Term

Spring 2018

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MALED

Facilitator(s)

Susan Manikowski

Content Expert

Joel Carlovsky

Abstract

The research question addressed in this project was how does explicit instruction in executive functioning skills impact students’ ability to read and comprehend text at a deeper level? The continued rise in difficulties with reading comprehension and executive dysfunction among students was the focus of the author’s capstone question. The capstone paper focused on the topic of executive function in education and documents the author’s creation of a five-week curriculum that focuses on the use of cognitive training strategies. Executive functioning skills are defined, their presence in reading skills is described, and the possible ways to teach executive function skills to young readers in a way that will assist comprehension are discussed, as well as the impact that executive dysfunction can have on comprehension of texts. Findings suggest that building the executive functioning skills of working memory and inhibition control through the use of cognitive training may be the most impactful on students’ comprehension skills. Implications for future research include the development of a curriculum that supports students who struggle with executive dysfunction in mathematics.

Project Type

Curriculum

Keywords

Curriculum, Foreign Language, Literacy, Reading

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Included in

Education Commons

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