The following information is organized to match the sections of the SOAR® program and details the educational research that supports each section.
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SOAR® Section 1
How Are You Smart?
Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences1
This theory establishes the premise that all students have talents, even if they have not historically experienced success in school. SOAR® dedicates a whole section to helping students explore their intelligences and develop personal confidence.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder2,3
People with AD/HD are usually highly intelligent, but simply struggle with conventional learning and organizing tasks. SOAR® provides student-friendly strategies that are good for all learners, but especially helpful for students struggling with AD/HD. Research by the U.S. Department of Education on “best-practices” for educating students with AD/HD support the strategies in SOAR®.
SOAR® Section 2
Set Goals
Chapter 2 – Establish Your Priorities
Chapter 3 – Identify Your Goals
Chapter 4 – Schedule Time to Take Action
Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People4
Stephen and Sean Covey have created what is arguably the world’s most recognized system for creating goals and managing time. SOAR® capitalizes on the concept of “prioritizing” to guide students through the process of setting personal goals and creating action plans to achieve them.
SOAR® Section 3
Organize
Chapter 5- Organize Your Papers
Chapter 6 – Organize Your Time
Chapter 7- Organize Your Space
SOAR® Study Skills
Susan Kruger, M.Ed., the author of SOAR® Study Skills, has devised several “student-friendly” organizational strategies, based on her experiences as a student and field-tested through years of working with thousands of students. All strategies are based on principles of organization and efficiency.
SOAR® Section 4
Ask Questions
Chapter 8- Interacting With Teachers
Chapter 9 – Reading Textbooks
Chapter 10 – Writing Papers
Chapter 11 – Taking & Studying Notes
Chapter 12 – Taking Tests
Brain-Based Learning/Neuroscience
Synaptic Plasticity5
The matter in our brain includes millions of electronic pathways (similar to wires) that transmit electrical signals that allow our brain and body to function. As we learn new information, the brain forges new pathways to establish the new information. The physiology of our brain is like a super-highway of millions of connections. Everytime we learn something new, we change the physical structure of our brain. SOAR® teaches students how to make learning connections to take great advantage of our brains’ natural design.
Visual Learning6
The brain loves pictures and visuals. This is because the brain can instantly identify with the information communicated in a picture, unlike text, which requires several different layers of encoding in order to understand the information. SOAR® guides students to maximize visual aids as part of the listening, note-taking, reading, writing, and test-preparation process.
Chunking7
The concept of mental “chunking” describes the short-term memory’s increased capacity to remember chunks of related information more than independent bytes. For example, it would be very difficult to remember this sequence of letters: y-n-i-u-t-s-r-d, unless you modify the order and chunk them together in a meaningful sequence: “industry.” SOAR® builds on this concept to help students increase their memory capacity and chunk small bits of information together over time, maximizing their learning efficiency.
Learning Structure & Process
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking8
Bloom’s pyramid model of thinking illustrates the different levels at which our brains operate; the most simple level of thinking is on the bottom, the most complex level is at the top. SOAR® teaches the difference between “high gear” and “low gear” learning and how students can shift into “high gear learning” to learn most efficiently.
Schema Theory of Learning9
Schema can be described as categories of existing knowledge that a student possesses. The Schema Learning Theory states that students learn new information when they can effectively connect new information with an existing schema. SOAR® teaches students how to access prior knowledge (schema) and connect new information to establish a solid understanding of new content.
Graphic Organizers10-11
Graphic Organizers are tools that help students arrange (organize) new information in a visual format. Research has proven that graphic organizers are a very effective tool to help students understand abstract concepts. SOAR® uses a 3-D Graphic Organizer to teach students the abstract concept of organizing information in their writing.
Cornell Note Taking Method12
The most widely accepted note-taking method for college students, Cornell Note Taking embraces the concept that students need space to “process” information after they have recorded notes. SOAR® present a slightly modified version of Cornell Note-Taking that is appropriate for all ages, but the emphasis remains on “processing” notes, not just “taking” them.
Memory Skills
Atkinson-Shiffrin Mode113
The Atkinson-Shiffrin model, first published in 1968, established the concept of short-term and long-term memory. SOAR® teaches students the different types of memory and strategies for transferring information from short-term to long-term memory.
Connectionistic Model14
The Connectionistic model is based on the concept that memory is a dynamic series of mental connections and that learning is a two-way process. SOAR® teaches students how to make connections.
