A Framework for Understanding Poverty (14 page)

MISSING LINKS

(Feuerstein, 1980; Sharron, 1994):

I. "Mediated focusing"- Ability to focus attention and see objects in detail. Opposite of blurred and sweeping perceptions.

2. "Mediated scheduling"- Based on routine. Ability to schedule and plan ahead. Ability to represent the future abstractly and therefore set goals.

3. "Mediation of positive anticipation"-Ability to control the present for a happy representation of the future.

4. "Mediation of inhibition and control"- Ability to defer gratification, think before acting, control impulsiveness.

5. "Mediated representation of the future"-Ability to construe imaginatively a future scenario based on facts.

6. "Mediation of verbal stimulation"-Use of precise language for defining and categorizing the environment.

7. "Mediated precision "-Ability to precisely define situations, things, people, etc., and use that precise thinking for problem-solving.

Missing links/mediations result in cognitive issues.

What Are These Cognitive Issues?

Blurred and sweeping perceptions and the lack of a systematic method of exploration mean that these students have no consistent or predictable way of getting information. They see only about 50% of what is on a page. If you watch these students in a new setting, they will rapidly go from object to object, touching everything. Yet when you ask them what they have seen, they cannot tell you. This area is related to the use of the casual-register story structure, which is episodic and random in the details or information presented. They simply do not have cognitive methodology for doing tasks or a systematic way to finish tasks.

Impaired verbal tools means they do not have the vocabulary to deal with the cognitive tasks. Vocabulary words are the building blocks of the internal learning structure. Vocabulary is also the tool to better define a problem, seek more accurate solutions, etc. Many students who rely solely on casual register do not use or have many prepositions or adverbs in their speech.

Impaired spatial orientation is simply the inability to orient objects, people, etc., in space. Directions, location, object size, object shape, etc., are not available to them. They have neither the vocabulary nor the concepts for spatial orientation.

Impaired temporal orientation is the inability to organize and measure in time. One of Feuerstein's observations was that these students assign time to incidents on the basis of the emotional intensity of the experience, not the measured time that is part of educated thinking. I find among students from poverty that time is neither measured nor heeded. Being somewhere on time is seldom valued. And time itself is not seen as a thing to be used or valued.

Impaired observations of constancies is the inability of the brain to hold an object inside the head and keep the memory of the object constant. In other words, when there are impaired observations of constancies, objects change shape and size in the mind. If this is the case, then learning alphabet letters, retaining shapes, etc., are problematic. It is also the inability to know what stays the same and what changes. For example, east and west are always constant; left and right change based on the orientation of the moment.

Lack of precision and accuracy in data-gathering is another cognitive issue. It is related to several of the above issues. Problem-solving and other tasks are extremely problematic because students from poverty seldom have the strategies to gather precise and accurate data.

Another cognitive issue is the inability to hold two objects or two sources inside the head while comparing and contrasting. If a student is unable to do this, he/she cannot assign information to categories inside his/her brain. If a student cannot assign information to categories, then he/she cannot retrieve the information except in an associative, random way.

These issues explain many of the student behaviors. How do we make interventions?

What Are These Cognitive Strategies That Must Be Built?

Feuerstein identified three stages in the learning process: "input, elaboration, and output."

1. Input Strategies

Input is defined as "quantity and quality of the data gathered."

i. Use planning behaviors.

2. Focus perception on specific stimulus.

3. Control impulsivity.

4. Explore data systematically.

5. Use appropriate and accurate labels.

6. Organize space with stable systems of reference.

7. Orient data in time.

8. Identify constancies across variations.

9. Gather precise and accurate data.

io. Consider two sources of information at once.

n. Organize data (parts of a whole).

12. Visually transport data.

2. Elaboration Strategies

Elaboration is defined as "use of the data."

i. Identify and define the problem.

2. Select relevant cues.

3. Compare data.

4. Select appropriate categories of time.

5. Summarize data.

6. Project relationships of data.

7. Use logical data.

8. Test hypothesis.

9. Build inferences.

io. Make a plan using the data.

ii. Use appropriate labels.

12. Use data systematically.

3. Output Strategies

Ouput is defined as "communication of the data."

i. Communicate clearly the labels and process.

2. Visually transport data correctly.

3. Use precise and accurate language.

4. Control impulsive behavior.

What do these strategies mean?

