Developing the skills to think flexibly and shift perspectives is critical in our interconnected world. Cognitive flexibility, one of the cornerstones of executive function, plays an important role in school performance, growth mindset, and reducing studentsโ stress in school and life. From preschool students to college students and adults in the workplace, it is more important than ever to think flexibly.
Start Small
Before students can engage in more advanced cognitive flexibility exercises that touch on personal experiences, it can help to demonstrate what it means to think flexibly with low-stakes activities such as multiple-meaning words and phrases. Understanding the double meaning of jokes makes for an excellent flexible thinking activity or warmup. Fun flexible thinking activities can even be as simple as deciphering the meaning of emoji sentences.
Emoji Sentences
See if you can figure out the meaning of these emoji sentences. Can there be multiple meanings based on the context? What do your students think? What new emoji sentences can they come up with? The answer key is at the bottom of this post!
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๐ณ๐จย
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๐ฟ๐๐ฟ
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๐ ๐ฆ๐
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๐๐๐๐
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โฐโ๏ธ๐ฅณ
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๐ซ๐งฎ๐๐ฃ
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๐ฅถ๐ฅ
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3๏ธโฃโฑ๐
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๐๐พโโ๏ธ๐๐ธ
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๐ก๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ย
Join Us at the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference
We hope to see you on November 3 and 4 for the 37th Annual Executive Function Conference, which will address the close connections between executive function and social-emotional learning and the importance of examining these processes for students from K-12 to college.
- Caitlin Vanderberg, M.Ed., SMARTS Associate
SMARTS Executive Function Curriculum: smarts-ef.org
Research Institute for Learning and Development: researchild.org
The Institute for Learning and Development: ildlex.org
Answer Key
- Mind blown
- Between a rock and a hard place
- Early bird gets the worm
- I believe in you
- Time flies when youโre having fun
- Donโt count your chickens before they hatch
- Cool as a cucumber
- Third timeโs the charm
- Princess and the Frog
- Cinderella