Good Sensory Learning Blog

Multiplication Instruction that requires rote memorization is often a labor-intensive and boring task for young learners. Many kids spend countless hours with flashcards as well as paper and pencil drills.  What if I told you that there was a better way?  Instead, teachers can use songs, coloring activities, finger techniques, games, and strategies to make the multiplication quick and simple! What are Some Simple Strategies for Teaching the Times Tables? There are a number of strategies that can be used with students to master their multiplication tables: Just like students can learn how to count by 2s, 5s, and 10s, they can also learn to...

Learning to follow directions is a critical skill for young children. Whether they are complying with a parent's directives, teachers' written instructions, or following oral commands from a coach or mentor, those that can implement this ability have a major advantage. What Does it Mean to Follow Directions? Following directions is the implementation of a series of requested tasks. Directions can be presented orally, or in written form, and involve the understanding and interpretation of language.  Many children struggle with this skill, because it requires them to: use their working memory to hold, remember and recall a sequence of directives make sense of subtle linguistic...

Recent research suggests that working memory is one of the best indicators of academic success, so strengthening this cognitive skill can offer great benefits to struggling students.  What is Working Memory? Working memory is a short-term, cognitive function with limited capacity that gathers sensory input and memories to complete a mental activity. When sensory information reaches our conscious awareness, working memory processes the information through internal thoughts, visualizations, and one's inner voice. It acts like a mental workspace that allows one to manage attention and manipulate information.  The image below helps you to see that working memory is a vital component of executive functioning (depicted as the conductor of the brain). ...

Higher order thinking or higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), is based on the theory that some more advanced forms of learning require advanced or complex cognitive processing. Bloom's taxonomy, for instance, suggests the HOTS levels include analysis (breaking apart and organizing information), evaluation (examining the outcome), and synthesis (pulling information together).  The teaching of these skills demands different and more advanced instructional methods than concrete levels of learning such as rote memorization and repetition. How Can We Teach Higher Order Thinking Skills? Instead of parroting facts back to a teacher, HOTS asks students to: understand concepts making sense of implied meanings from lessons or content cues...