Reuven Feuerstein

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Overview

Reuven Feuerstein (Hebrew: ראובן פוירשטיין) (born August 21, 1921 in Botoşani, Romania) is a Israeli clinical, developmental, cognitive psychologist who is world renowned for his theories of intelligence which states “it is not ‘fixed’, but rather is a modifiable”. This idea in general is that intelligence can be taught.

Feuerstein is recognized for his lifelong work in developing the theories and applied systems of: Structural Cognitive Modifiability, Mediated Learning Experience, Cognitive Map, Deficient Cognitive Functions, Dynamic Assessment:Learning Propensity Assessment Device, Instrumental Enrichment Programs, and Shaping Modifying Environments. These interlocked practices provide educators with the skills and tools to systematically develop students’ cognitive functions and operations in order to “Learn How to Learn” and build meta-cognition .

Today Reuven Feuerstein is the Founder and Director of the International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential (ICELP) in Jerusalem, Israel. For more than 50 years Feuerstein’s theories and applied systems are being implemented in both clinical and classroom settings across the world. There are more than 2000 scientific research studies and countless case studies with various learning populations. Today more than 80 counties from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia are implementing his work.

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Reuven Feuerstein was born one of nine children in Botosan, Romania (August 21, 1921). He attended the Teachers College in Bucharest (1940-41) and Onesco College in Bucharest (1942-44). Due to the Nazi invasion; Feuerstein had to save his own life by fleeing before obtaining his degree in psychology. After settling in Israel in 1945, he taught child survivors of the Holocaust until 1948. He saw that these children whose families and cultures were destroyed in the Holocaust needed attention. Thus, he began a career that attended to the psychological and education needs of immigrated children

During this period he served as Director of Psychological Services of Youth Aliyah in Europe (Immigration for young people). This service was responsible for assigning prospective Jewish candidates for emigration from all over the European continent to various educational programs in Israel. In the 1950’s he was involved in research on Moroccan, Jewish, and Berber children in collaboration with several members of the “Genevan” school. Upon their arrival, the children were submitted to a series of tests, including IQ tests. Their poor results did not surprise Feuerstein. However, he did question them and noticed that whenever he intervened, the children’s performance improved .

This brought many questions to Feuerstien’s mind. “What if, instead of measuring a child’s acquired knowledge and intellectual skills, the ability to learn was evaluated first? And what if intelligence was not a fixed attributed, measurable once and for all? What if intelligence can be taught and was in fact the ability to learn?” (Feuerstein, Feuerstein, Falik & Rand, 2002, p. 10) It was at this point that Feuerstein broke away from the conventional thinking of his time. He elaborated new methods of evaluation as well as new teaching tools. Today this is what is known as “''Dynamic Assessment''”

“It was during this period that much of the psychological data was gathered that contributed to my development of concepts of cultural differences and cultural deprivations” . The results were astonishing. Some children who were considered un-teachable reached the stage where they were accepted at normal school and studied successfully. This period was also seminal in the development of his working hypothesis concerning low functioning children and their potential for change.

His interest came from observing the difficulties experienced by the new immigrant students coping with unfamiliar learning environment that he saw as culturally "deprived.” He describes culturally “different” children as children who receive an adequate amount and type of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) in their native culture and who face the challenges of adapting to a new culture. These children are expected to have good learning potential. On the contrary, culturally “deprived” are those children who, for one reason or another, were deprived on MLE in their native culture or children who show a reduction in learning potential.

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DEVELOPMENT OF FEUERSTEIN’S THEORIES

While attending the University of Geneva, Feuerstein studied under Audrey Rey and Jean Piaget. He completed his degrees in both General and Clinical psychology. During this time there were 3 main schools of thought, “Psychoanalysis, Behaviorism, and Gestalt Psychology.” He attended lectures given by Carl Jaspers, Carl Jung, Barbel Inhelder, Marguerite Loosli Uster and L. Szondy. In the 1970, Feuerstein earned his PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Sorbonne, in France. His major areas of study were Developmental, Clinical, and Cognitive psychology .

