Curiosity, creativity, and aesthetics are typically studied separately. The extent to which they share psychological and neural mechanisms is not well understood, despite all being linked to broader personality characteristics like Openness to Experience and are driven by a desire for information and knowledge. Here, we review evidence and advance…

This article discusses the role of the three components of executive functions (EF) in geometric understanding. Discussing several examples of geometry problems, this article shows how EF are actively employed to solve geometry problems. Inhibition as the first component of EF helps the individual to suppress contextually irrelevant information.…

A deeper understanding of the processes leading to problem framing and behind finding solutions to problems should help explain variability in the quality of the solutions to those problems. Using Sternberg's WICS model as the conceptual basis of problem solving, this article discusses the relations between creative, analytical, practical, and…

A key factor in a child's healthy development is resilience, which allows a child to have an adaptive response to hardships even when exposed to a toxic environment or adversity. Resilience is the interplay between a child's positive environment and adaptive and coping skills outweighing risk factors and adverse experiences to create a positive…

Conflicts between children, a universal phenomenon across cultures, present unique opportunities for developing executive function (EF) skills, such as problem solving and exercising self-regulation. EF, primarily associated with a set of cognitive skills or processes that includes planning, organizing, and regulating behavior, plays an integral…

Anxiety, one of the most common underlying causes of challenging student behavior, typically goes undiscovered and unaddressed through school-based behavior supports. Jessica Minahan and Stuart Ablon combine their expertise as a behavior analyst and a psychologist to outline how best to support students whose anxiety leads to challenging behavior.…

The teacher displayed counting cards that included both dots and numerals in order from one to five, as she counted them with her students. She then turned the cards facedown, keeping them in order, and began an identify-a-hidden-card activity with the class. This class was engaged in the third of three card activities that develop number sense…

Because researchers know so much more about the brain and development than they did when the 20th-century U.S. education system was designed, this knowledge can now be used to design a system in which all individuals are able to take advantage of high-quality opportunities for transformative learning and development. This playbook suggests a set…

Executive function (EF) refers to the set of core self-regulatory skills required for deliberate, goal-directed problem solving. These skills, which are exercised when children pause and reflect before reacting, provide a foundation for learning in a classroom context. They make it possible to pay attention, think flexibly, keep information in…

Studies in cognitive science have verified that working memory (where the brain solves problems) can manipulate nearly all elements of knowledge that can be recalled automatically from long-term memory, but only a few elements that have not previously been well memorized. Research in reading comprehension has found that "lecture notes with…

This article outlines some of the factors leading to challenges in succeeding in college environments for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Individuals with the intellectual ability to pursue postsecondary education still need individualized and ongoing supports from their families and others to ensure success. Social challenges…

Many adults and students today think of themselves as excellent multitaskers--switching from task to task or from task to play in a nanosecond. Yet the pings and tweets their devices emit interrupt them in ways that are more problematic than they think. One of the powerful myths in the culture today is that multitasking is efficient for work or…

Poverty, neglect, or family stress can make it especially difficult for young children to develop the self-discipline and habits of mind they will need to succeed in the classroom and beyond. Armed with research and a commitment to the whole child, Washington state has transformed the way its agencies work together and in partnership with…

The routine jobs of yesterday are being replaced by technology and/or shipped off-shore. In their place, job categories that require knowledge management, abstract reasoning, and personal services seem to be growing. The modern workplace requires workers to have broad cognitive and affective skills. Often referred to as "21st century…