Executive function difficulties of students with learning disabilities (LD) have been implicated as the reason why these students struggle with complex academic tasks such as reading, writing, and notetaking [8]. This mixed-methods study explored the extent to which a strategic note-taking intervention enhanced the deployment of effective strategies to mediate executive function difficulties among students with LD during note-taking. This paper draws on interviews, students’ notes, and pre- and post-intervention assessments to present case studies of three student participants. Results indicate that the strategic note-taking intervention served as a scaffold, helping struggling students to mediate executive functions and flexibly deploy cognitive strategies. These cases shed light on the potential for cognitive scaffolding to help students actively improve their own executive functioning in complex tasks such as note-taking.

Published in: London International Conference on Education (LICE-2016)

• Date of Conference: 14-17 November 2016
• DOI: 10.2053/LICE.2016.0010
• ISBN: 978-1-908320-76-8
• Conference Location: Heathrow Windsor Marriott Hotel, UK