Improving Education by Educating Ourselves About Education

Who Is Reuven Feuerstein?
Dr. Feuerstein is an eminent cognitive psychologist, known for his ground-breaking research in cognitive mediation and practice. All students need the learning strategies developed by Prof. Feuerstein. His research has also shown positive effects for special needs learners such as autistic, mentally challenged and culturally deprived learners. He established the principle that "all people can learn." Prof. Feuerstein's methods have been developed over a half-century of experimentation, some of it with young people who have been considered as "learning disabled." This population included children who survived the death camps of the Holocaust, and the Ethiopian children who came to Israel and had to adjust to at least two centuries of cultural change. Professor Feuerstein is the founder and director of ICELP (International Center for the Enhancement of learning Potential) Jerusalem, Israel.

What is Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment and Mediated Learning Experience?
Reuven Feuerstein's Instrumental Enrichment and Mediated Learning Experience (FIE/MLE) emphasizes the potential for ALL humans to acquire thinking and learning tools. Participants will learn the theory of Mediated Learning through the use of a series of tasks which improve thinking skills. This program is task-intrinsic, encouraging the learner to interpret oral information, acquire good work habits, set goals, design a strategy for problem-solving and promote reflective thinking. FIE/MLE offers the learner a method to improve thinking skills and develop the mind to its highest potential.

How is Instrumental Enrichment Implemented?
The Instrumental Enrichment Program (FIE) has been translated into many languages and is currently being utilized in many countries whose professionals receive training in Jerusalem at ICELP and at Authorized Training Centers (ATC's) throughout the world. IC&TA (International Consulting & Trade Associates, Inc.) is the ATC located in the state of Connecticut.

In Connecticut FIE is in the process of being introduced within the Bridgeport Public Schools as part of a national program. The Ben Bronz Academy in West Hartford has effectively utilized FIE within its curriculum for approximately twenty-five years with excellent results. The school services children with learning disabilities. A third FIE program sponsored by Westport SEPTA (Special Education Parent Teacher Association) exists. SEPTA Kids is a supplementary after-school program operated by FIE-trained mentors.

IC&TA services are offered to school districts, individual public and private schools, institutions of higher education (universities, colleges, technical schools, etc.) and places of  employment for employee training, individual and group training for professionals in human services, etc. Implementation of FIE occurs in the following staff training areas:

    FIE Basic 1 & 2 (early childhood education for ages 3-8).
    FIE Standard Levels 1, 2, & 3 for upper elementary, middle and high school, higher education, employee training.
    Staff, parent,  corporate, and community FIE orientation programs.
    Supplemental after-school programs staffed by trained FIE mentors; this program is known as Cognitive Education Centers.

All training sessions are offered by the IC&TA team on-site; IC&TA also offers specially adapted training programs for parents, including parents who are involved with home-schooling their children.

What we can expect following implementation:

    Improved standardized test scores.
    Improvement in problem-solving strategies.
    General reasoning skills, and thinking habits.

If there is to be any real educational change, the focus must be on teachers and principals who are on the frontline to educate children. A collaboration must exist between educators and parents to bring about effective learning.

Additional Contact Information
David S. Martin, Ph.D.
Director, Training & Research for IC&TA; Cell Phone: (508)527-0460
Email : davidchina_2000@yahoo.com

Please Note:
Extensive FIE information and related research may be obtained from the above sources  upon request. No-cost orientation sessions are available for teachers, parents, and community upon request.

It should also be noted that Dr. David S. Martin is part of a national program sponsored by ICELP and NUA (National Urban Alliance) in which he is training teachers from Albany, NY and Bridgeport, CT, in the FIE program. He is also responsible for assisting these educators with follow-up activities to be used in implementing the program within the classroom. Similar FIE training programs are occurring in New York City, Newark, NJ, and Birmingham, AL among others.

-- Irv Schein, Director of IC&TA