SOAR® Section 5
Record Your Progress
Chapter 13- Tracking Your Goals
Chapter 14 – Monitoring Your Goals
Chapter 15 – Recognizing Your Achievements
Behavior Modification15,16,17,18
We often hear self-improvement gurus encourage us to keep written records of our goals and track our progress. This is a widely accepted strategy, but most people (especially students) do not understand why it is so effective. We draw on several studies from the Northwestern University Medical School Center for Behavioral Medicine & Sport Psychology to help students understand the impact that recording progress will have on their success.
Bibliography
Multiple Intelligences
1Gardner, Howard. (1999). Intelligences reframed: multiple intelligences for the 21st century. New York: Basic Books.
ADHD
2Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education, (2008). Teaching children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: instructional strategies and practices. Washington, D.C.
3Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education, (2008). Identifying and treating attention Deficit hyperactivity disorder: A resource for school and home. Washington, D.C.
Time and Goal Management
4Covey, Sean. (2000). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Salt Lake City, UT: Franklin Covey Co.
Synaptic Plasticity
5Gaiarsa, J.L; Caillard, Olivier & Ben-Ari, Yehezkel. (2002). Trends in Neurosciences. Long-term plasticity at GABAergic and glycinergic synapses: Mechanisms and functional significance, 25(11), Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T0V-470V3B2-B&_user=10&_coverDate=11%2F01%2F2002&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=74e83b1b258f115f505ab336818e125f doi: 10.1016/S0166-2236(02)02269-5
Visual Learning
6Schnotz, W. (2002). Towards an Integrated View of Learning From Text and Visual Display, Visuo-educational psychology review, 14(1)
Chunking
7Miller, G.A. (1956). Psychological review. The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information, 63, 81-97.
8Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom, B.S. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Susan Fauer Company, Inc., 201-207.
9 Schema Theory of Learning
Anderson, R.C. (Ed.). (1977). The Notion of schemata and the educational enterprise: general discussion of the conference.
Graphic Organizers
10Fry, Edward. (1981). What Reading teachers Can Do To Emphasize Graphical Literacy, Journal of reading, 46(9), 48-51.
11Katayama, Andrew D., & Robinson , Daniel H. (2000). Getting students ‘partially’ involved in note – taking using graphic organizers. Journal of Experimental Education, 6(2), 119.
Cornell Note Taking
12Pauk, Walter. (1962). How to Study in college. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Atkinson-Shiffrin Model
13Atkinson, R., & Shiffrin, R. (1968). Human memory: A proposed system and its control processes. In K Spence & J Spence (Eds.). The psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 2). New York: Academic Press.
Connectionistic Model
14Rumelhart, D., & McClelland, J. (Eds.). (1986). Parallel distributed processing: Explorations in the microstructure of cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Behavior Modification
15Baker & Kirschenbaum (1993)_ Self-monitoring and weight change.pdf
1. Baker, R, & Kirschenbaum, D. (1993). Self-monitoring may be necessary for successful weight control. Behavior Therapy, 24, 377-394.
16Boutelle & Kirschenbaum (1999)_ Self-Monitoring During the Holidays.pdf
1. Mitchell, E., Kirschenbaum, D., Boutelle, K., & Baker, R. (1999). How can obese weight controllers minimize weight gain during the high risk holiday season? By self-monitoring very consistently. Health Psychology, 18(4), 364-368.
17Hume.Self-monitoring.Figure Skaters. JSP, 1985.pdf
1. Hume, M., Martin, G., Gonzalez, P., Cracklen, C., & Genthon, S. (1985). How can obese weight controllers minimize weight gain during the high risk holiday season? By self-monitoring very consistently. Journal of Sport Psychology, 7, 333-345.
18Kirschenbaum (1987)_ Self-Regulatory Failure.pdf
1. Kirschenbaum, D.S. (1987). Self-regulatory failure: a review with clinical implications. Clinical Psychology Review, 7, 77-104.
19Kirschenbaum.Mind Matters-Excerpt 114-122.pdf
1. Kirschenbaum, D.S. (1997). Mind matters: seven steps to smarter sport performance. Cooper Publishing Group.
20LaRabida Parental Self-Mon. ObesRes2005.pdf
1. Kirschenbaum, D.S., Germann, J., & Rich, B. (2005). Treatment of morbid obesity in low-income adolescents: effects of parental self-monitoring. Obesity Research, 13(9)
