As students move from primary to secondary school, success increasingly depends on more than subject knowledge—it hinges on executive functioning skills such as planning, attention control, working memory, and self-monitoring. In this interactive workshop, we explore how teachers can help students recognize these cognitive processes in themselves and develop strategies to strengthen them. Participants will be introduced to a short, flexible teaching unit on Executive Functions and Brain Development, designed for use in upper primary or lower secondary classrooms. The unit comprises four lessons focusing on: (1) understanding key executive functions; (2) exploring how the prefrontal cortex develops; (3) applying metacognitive thinking to learning tasks; and (4) developing personalized action plans to improve one chosen skill.
