Overland Park, KS
Activating Student Engagement Through Brain-based Learning. Educators at Lakewood Elementary School take pride in creating schoolwide, interdisciplinary curriculum that students find exciting and memorable. They ground their strategies in a brain-based approach, meaning that lessons are designed to activate students’ brains, and that educators help children understand how learning happens.
Kathleen Cigich, Lakewood’s principal, explains in the audio profile that students in all grades “learn about different parts of the brain, and how that brain can impact a growth mindset or a fixed mindset. Our students even learn about metacognition and cognitive awareness, so that they know that reflecting on their own thinking will help them as learners”.
Cigich also notes that because “we know the brain turns on when there [are] life experiences involved”, teachers in all subjects get creative with their lessons, and are supported through collaboration time and ongoing learning about new findings in brain science.
To listen to the full podcast, scroll down. You can download the transcript here.


Lakewood Elementary School
Mrs. Kathleen Jane Cigich, Principal at time of Nomination
14600 Lamar Avenue
Overland Park, KS, 66223-9998
(913) 239-6500
https://www.bluevalleyk12.org/lke/
Student Demographics 2019 | |
---|---|
Number of students K-5 | 611 |
Students eligible for subsidized meals | 6% |
Students receiving special ed services | 11% |
ELL | 2% |
African American students | 5% |
White students | 50% |
Asian students | 33% |
Hispanic or Latino students | 6% |
Two or more races | 6% |
Student mobility rate | 13% |
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:12 — 3.8MB) | Embed
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