• Join our Mailing List!

    Get access to free study tips, learning strategies, and other valuable resources for your child or student.
Topic: Flexible Thinking

Metacognition & Problem Solving

April 8, 2019

Successful learners use metacognition to facilitate their problem solving. This is one of the key findings of the National Academy of Sciences’ synthesis of decades of research on the science of learning explained in How People Learn: Mind, Brain, Experience and School Below we explain metacognition and provide the vocabulary to teach it. In part two of this series we will focus on strategy selection. If you’d like to try our full metacognition approach, please contact us here. Start with Cognition Cognition is how you learn. Depending on the topic, the context, personal experiences and genetics, each of us relies on different proportions of cognitive skills to understand and remember what we read, see or hear. We begin learning the moment we are born and we never stop…. Read More

Leave a Comment

Can America’s ‘lost Einsteins’ be found more easily than we think?

February 4, 2018

Are we looking for the ‘lost Einsteins’ in the wrong places? Research suggests we should be looking at students’ spatial and flexible thinking skills, not math and science scores. Who are the ‘lost Einsteins’? Late last year the The Equality of Opportunity Project released a report concluding that the U.S. is losing out on as much as 400% of innovation potential by failing to effectively nurture under-represented minorities, i.e. Blacks, Latinos, and girls. The report states, “there are many ‘lost Einsteins’ – people who would have had high-impact inventions” but never do because they grow up in communities where math and science in general, and innovation specifically, isn’t fostered. Stories in the NY Times and The Atlantic among other outlets fueled the social media discourse about an educational system… Read More

Leave a Comment

Positive Self Talk: Phrases Every Kid Needs

June 6, 2017

Words can be amazingly powerful. If you want kids to feel better and succeed, start with positive self  talk. While real behavioral change is admittedly hard and takes time, changing the language we use is relatively quick and simple. When we eliminate phrases from our vocabulary that take us down, it has a remarkably immediate and effective impact. Words won’t change everything, but they are an essential first step in re-framing a situation. 1. SHOULD HAVE/ SHOULD BE Seriously, get ‘should’ out of your vocabulary. Think about every time you hear the word. It suggests you’ve done something wrong or someone has wronged you. Either way, you likely feel hurt, upset or dissatisfied which often leads to blaming someone else. “I should have gotten an ‘A’ on that… Read More

Leave a Comment

How to Get Kids to Do What You Want

February 15, 2017

Without question the best way to get kids, all kids, to do what you want them to do is… Let them choose. If this is a new concept to you and you are dealing with a teenager I’m not going to guarantee it will work the first time. However, after a few trials you are likely to discover why this approach, while perhaps against our most visceral impulses, is far more effective than asking, telling or demanding a child to do what you want. Why it works? Quite simply, choice empowers. When students choose, they take responsibility, and when they take responsibility they follow through. Glorious isn’t it? Ok, so it doesn’t always work perfectly. But as you get more comfortable letting… Read More

choices

Leave a Comment

Give Her Wings

May 18, 2016

By Nancy Weinstein Last weekend my daughter flew. It was her Bat Mitzvah, and she owned it from start to finish. From her preparation, to planning the party, to conducting the service, to showing the grace and poise as a hostess that one rarely sees in a 13 year old. Unlike most parents on such a special occasion, I didn’t cry. I glowed. I had cried too many tears already. As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” At times I think my daughter is the strongest person I know. But getting to this point wasn’t easy. At her one year physical, the pediatrician tried to offer solace by telling me, “The most difficult children often turn into the most interesting adults.” It was… Read More

WingsQuote

Leave a Comment

Are Your Students Prepared for the WEF’s “4th Industrial Revolution”?

January 28, 2016

Read and learn how you can make sure your kids are prepared for a lifetime of success. Experts from the World Economic Forum believe that over 1/3 of the most important workplace skills will change over the next five years. That’s an incredible rate of change. While schools are focused on meeting these needs, there’s a lot parents can do to strengthen the skills that will be critical to their child’s lifelong success. Top 10 Ways to Nurture the World Economic Forum Top 10 Skills: Know your child’s stronger and weaker skills. Keep in mind that these skills develop at different rates, and you should expect a child to be stronger in some areas and weaker in others.* Focus on retention. A strong general knowledge base remains essential for critical thinking…. Read More

Leave a Comment

Flexible Thinking: When It’s Hard to Adapt

December 9, 2014

What is Flexible Thinking? Flexible thinking is the ability to shift thinking or attention in response to a switch in rules, or to new or unexpected situations. Flexible thinking is also referred to as mental flexibility or cognitive flexibility. Why is Flexible Thinking important? Imagine driving without your GPS and you reach a “road closed” sign. You have no idea where you are or where to go next. You might get upset and consider taking the closed road anyway. Or you might panic . Or you might simply sit confused. That’s the feeling of a child with a flexible thinking weakness when asked to find another way to solve a problem or move to a new, unfamiliar situation—a combination of confusion, anger at the injustice,… Read More

flexible thinking

Leave a Comment

So they’re Starting….Middle School

August 15, 2013

By Sarah Vander Schaaff Last year, I interviewed a teacher just before the start of middle school. She gave us some great advice and framed her discussion with this point: This is a time where kids are tested, especially socially, and they begin to solidify who they are as people. So with back to school already in full swing for some of you–and on the horizon for others–I though we’d take another look at this interview. It may be of great value for kids (and parents) of all ages. WHAT TO SAY BEFORE THE FIRST DAY OF MIDDLE SCHOOL: • Know the values of your family and your school and don’t be afraid to stick to them: kindness, empathy, hard work,… Read More

middle_school_by_scotty_reifsnyder_2

Leave a Comment