Cinquefoil Design Framework
A neurodiversity-informed, anxiety-aware, human-centered learning framework.
Cognitive Load and Conceptual Progression
Purpose: Sequence content in digestible layers, minimizing overload.
Core Principles:
Concrete experiences before symbolic representation.
Each skill connects both backward (foundations) and forward (applications).
Conceptual understanding supports fluency.
Design Practices:
Move from pattern recognition → representation → notation.
Revisit key ideas in new contexts to strengthen schema.
Limit new elements per activity; focus on integration.
Reflection Space:
Which prior skills feed into this one?
Which future skills depend on it?
Where do students seem to lose connection or overload?
2. Learning Science and Affective Factors
Purpose: Build emotional safety and tolerance for productive struggle.
Core Principles:
Safety precedes learning.
Early success reduces threat perception.
Reflection helps reframe “mistakes” as data.
Design Practices:
Begin sessions with calming routines or pattern-based warm-ups.
Normalize “pause moments” for self-regulation.
Encourage curiosity before correctness.
Reflection Space:
What emotional regulation strategies are built into this lesson?
How can learners describe their emotional state during math work?
3. Neurodiversity-Informed Design
Purpose: Support diverse learning and processing styles through a variety of engagement styles and access to information.
Core Principles:
The body can anchor abstract reasoning.
Multi-sensory input strengthens conceptual networks.
Externalizing thought helps manage working memory load.
Design Practices:
Use cut-and-move manipulatives, foldables, and color/shape coding.
Allow learners to represent concepts in multiple formats.
Offer structured movement and physical exploration.
Reflection Space:
Which senses are engaged?
How could learners physically represent this concept?
Does the task allow for self-paced manipulation and exploration?
4. Language, Framing, and Conceptual Metaphors
Purpose: Use language that builds connection, not hierarchy or shame.
Core Principles:
Math and science use a language of patterns.
Linguistic metaphors can make abstract ideas concrete.
Reframing changes perception of difficulty.
Design Practices:
Replace “wrong” with “not yet” or “try another path.”
Introduce conceptual metaphors:
Parentheses as friendship groups
Subtraction as distance
Variables as mystery boxes
Encourage learners to create personal metaphors.
Reflection Space:
What metaphors naturally arise for this concept?
How can language of curiosity replace evaluative language?
5. Motivation, Play, and Self-Efficacy
Purpose: Make learning intrinsically motivating and autonomy-supportive.
Core Principles:
Curiosity drives sustained attention.
Autonomy fosters confidence.
Success should feel exploratory, not performative.
Design Practices:
Offer choice boards or “skill paths.”
Include creative or story-based challenges.
Encourage collaboration and co-discovery.
Reflection Space:
How can this activity spark curiosity?
What choices or creative freedoms are built in?
How do learners know they are progressing without external judgment?