Shaping minds together: A pilot study of the cooperation council’s impact on 8-year-olds’ executive function

Self-regulation, including executive function (EF), refers to essential processes that enable children to regulate their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in alignment with environmental demands, particularly in school settings. While various interventions exist to enhance EF, there is a need for cost-effective, classroom-based approaches. This pilot study examined whether a nineweek cooperative council intervention could enhance EF performance in 8-year-old children. Seventy-six students from six fourth-grade classes were assigned to either an experimental group, which engaged in weekly structured cooperative councils, or a control group, which followed standard curriculum. EF was measured pre- and post-intervention using an adapted Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task. Results revealed a significant greater improvement in EF among the experimental group. We argue that cooperative councils support cognitive development by requiring inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility during social interactions. These low-cost, classroom-based routines may offer a practical avenue to foster self-regulation and learning in everyday school settings. Future work should involve randomized designs, longitudinal follow-up, and exploration of mechanisms underlying EF improvement.