The Mind That Changed Itself: Helping Students Develop Cognitive Functions

"Every student has the potential to change how they think, learn, and grow. By teaching cognitive functions, we can help them unlock that potential."

Mary sat in her third-grade classroom, staring blankly at the words on the page. The letters blurred together, and her mind wandered. Her teacher had gone over the phonics rules repeatedly, but Mary still couldn’t seem to decode the words. “Maybe I’m just not good at reading,” she thought to herself.

Mary’s story reflects a struggle faced by many students—not an inability to learn, but underdeveloped mental processes that hinder clear thinking and reading comprehension. These mental processes, or cognitive functions, are essential for academic success. They form the foundation of how we process, retain, and apply information.

The transformative power of cognitive functions is that they are not fixed. Just as the brain can grow and adapt through neuroplasticity, students can strengthen their cognitive functions and change how they think, read, and learn. This article explores how educators can help students develop the mental processes that allow them to unlock their potential and truly become minds that changed themselves.

What Are Cognitive Functions?

Cognitive functions are the mental processes that enable thinking, learning, and problem-solving. They include:

• Attention: Focusing on specific tasks while ignoring distractions.
• Memory: Retaining and recalling information for comprehension and application.
• Auditory Processing: Recognizing and manipulating sounds, essential for phonics and decoding.
• Visual Processing: Interpreting shapes, letters, and text patterns.
• Reasoning: Connecting ideas, solving problems, and understanding cause-and-effect relationships.
• Executive Functioning: Planning, organizing, and self-monitoring tasks.
• Processing Speed: Quickly interpreting and responding to information.
• Metacognition: Reflecting on one’s thinking and adjusting strategies as needed.

When these functions are underdeveloped, students often experience confusion, frustration, or disengagement. But as research on neuroplasticity and mediated learning demonstrates, cognitive functions can be strengthened with targeted interventions.

Why Cognitive Functions Matter for Reading

Reading is a complex process that depends on multiple cognitive functions working together. Consider these examples:

• Decoding Words: Requires auditory and visual processing to translate letters into sounds and sounds into words.
• Comprehending Text: Relies on memory, reasoning, and metacognition to retain and connect ideas.
• Sustained Reading: Demands focus and attention to complete a passage or story.

When students lack these skills, they often fall into thinking traps:

• “I Can’t Pay Attention!”: Weak attention skills lead to distraction and missed details.
• “I Don’t Understand!”: Poor memory and reasoning make comprehension difficult.
• “Reading Takes Forever!”: Slow processing speed makes reading feel overwhelming.

Research from the Feuerstein Institute demonstrates that cognitive functions are not fixed traits. With intentional teaching and mediated learning experiences, these mental processes can be improved, allowing students to overcome barriers and thrive academically.

Mary’s Transformation: The Mind That Changed Itself

Mary’s teacher, Ms. Taylor, began to notice her struggles and decided to take a different approach. Instead of repeating phonics rules, she introduced activities to build Mary’s cognitive functions:

• Attention: Short, focused reading tasks helped Mary build stamina.
• Memory: Visualization exercises helped Mary create mental images of stories.
• Reasoning: Open-ended questions encouraged Mary to predict outcomes and explain her thinking.

Within weeks, Mary’s confidence grew. For the first time, she raised her hand during reading time. By the end of the semester, she was volunteering to read aloud and finding joy in stories. Mary’s transformation wasn’t about working harder; it was about thinking smarter.

Mary’s story illustrates how students can change their cognitive functions and unlock their potential. This isn’t just a shift in reading ability—it’s a change in how they think about learning and themselves.

Practical Strategies for Teachers

Teachers can help students develop cognitive functions without needing special workshops or expensive programs. Here are research-backed strategies to try today:

1. Build Attention and Focus

• Chunk Tasks: Break reading into smaller, manageable sections.
• Brain Breaks: Use short mindfulness or movement activities to reset attention.

2. Strengthen Memory

• Repetition and Practice: Use repeated readings to reinforce vocabulary and concepts.
• Visualization: Encourage students to create mental pictures of what they read to improve retention.

3. Enhance Auditory Processing

• Phonemic Awareness Games: Play sound-matching or rhyming games to strengthen foundational decoding skills.
• Read-Alouds: Incorporate oral reading to help students process and interpret sounds.

4. Boost Visual Processing

• Highlight Patterns: Teach word families and spelling patterns to support decoding.
• Graphic Organizers: Use tools like story maps to help students organize and understand ideas.

5. Foster Reasoning and Problem-Solving

• Ask Why: Use open-ended questions to encourage students to think critically.
• Cause-and-Effect Mapping: Help students connect events or ideas in stories with diagrams.

6. Develop Executive Functions

• Plan Goals: Guide students in setting and tracking reading goals.
• Teach Organization: Use color-coded notes or bookmarks to help students manage information.

7. Cultivate Metacognition

• Model Thinking Aloud: Share your thought process during a challenging text to demonstrate problem-solving.
• Reflective Prompts: Encourage students to ask themselves, “What strategy can I use if I don’t understand?”

The Mind That Changed Itself

The greatest gift educators can give students is the ability to change their minds. By strengthening cognitive functions, teachers help students not only read but also think critically, solve problems, and approach learning with confidence. Mary’s story reminds us that these changes are possible for every child.

When students develop clear thinking, they become clear readers. With the right support, they can transform their struggles into strengths and their potential into success. Every student has the ability to become a mind that changed itself—and it starts with the teacher.

"Clear thinking leads to clear reading. Start today, and watch your students thrive."

Bibliography

Books

1. Doidge, Norman. The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Penguin Books, 2007.
2. Feuerstein, Reuven, Feuerstein, Rafi, and Falik, Louis H. Instrumental Enrichment: Cognitive Modifiability and Mediated Learning Experience. ICELP Publications, 2006.
3. Dweck, Carol S. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books, 2007.
4. Tough, Paul. How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. Mariner Books, 2013.

Articles

1. National Reading Panel. “Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction.” National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000.
2. Feuerstein, Reuven. “Cognitive Modifiability and Mediated Learning Experience.” International Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology, vol. 1, no. 1, 2013.

Online Resources

1. Feuerstein Institute. The Feuerstein Method: Unlocking Potential Through Cognitive Development. www.feuerstein.org
2. Reading Rockets. Phonemic Awareness: Strategies for Effective Instruction. www.readingrockets.org