The Marshmallow Test has been around for a long time and recently I became introduced to it as it relates to executive functioning skills. The Marshmallow Test is a research that test young children ability exercise their delayed gratification skills by offering them a chance to earn two marshmallows if they can resist the temptation of eating a marshmallow that is setting in front of them for a period of time. This might seem like an easy tasks but to a small child this can feel like torture.
It was discovered that children who were able to wait for the second marshmallow displayed higher levels of impulse control thus processed better executive functioning skills. These children also performed better in school in areas such as literacy, emotional-social skills, and kindergarten readiness. This research is important in understanding the connections between impulse control, executive functioning, brain development, and school readiness.
Executive functioning is the key to school readiness in young children this part of the brain is immature and is not fully developed until early adulthood. However, children who process higher executive functioning are able to self regulate emotions, organize logically, and exhibit impulse control. These skills can be nurtured in young children. It is important that we teach the whole child and understand all the components of a whole child and the brain is the most important factor. We have the power to alter the architecture of the brain to make the connections for learning stronger.
Marshmallow Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L-n8Z7G0ic
Executive Functioning and Young Children
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efCq_vHUMqs#t=289
I had never heard of the Marshmallow Test. What an easy experiment to do. It is a simple way to find out a child's abilities or in this case inabilites. Yet I feel that the test can show much more than this. It deals with instant gratification. It deals with communication and language as you consider how the situation was explained to the child. It also has to deal with culture as some children might not even know what a marshmallow is.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post, Ly'chel. I love the marshmallow test! I would be interested to see how the test has changed over the years. I would venture to guess that more children would have a hard time waiting than the children from just a few short years ago. I think more and more children have problems with waiting because they are used to instant gratification.
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