Executive Functions (Part 2): Strategies to Improve Students’ Academic Performance

Assessment

Take some time now to answer the following questions. Please note that the IRIS Center does not collect your Assessment responses. If this is a course assignment, you should turn them in to your professor using whatever method he or she requires. If you have trouble answering any of the questions, go back and review the Perspectives & Resources pages in this module.

1. 1. Because students with learning differences often have difficulties with executive functions, they are at risk of academic failure.
      1. List four critical activities related to learning that might be affected by these deficits.
      2. For each of these activities, identify at least one study skills strategy that might help these students to improve their academic performance.
   2. Name four self-regulation strategies and describe how each can help a student become a more independent learner.
   3. Imagine that you are a middle school social studies teacher. A number of your students are struggling with basic study skills. You want to help all of your students to become more effective learners.
      1. Choose a graphic organizer to help your students more easily see the relationship between election processes in the early 1900s and today. Explain why you chose this type of graphic organizer.
      2. Select one note-taking strategy to help your students to take effective notes to study for a test. Explain why you chose this strategy.
      3. You want to introduce a mnemonic strategy to help your students learn the first ten elements in the periodic chart. Select the type of mnemonic strategy (or combination of strategies) you would use for this task and explain why you chose it. Show how you would apply this strategy for teaching the first ten elements of the periodic chart.
   4. Imagine that you are a high school teacher. You have noticed that several of your students have difficulty completing their homework on time. One strategy that might be helpful for these students is A-WATCH. Using what you have learned in this module, explain why this strategy might be effective.