Cognitive Skill Development: Instrumental Enrichment
Instrumental Enrichment (IE) is a curriculum designed to develop and/or strengthen the cognitive skills necessary for academic learning and achievement. It was developed in the 1950's by Professor Reuven Feuerstein. The program has been successfully used in seventy countries as a tool for the enhancement of learning potential.
The IE curriculum provides a strong theoretical foundation for teaching cognitive skills. Thinking is conceptualized as encompassing four elements: behaviors which take information in (input); prior knowledge; behaviors associated with elaboration or making new information from that which is
available; and behaviors associated with output. Moreover, the curriculum provides a scope and sequence of cognitive skills which are taught directly first and then extended into content areas. Thus, a particular skill is the focus of instruction rather than a coincidental development in learning content-area material. The 14 'Instruments' of IE are comprised of paper-and-pencil tasks which focus on developing particular skills within the scope and sequence of the program.
The IE-Basic program, published two years ago after years of development, is the 'extension' of IE for younger children. (IE was developed for students beginning at the fourth-grade level and above.)
IE-Basic springs from the same theory and has some instruments similar to the version that is used in teaching older children and adults. It includes many new tools which are specifically designed for young children's cognitive development.
Those of us who are trained in Instrumental Enrichment have seen it work. In teaching children to read and write, we have observed that some children struggle to organize their thoughts, to express themselves, and/or to understand and use abstract rather than concrete language, even after they have 'caught up' in reading. Providing direct, cognitive skill instruction has made it possible to help these students master higher learning skills. They are able to develop strategies for planning a course of action in completing cognitive tasks, to use precise terms in identifying problems and formulating solutions, and to monitor application of plans from inception to completion. Students develop the capacity to use abstract language. They learn what it means to be systematic, to give themselves time to reflect on a problem and possible solutions, and to monitor their responses.
More detailed information is available at the websites for The International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential, www.icelp.org, and International Renewal Institute, www.iriinc.us. |
