What Learning Looks Like

In this unique collaboration, the authors bring to life the theory of mediated learning. Through numerous examples and scenarios from classrooms and museums, they show how mediated learning helps children to become more effective learners. Readers learn the steps in the process, including analyzing the child’s problem, teaching the child to focus on the difficulty, and using the techniques of mediated learning to enable the child to overcome the learning challenge. This is the first book to present Reuven Feuerstein’s groundbreaking work in accessible language with copious examples of practice. With this volume, educators and administrators will have a reliable and practical way to understand the place of mediated learning in today’s schools.

Book Features:

• Step-by-step guidance for diverse teaching situations.
• Examples from museum exhibits and exemplars of classroom practice.
• Useful teaching illustrations.
• A list of cognitive functions that can impair learning.
• Advice for parents of children with learning challenges.

Reuven Feuerstein was the founder and director of the Feuerstein Institute (formerly ICELP) and professor of psychology in Bar-Ilan University’s School of Education (Ramat-Gan, Israel), and a Nobel Prize nominee. Louis H. Falik is emeritus professor of counseling at San Francisco State University and a senior scholar at the Feuerstein Institute. Refael Feuerstein is chairman of the Feuerstein Institute. Their books include Beyond Smarter: Mediated Learning and the Brain's Capacity for Change and A Think-Aloud and Talk-Aloud Approach to Building Language: Overcoming Disability, Delay, and Deficiency.

“Rich with vivid examples, this book goes beyond sharing ideas to spark action toward deeper learning, even for oneself.”
—David Perkins, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“Ann Lewin-Benham and Reuven Feuerstein have collaborated to provide a remarkable, readable, and systematic exposition that joins the theory and practice of mediated learning experiences within the real worlds of museums and classrooms. The book provides concrete examples that show museum directors, teachers, and parents the practical ‘how to’ for building children’s cognitive structures.”
—From the Foreword by James Bellanca, International Renewal Institute

“Feuerstein and Lewin-Benham invite us to think differently about what constitutes learning. This phenomenal book makes the mediator's role more practical by providing not only the theory and research to support this strategy, but also specific examples, instructional sequences, and linguistic tools that teachers and parents can thoughtfully and intentionally employ to cause children to think more deeply and to understand their own cognitive processes.”
—Arthur L. Costa, Professor Emeritus, California State University, Sacramento

Foreword by James Bellanca

Acknowledgments

Introduction
   Mediation: A Brief Description and Examples
   A Word About Deficient Cognitive Functions
   Reading This Book
   Chapter Summaries
   Knowing Your Authors

Chapter 1. Learning Through Mediation
   Museums' Potential to Stimulate Learning
   At a Museum: What Didn't Happen, Why, and Changing It
   Recognizing Myths About Learning

Chapter 2. The Mediated Learning Experience Defined
   Feuerstein: Mediator and Theorist
   Theory of Mediation
   The Three Partners of Mediation
   Essential Aspects of Mediation
   Summary: A Picture of Mediation

 Chapter 3: Mediated Learning in Action
   The FIE Programs: An Overview
   FIE Lessons by Mediators
   Summary: Imaginative, Authoritative, and Responsive Teaching

Chapter 4. Expert Mediators
   Mediation in Two Classrooms
   Mediation in an Exhibit
   Summary

Chapter 5. Four Essential Cognitive Acts
   Acquiring Basic Competencies
   Intersection of Basic Competencies
   Summary: Mediation—The Connecting Link to Learning

Chapter 6. Defining the Effectiveness of Learning Experiences
   The Cognitive Map
   The Thinking Deficiencies Tool
   Two Techniques to Enhance Learning
   The Case for Mediation: Demetria's Story
   Summary: Analytic Observation Tools

Chapter 7. Creative Use of Effective Exhibits
   Learning from Rich Experiences
   Providing Conflict-Producing Ideas
   Appealing to Multiple Intelligences
   Summary: Mediating Exhibits

Chapter 8. More Essential Cognitive Acts
   Empathy
   Acquiring New Skills
   Mastering Varied Modalities
   Collaborating 
   Complex Thinking Acts
   Museums' Abundant Experiences
   Summary: Mediating for Complexity

Chapter 9. Blue Sky Partnerships
   Beliefs About Learning
   Adult Interventions
   Museums as Partners
   "What If" Ideas
   Emily's Story: Mother as Mediator
   Summary: Museums as Learning Centers

Chapter 10. Enlarging the Cognitive Repertoire
   Incongruence
   Repetition
   Transformation
   Illusion
   Stereognostic (Hand/Vision) Experiences
   Summary: Challenging Designs

Chapter 11. Stretching the Brain to Make Learning Happen
   Motivation
   Summary: Four Interrelated Factors in Learning
   Moving from Concrete to Abstract Thinking
   The Brain and Learning
   Summary: When We Think and Learn

Chapter 12. After Words
   For Teachers
   Questions to Ask of Exhibits
   Summary: Prepare, Question, Discuss
   Understanding Exhibit Design
   Summary: Bringing Learning Home

Appendix A: List of Deficient Cognitive Functions

Appendix B: Children with Learning Challenges: Notes for Parents and Exhibit Designers

References

Index

About the Authors