While obtaining his degrees and to this day Feuerstein causes many disagreements with his hypotheses and his theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability. Although encouraged by his successful experience with the children of the Aliyah and steeped in the ideas of Jean Piaget and Andre Rey, Feuerstein developed his own theory(s). For Piaget direct experimentation with the physical and the social world was of primary importance; the role of the mediator is assigned to the mental schemas of the child. Piaget provided a better understanding of the cognitive functions of logical thinking and reasoning of complex situations based on the stage theory of intelligence

There are also comparisons of Feuerstein’s new theories made to the Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky viewed a child’s interaction with the world as mediated by symbolic tools provided by the given culture. Like the social psychologist, Feuerstein gave further insight on cognitive functioning such as logical memory, voluntary attention, categorical perception and self-regulation of behavior

However when one examines the two theories, it is clear that there is a theoretical gap which can be filled by the help of Feuerstein’s theory of Mediated Learning Experience in which he assigns the major role to a human mediator. According to Feuerstein, all learning interactions can be divided into direct learning and mediated learning. Learning mediated by another human being is indispensable for a child because the mediator helps the child develop prerequisites that then make direct learning effective

Although the Theory of Mediated Learning Experience which Feuerstein developed, the heart of MLE is the theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability which explains the modifiability of deficient cognitive functions. argued that person’s capability to learn is not solely determined by one’s genetic make-up; but is on the contrary, cognitive enhancement is through mediation. “Cognitive enhancement in SCM refers not merely to the development of specific behavior but also to changes of a “structural nature” (i.e. internal changes in cognition rather than external changes in behavior).

The major difference between Piaget’s theories, Vygotsky’s theories and Feuerstein’s theories is the development of children (normal versus low functioning). According to , it is through the normal child’s own natural material actions and problem solving experiences that mind and intelligence eventually evolve toward the development of logic and abstract thinking. Piaget paid little attention to non-normative development. emphasizes that interpersonal skill exchanges are the precursor of cognitive functions: “The path from object to child and form child to object passes theory another person.” Intelligence is conceptualized as the capacity to learn through instruction. But again there is little to be said about low-functioning children. Feuerstein, however, illustrates that the key to meaningful instruction for all children, particularly young and low-functioning children, is the mediated relationship )

Diary

Following is an excerpt from a diary record (Letters From Jerusalem) by Myron Tribus of the proceedings of the International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential 18th Annual Conference July 1997: [1]

"Today we had the opening ceremonies for the 18th Annual Conference on the two basic theories, Structural Cognitive Modification (SCM) and Mediated Learning Experience (MLE), with their two applied methods, Instrumental Enrichment (IE) and Learning Propensity Assessment Device (LPAD). There are 233 people attending the conference, representing 33 different countries. The ceremonies included remarks by Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister. He spoke of the importance of education in this new era and then went on to describe his experience at a nearby military base. There he met with some down syndrome men, who had been mediated by Feuerstein's methods and were now serving in uniform in the Israeli Defense Forces. He spoke of the pride these men had in being able to wear the uniform and to take up their duties. He also spoke of his gratification at the acceptance of these soldiers by the military command. At one point he said,"I had great difficulty containing my emotions as I saw and talked with these down syndrome afflicted men."
Netanyahu also said, "A country should be judged by how it cares for the most vulnerable of its citizens."
As part of the opening ceremonies, Prof. Feuerstein said, "Instrumental Enrichment has been tested for a very long time on a very large population, of great variety and has demonstrated that regardless of the source of cognitive damage, be it from the culture shock of immigrant children, damage from physical injuries, the trauma of child abuse or extreme poverty, parental neglect ... regardless of the cause, the cognitive functioning of people has been increased. Experience tells us that this increase is without limit."
Reuven Feuerstein gave a long after lunch lecture on the foundations of mediated learning and how he saw all elements (SCM), (MLE), (IE) and (LPAD) fitting together. He also decried the practice of some people merely to copy some of the materials of IE, sell them as pamphlets and then tell teachers that all they have to do is "apply them" without benefit of theory, training or supervision. He made the point that successful use of SCM, MLE, IE and LPAD required an understanding of both the theory and the practice. Theory alone would not suffice, nor would just the tools and techniques.
Prof. Feuerstein made another point: We need to understand cognitive processes, not just behavioral outcomes. Thus, MLE aims to help learners increase their cognitive competencies, not just master certain subject matter. There is no interest in scoring progress; the objective is to help the learner improve cognitive competencies."

