Reuven Feuerstein’s instrumental enrichment program: what does it consist of?

There is a wide range of theories and applications to create efficient educational systems, focused on ‘being’, with a good volume of evidence in favor and that seem to be able to improve the current education of most countries. In particular, we want to talk about Reuven Feuerstein’s instrumental enrichment program.

The Jewish pedagogue and psychologist Reuven Feuerstein (1921-2014) guided his research in the field of cognitive psychological development. He founded the International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential (International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential) in Jerusalem, Israel. For more than 50 years, the application of his theoretical system has been a pillar in clinics and education worldwide.

In his youth, he taught concentration camp children to read. Likewise, R. Feuerstein created the model called the Instrumental Enrichment Program (PEI) and was director of the Hadassah-Wizo Canada Research Institute.

What are the bases of the instrumental enrichment program?

Feuerstein began his proposal based on the fact that The evolution of cognitive processes is modifiable, even cognition itself. Through the exercises she did for the PEI, she demonstrated that cognitive abilities can be determined from certain stimuli.

Thanks to the application of the instruments he designed, he presented the ‘test-training-test’ concept: the idea is that as the person performs the exercises, they exercise their cognitive capacity and can be evaluated; All at the same time. Likewise, he states that Low academic performance is the immediate and unavoidable consequence of the deficiency in the application of conventional educational instruments, designed, it is assumed, to stimulate cognitive functions.

Consequently, Its pedagogical system determines and stimulates the cognitive abilities of students. On the other hand, he did not accept psychometric tests because he considered that they only determined and created diagnoses that pigeonholed students with disadvantageous measurements, which marginalized them if they were not able to classify within their evaluative parameters.

Influences of R. Feuerstein

Reuven Feuerstein was influenced by the following theories for his instrumental enrichment program:

Lev Vygotsky: relevance of the student’s sociocultural environment. Jean Piaget: study of the structure of the stages of cognitive development. Sternberg: the student has the ability to adapt and govern himself. Allman: the student has the quality of cognitive plasticity and courage of mediated learning.

As we can see, Feuerstein’s model is centered from the vision of cognitive psychology, but with its own and specific characteristics in its theoretical foundation. The concept of cognitive modifiability allows us to see intelligence as the dynamic process and development in which the person is affected and responds to external stimuli.as he proposes in his own cognitive stimulation exercises.

In short, the PEI maintains that cognitive development is the result of the student’s direct exposure to stimuli, mediated by the learning experience.

According to Feuerstein’s theory, psychometric tests do nothing more than pigeonhole students and marginalize them when they do not classify within their parameters.

How the PEI is formed

The PEI, which proposes that each student can learn at their own pace and according to their specific demands or deficienciesis made up of more than 500 pages, which contain problems and activities, such as non-verbal instruments, the use of vocabulary, reading comprehension and mental exercises that stimulate the proper functioning of the cognitive components, according to the complexity of the different levels.

Feuerstein assured that students with learning problems could develop skills if the exercises designed to stimulate cognitive plasticity were appropriate.. Each instrument presents different numerical, figurative, verbal and symbolic modalities.

PEI work instruments

Organization of points. Spatial orientation I. Comparisons. Classifications. Analytical perception. Spatial orientation II. Illustrations. Numerical progressions. Family relationships. Instructions. Temporal relationships. Transitive relationships. Syllogisms. Pattern design.

Furthermore, the cognitive qualities that PEI stimulates are the following:

Perception.Spatial orientation.Logical reasoning.Data verification.Comparative behavior.Hypothetical thinking.Accurate data collection.Planning one’s own behavior.Assess and contrast several sources of information, simultaneously.

The active participation of teachers is key in the PEI, so they must commit to providing support.

The PEI in the classroom

The PEI, as a paradigm of psychology applied to pedagogy, finds its place in the classroom, since the implementation of the instruments represents a unique experience, given its effectiveness in the learning potential of the students.in addition to being an excellent intervention tool to rectify educational programs that are not up to par with the learning processes.

Its implementation is positive because you can obtain results and improve basic cognitive functionslike those listed below:

Analysis.Seriation.Location.Classification.Observation.Identification.Interpretation.

Lastly, teachers have an active participation. The PEI because It proposes a change in their attitudes towards the educational process, in addition to requiring them to commit to supporting their students.since these can modify the structure of their thinking, depending on their behavior towards learning and personalized teaching.

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