Equipping Minds: Applying a Biblically Based Curriculum for Improving Working Memory

Abstract

EQUIPPING MINDS:

APPLYING A BIBLICALLY BASED CURRICULUM FOR

IMPROVING WORKING MEMORY

Carol Thompson Brown Ed.D.

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2016

Supervisor: Dr. Danny R. Bowen

Recent findings in neuroscience confirm the neuroplasticity of the brain.

There has been strong interest in applying these discoveries to learners with learning

disorders focusing on increasing working memory capacity. The aim of the present

study was to explore the effectiveness of cognitive intervention with the Equipping

Minds Cognitive Development Curriculum (EMCDC), based on Feuerstein’s theory of

structural cognitive modifiability. Feuerstein’s theory states that a learner’s cognitive

functioning can be modified through mediated learning. EMCDC is aimed at enhancing

processing, working memory, comprehension, and reasoning abilities. Participants were

learners with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) Learners were randomly assigned into

one of two groups. The active control group received small group intervention in

academic subjects an hour a day five times a week for 7 weeks. The training group

received small group intervention in the Equipping Minds Cognitive Development

Curriculum an hour a day five times a week for 7 weeks. Both groups were tested on

measures of working memory, verbal and nonverbal ability, and academic attainment

before training and re-tested on the same measures after training. Analysis of the pre-to

post-test scores demonstrated significant (p<0.05) advantage of the training over the

active control group on the KBIT-2 in verbal, nonverbal, and IQ composite, as well as far

transfer effects in science. This study’s design could be replicated in multiple educational

settings with other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Key words: Neuroplasticity, cognitive development, Feuerstein, Equipping Minds,

mediated learning, working memory, Specific Learning Disorders