Teaching children to better use their working memory in early neurodevelopmental stages may improve their math skills.
[The fact] that executive function, even in children this young, is significantly related to early math performance suggests that if we can improve executive function, we can improve their academic performance," says Adele Diamond, professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience at the University of British Columbia.[Lead author of a study in Child Development Clancy] Blair says that some tests of executive function can be used as training tools. A "backward digit span" test is a case in point: Person A recites a string of numbers, like 3, 6, 10, and person B has to respond with the same string, only in reverse order: 10, 6, 3. This task requires one to restrain his or her automatic inclination to mimic person A (inhibitory control), but also requires keeping the actual numbers in mind (working memory).
Read more at Scientific American. Also plan dinner and count backward from 100 by sevens at the same time. And then, time to play at recess?
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