Students Think
As an English teacher for the better half of a decade, there were countless times I wished I could peek into the brains of my students and read their thoughts like a map. Why did one student excel in verbal reasoning but struggle with flexible thinking? Why did another have excellent processing speed but have significant trouble with paying attention? Before I could learn their unique ways of processing information, however, I needed to first understand that every mind has the same basic cognitive processes: Complex Reasoning, Executive Functions, Memory, and Speed/Efficiency. These four domains are responsible for acquiring knowledge and building intellectual skills such as problem solving and basic recall. This framework allows us to understand how our brains function within this structure.
Complex Reasoning, often referred to as “higher order thinking” requires students to go beyond just memorizing facts. In classrooms, we expect students to actually do something with the information they are learning, such as identifying relationships between ideas, combining or applying concepts to solve problems, or generating entirely new ideas based on what they’ve learned. While these functions are all related, they help to solve different types of problems; ironically, you can be really strong in one skill, but need support in the other! Complex Reasoning is the single most important factor in determining academic achievement in secondary education.
Executive Functions are a set of skills that involve an organizational system for thinking so we can set goals, plan, focus, and monitor our progress towards those goals. Succeeding in school, chasing a dream, or pursuing a hobby all require executive functions. If you think of your brain as a big-wig corporation, there would need to be someone in charge, a chief executive officer or CEO who gets to run the show. Executive functions help you set goals, pay attention, make decisions, organize resources, take action, and monitor your own progress.
Memory (or lack thereof!) is a function we are all familiar with. Memory relates to how well we retain and recall information that we read and hear. Verbal memory is your ability to hear or read a word, sentence or paragraph and then recall it when needed. Visual memory, sometimes called “the mind’s eye,” allows us to remember what we see, such as images, patterns, and colors. Speed and Efficiency explains our ability to learn new information and convey what we know or have learned; in other words, it’s the time it takes us to complete a mental task. Visual Motor Speed demonstrates how well our eyes and hands work together, and Processing Speed is how efficiently we process/analyze and respond to new information.
Much like my desire to peek into my students minds, neuroscientists at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania had a similar desire to understand the brain’s complexity. These research experts took the four main cognitive domains and expanded them into 10 skills to more effectively explain how each unique brain analyzes, processes, and retains information. These ten cognitive skills most closely correlate to success in academics and on standardized assessments. To better understand how these domains work together and assess students strengths and weaknesses, the Perelman neuroscientists created the Mindprint Assessment: an objective measure of a student’s accuracy and speed on nine puzzle-like tasks that identifies learner variability in complex reasoning, executive functions, and memory.
The Mindprint Assessment has been tested in over 100,000 participants worldwide including more than 10,000 children and 50,000 members of the armed services. The adult version of the assessment is even used by NASA to evaluate cognition of astronauts! Once completed, Mindprint provides students with an in-depth explanation of their cognitive strengths, how to use those strengths to compensate for any struggles they may face in academic learning, and explains various studying strategies personalized to students’ learning needs. The testing results also identify which college prep test (SAT or ACT) you should take based on your strengths, along with a general scoring range you should realistically be able to achieve based on this data.
Although studying strategies and testing suggestions are incredibly helpful, I believe the most impactful element of the Mindprint test is being provided a roadmap to your own complicated, unique way of processing information. I’ve heard many students over the years vocalize feeling “dumb” or “not good enough” when presented with a concept or an unfamiliar task they do not immediately comprehend. They had been conditioned to think they should process the material in one specific way, when in reality, they weren’t given the tools to understand why they might be struggling. For example, if a student has very low attention, their inability to focus when they read independently or listen to a lecture means they are likely missing out on critical information–not that they can’t understand that information when their attention is focused. Instead, knowing they struggle with attention, they will learn how to implement strategies to help them combat their wandering mind (such as taking quick mental breaks, making sure phones or games are out of sight, and organizing their study space).
Knowledge is power, and by providing our students with the chance to learn about their own unique way of interacting with the world around them, we help set them up for success. We cannot change or grow unless we first know how to improve, and hopefully with tools like Mindprint, students will feel empowered to chase their best potential.
For anyone interested in taking the MindPrint assessment, contact us (hello@beyondedu.co) to find out more details and cost. Included in the one time fee is the test, along with a personalized meeting with our Mindprint liaison to explain the results to you and/or your student and how they can be used to better study or prepare for collegiate assessment testing. The test takes approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete, and will be proctored by a testing coordinator.
Happy learning!
**Information about the Mindprint assessment taken from the Mindprint website and various training videos. For more information, visit their website here.
This article was written by:
Beyond Education Test Prep Manager
English and Test Prep Mentor