Every Child Who Needs a Test Can Get a Test
April 12, 2020
We’ve been flooded with emails about Mindprint over the last few weeks How is this different from academic testing? Is my school doing this or should I be doing this at home? What are the benefits? We greatly appreciate your interest and decided to write a new “Dr. Fauci-inspired” Q & A to answer the most common questions about cognitive testing and provide what we expect is a relatable analogy. How is Cognitive Testing similar to Corona Testing? Think of your current achievement tests (e.g. MAP, STARR, iREADY, PARCC, state assessments) as the swab test. The swab test confirms if you have corona at a single point in time. Similarly, achievement tests confirms what a student knows (or doesn’t) at a moment in time. And just… Read More
How to Help Stressed Out Students
October 17, 2019
If you are working in a high performing school, you probably know all too well that you have a lot of stressed out students. Still, you might be startled by new research that classifies students in high performing schools as having the same level of risk for serious mental health problems as students living in poverty, foster care or who have an incarcerated parent. There’s no magic bullet for addressing the complex set of societal issues that has gotten us to this point. Programs for social-emotional learning (SEL) and suicide prevention can help. Structured programming will take time and fidelity. Clearly, there’s no time to lose. Here’s a potential “quick win” that could make a big difference for stressed out students,… Read More
10 Learning Traits that Drive Academic Outcomes
June 21, 2019
The following is a brief summary of the learning traits that drive most academic learning. Everyone has their own unique combination of these traits, just as we all have our own unique fingerprint. It’s what makes each of us special but can also make learning confusing or challenging at times. The 10 skills are organized in four key domains. Click on the links for more in-depth information on each skill. Complex Reasoning Complex reasoning is the ability to analyze information and solve complicated problems. When students use reasoning skills, they are thinking through ideas in a logical way to arrive at a conclusion. This is often referred to as “higher order thinking.” Don’t be surprised if you have a student who is strong in one area of… Read More
Summer Assignment: Foster Creativity
June 2, 2019
If you read one education book this summer, consider Alan Lightman’s In Praise of Wasting Time. If it strikes too close to home, you’re not alone. Lightman articulates what many of us are feeling. That our very wired, very stressful lives are driven by a pervasive feeling of #FOMO (fear of missing out). We feel we need to be purposeful (or at least seen to be) every minute of every day. And it’s exhausting. The Joy of Doing Nothing Lightman begins with a vivid reflection on his childhood, as he describes, his “careless, wasteless hours at the pond.” He makes us wistful for the joy of doing nothing. While Lightman mourns that loss, at least he has memories. His concern is that today’s kiddos won’t… Read More
Mindprint in Space: Results from the NASA Twins Study
May 3, 2019
What is the NASA Twins Study? Identical twin astronauts, Mark and Scott Kelly, agreed to be studied for two years. NASA tracked changes to their genes, cognitive skills and physical and mental health to understand the impact of long duration space flight on the human body and brain. Mark stayed on Earth throughout. Scott spent a full year at the International Space Station. NASA monitored their functions before, during, and after Scott’s flight. What’s Mindprint Got to Do with It? Mindprint’s research partners at Penn Medicine’s Brain Behavior Lab provided the cognitive assessment for the NASA Twins Study. Yes, it’s the same assessment Mindprint makes available to students around the world to understand their cognitive development. NASA describes the assessment as “a much-needed practical, yet comprehensive cognitive… Read More
