The SMART Program

Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training

Emboldening students since 2009, Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training (SMART) provides a road map for success. SMART is a cognitive training program developed at the UT Dallas Center for BrainHealth by Dr. Gamino and Dr. Chapman. SMART is designed to teach students thinking skills that apply to all subjects, providing a framework to transform educational outcomes. Igniting the brain’s potential during the adolescent years is vital for instilling high-level reasoning skills.

SMART provides students with explicit instructions to improve metacognition and underscores the necessity for every student to think critically, question, conceptualize, and innovate. The SMART curriculum uses the science of learning to explicitly explain and teach higher-level cognitive processing. SMART employs student-friendly terms, examples, and practice to obtain maximum benefits for all learners. 

SMART empowers students to develop their brain's potential via discovering and understanding meaning. SMART does not teach students test-taking strategies. Nevertheless, the students trained to use the power of meaningful learning through SMART consistently demonstrate improvement in standardized test scores beyond the performance of their untrained peers.

CURRENT

Research

Selected Publications

Gamino, J. F., Frost, C., Riddle, R., Koslovsky, J., & Chapman, S. B. (2022). Higher-Order Executive Function in Middle School: Training Teachers to Enhance Cognition in Young Adolescents. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 867264.

Gamino, J. F., Motes, M. M., Riddle, R., Lyon, G. R., Spence, J. S., & Chapman, S. B. (2014). Enhancing inferential abilities in adolescence: new hope for students in poverty. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 8, 924.

Motes, M. A., Gamino, J. F., Chapman, S. B., Rao, N. K., Maguire, M. J., Brier, M. R., Kraut, M. A., & Hart, J., Jr (2014). Inhibitory control gains from higher-order cognitive strategy training. Brain and cognition, 84(1), 44–62.

Chapman, S. B., Gamino, J. F., & Mudar, R. A. (2012). Higher order strategic gist reasoning in adolescence. In V. F. Reyna, S. B. Chapman, M. R. Dougherty, & J. Confrey (Eds.), The adolescent brain: Learning, reasoning, and decision making (pp. 123–151). American Psychological Association.

“Due to Dr. Gamino’s cognitive training program, my students’ responses are rich and varied. They naturally work in high-level statements and out-of-the-box thinking. It makes my heart happy to see how my students have grown and improved their cognitive abilities.”

An 8th grade teacher's response to the SMART program.

Professional Consulting

Dr. Gamino's hands-on workshops for adult audiences provide an engaging, adaptive half or full-day experience using the science of learning. Educators, parents, and other adults hoping to use the practices for themselves experience a brain workout while exercising the power of expanding their brain capacity with higher-order thinking. Participants gain insight into empowering student learning alongside their own continued learning.

Educating developing minds is a team-based endeavor, which Jacquelyn’s research resoundingly supports. Under Jacquelyn's tutelage, professionals from all walks of life learn about the power of growing their own mindset along with instructions for helping adolescents under their watch. The process of doing so is conducted via a mutually beneficial and invariably uplifting process that imparts positive change upon group rapport. Team building and leadership blossom with the knowledge of the brain’s capacity for change and enhancement.