Awards

1986, Detroit Public Schools, Special Commendation

1990, Médaille d'Or of Aix-les-Bains, France

1990, Médaille d'Or of Nevers, France

1991, Variety Clubs International Humanitarian Award, Vancouver, Canada

1991, Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, France

1992, Yakir Yerushalaim (Distinguished citizen of Jerusalem)

1992, New York Academy of Sciences

1992, Israel Prize, for social sciences. * In 1992, Feuerstein was awarded the Israel Prize, for social sciences.

1997, Honor al estudio y la investigacion en el campo de la formación professional. National Organization for Professional Training. Valencia, Spain.

1997, Special Resolution of Commendation, Assembly, State of California, USA

1998, Miembro de honor; Universidad Diego Portales, Chile

1999, Doctorate Honoris Causa, University of Turin, Italy

2009, Docorate Horis Cauca, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Further reading

Feuerstein, R. (1970). A dynamic approach to causation, prevention and alleviation of retarded performance. In H.C. Haywood (Eds.) Social-cultural aspects of metal retardation (p. 341-77), New York: Appleton-Century-Corfts.

Feuerstein, R. (1990). The theory of structural modifiability. In B. Presseisen (Ed.), Learning and thinking styles: Classroom interaction. Washington, DC: National Education Associations.

Feuerstein, R. & Feuerstein, S. (1991). Mediated learning experience: A theoretical review. In R. Feuerstein, P.S. Klien, & A.J. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Mediated learning experience (MLE); Theoretical, psychosocial, and learning implications. (p. 3-51). London: Freund

Feuerstein, R., Feuerstein, S., Falik, L & Rand, Y. (2002). Dynamic assessments of cognitive modifiability. ICELP Press, Jerusalem: Israel.

Feuerstein, R. Rand, Y., Hoffman, M.B., & Miller, R. (1980). Instrumental enrichment: An intervention program for cognitive modifiability. Balitmore, MD. University Park Press.

Feuerstein, R., Rand, Y. Haywood, C. Kyram, L. & Hoffman, M. (1995). Learning Propencity Device: Manual. ICELP Press, Jerusalem: Israel.

Piaget, J. (1956). The psychology of intelligence. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adam and Co.

Sternberg, R.J. (1985). Approaches to intelligence. In S.F. Chipman, J.W., Segal, & R. Glaser, (Eds.), Thinking and learning skills, Vol.2: Research and open questions. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Elrbaum Associates, Inc.

Ten, Oon-Seng & Seng, A. (2005). Enhancing cognitive function. Mc Graw Hill Education, Asia

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds & Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (original work published 1930-33).

Sharron, Howard Changing Children's Minds: Feuerstein's Revolution in the Teaching of Intelligence Souvenir Press Ltd (February 1991) ISBN 0-285-65034-3

External links

• "Teaching Intelligence"
• Dr. Reuven Feuerstein Chairman ICELP.ORG
• "Letters from Jerusalem" Myron Tribus diary of attendance at Mediated Learning sessions
• "Quality in Education According to the Teachings of Deming and Feuerstein" by Myron Tribus
• "An Educational Pioneer Who Proved that All Students Can Learn How to Learn In Spite of Their Impulsive Behavior, Disconnected Thinking, and Low Motivation"
• "Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) as a Model for School Reform" by Meier Ben-Hur
• "The Application of the Structural Cognitive Modifiability Theory with Learners with Down's Syndrome in an Educational Framework" by Israela Even-Chen
• "Teaching and Learning Intelligence"
• "Reuven Feuerstein - The Man, Method, and Applications"
• "Feuersteins Instrumental Enrichment Basic"
• "Feuersteins Instrumental Enrichment: Better learning for better students"
• "Dr. Reuven Feuerstein, addresses NUA national conference (video)"

See also

• List of Israel Prize recipients