Mediation builds these strategies. When these strategies are not present, they can be built. Typically in school, we begin teaching at the elaboration level (i.e., use of the data). When students do not understand, we reteach these strategies, but we do not revisit the quality and quantity of the data gathered.

Input Strategies (Quality and Quantity of Data)

Use planning behaviors includes goal-setting, identifying the procedures in the task, identifying the parts of the task, assigning time to the task(s), and identifying the quality of the work necessary to complete the task.

Focus perception on specific stimulus is the strategy of seeing every detail on the page or in the environment. It is the strategy of identifying everything noticed by the five senses.

Control impulsivity is the strategy of stopping action until one has thought about the task. There is a direct correlation between impulse control and improved behavior and achievement.

Explore data systematically means that a strategy is employed to procedurally and systematically go through every piece of data. Numbering is a way to go systematically through data. Highlighting each piece of data can be another method.

Use appropriate and accurate labels is the use of precise words and vocabulary to identify and explain. If a student does not have specific words to use, then his/her ability to retrieve and use information is severely limited. It is not enough that a student can do a task, he/she must also be able to label the procedures, tasks, and processes so that the task can be successfully repeated each time and analyzed at a metacognitive level. Metacognition is the ability to think about one's thinking. To do so, labels must be attached. Only when labels are attached can the task be evaluated and, therefore, improved.

Organize space with stable systems of reference is crucial to success in math. It means that up, down, right, left, across, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, etc., are understood. It means that an individual can identify with labels the position of an item. It means that a person can organize space. For example, if an individual doesn't have this strategy, then it's virtually impossible to tell p, b, and d apart. The only differentiation is the orientation in space.

Orient data in time is the strategy of assigning abstract values to time and the measurement of time. This strategy is crucial for identifying cause and effect, for determining sequence, and for predicting consequences.

Identify constancies across variations is the strategy of knowing what always remains the same and what changes. For example, if you do not know what always makes a square a square, you cannot identify constancies. It allows one to define things, to recognize a person or an object, and to compare and contrast. This strategy allows cursive writing to be read in all of its variations. I once asked a group of fifth-grade students I was working with this question: "If you saw me tomorrow, what about me would be the same and what would be different?" Many of the students had difficulty with that concept.

Gather precise and accurate data is the strategy of using accurate labels, identifying the orientation in time and space, knowing the constancies, and exploring the data systematically.

Consider two sources of information at once is the strategy of visually transporting data accurately, identifying the constancies and variations, and exploring the data systematically. When that is done, then precise and accurate labels need to be assigned.

Organize data (parts of a whole) involves exploring data systematically, organizing space, identifying constancies and variations, and labeling the parts and the whole with precise words.

Visually transport data is when the eye picks up the data, carries it accurately to the brain, examines it for constancies and variations, and labels the parts and the whole.

Elaboration and Output Strategies

These tend to be fairly well understood in schools because that is where the teaching tends to occur.

WHAT WOULD LESSON DESIGN LOOK LIKE WHEN THESE STRATEGIES ARE TAUGHT?

The lesson would center around what the student would do. Sometime during the lesson students would need to exhibit these five skills:

Regardless of content, if the lesson requires that in some way students do these five things, cognitive strategies would be strengthened, discipline would improve, and achievement would be enhanced.

USING EYE MOVEMENT TO FOLLOW THE LEARNING AND PROCESSING

Bandler and Grinder (1979) did a great deal of work with non-verbal cues and cognitive processing. This work is known as neuro-linguistic programming. But of particular interest to educators is the work on eye movement because it allows a teacher to begin understanding the way(s) in which a student is processing information. Criminologists use these techniques to break crimes, lawyers use them to cross-examine witnesses, and salespeople use them to enhance sales. Influencing with Integrity by Laborde (1983) is a layperson's explanation of the information. Briefly, however, the main concepts will be explained.

Think of the human face as a clock. It is as you look at the face. To begin, the face has three zones. When a person's gaze is directed in the top zone, the individual is processing visual information. When eyes are in the middle zone, the individual is processing auditory information (with one exception). When eyes are in the bottom zone, the individual is either talking to himself/ herself or processing feelings.

VISUAL

Now let's go to the next level of information. If the person being observed is right-handed, then the 2 o'clock position indicates that the individual is processing visually remembered data. Around io o'clock the individual is processing data that are visually constructed. In other words, the individual is putting together data from several sources. If the person is left-handed, then 2 o'clock is visually constructed, and io o'clock is visually remembered.