FIE

TERM TWO FIE COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS of FOCUS

These are the key cognitive functions for term two. Ask your child to explain these to you at home. Below are some of the skills the students will display when they have mastered each of these cognitive functions.

Planning

Students can:

• Make a plan and follow it
• Know where to start
• Know when to use a plan
• Make sure their verbal responses are organised
• Value the purpose of plan

Where do we use it - stop and think and plan - Gala Day, cooking a recipe, getting yourself to trials, what I need to take to school - packing my own bag, what to take to workshops, SOLO

Systematic Search / Comparing

Students can:

• Systematically search using a planned strategy
• Scan the ‘whole’ to gather relevant information
• Use comparative behaviour to systematically organise data
• Systematically search for differences and similarities
• Use what they already know to move forward and solve the problems

Where do we use it - looking for lost keys, wordsearch, comparing / systematically looking at a success criteria and comparing it to our work, sports field, driving a car - street signs

It would be helpful if this language can be used at home. When you see your child struggling with a function try asking them:

"Did you make a plan before you started?”

“How can be more systematic in your search for...?"  

“Are you being systematic?”  

“What system would be best to find..?”

“Can you compare what you already know, to what is being asked of you now?”

Week 7

The students now have had a week looking at Organisation of Dots, and have learnt how to use the pages along with words like horizontal, vertical, diagonal, parallel, and right angles. These pages are going to get more challenging as we introduce new cognitive functions like Conserve Constancy.

Conserve Constancy is about looking for the things that we are already familiar with within a problem. For example, you may be asked to make a sequence map going down the page, then get asked to make a comic strip that goes across the page. When you Stop and Think, you can see that the same thing is being asked, just the outcome could be presented in two different ways.

A bit like our Cognitive Functions Fan - it is still a cat, it's just wearing a tutu.

What is FIE?

FIE stands for Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment.

The Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment programme (FIE) is a curriculum in thinking, which is designed to enhance cognitive functioning, and is based on Feuerstein’s theory that all children, young people and adults can learn and change their level of thinking strategies.

The goal of the FIE programme is the development, of thinking processes that are needed for effective thinking, problem solving, and decision making. It focuses on transforming passive and dependent learners into more active self-motivated students.

For students who have previously experienced failure in school, FIE creates opportunities to gain insights into their way of thinking, attitudes, and feelings. They can begin to appreciate that the source of their difficulties is not due to their inferiority, inability, or lack of intelligence, but is due to inefficient strategies or lack of thorough planning.

Feuerstein Insitute - IE in the School System https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSh9jaXkq1U

Ask your child about the power of ...Yet.

TERM ONE FIE COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS of FOCUS

These are the key cognitive functions for term one. Ask your child to explain these to you at home.

Below are some of the skills the students will display when they have mastered each of these cognitive functions.

Stop and Think / Manage Impulsivity

Students can:

• Use a system or plan so that they don’t skip or miss something important or repeat themselves.
• Be systematic
• Take a moment to THINK before rushing ahead.

 Accuracy and Precision

Students can:

• Think about the task before they start
• Gather the data
• Make a plan
• Be accurate in their oral language
• Be accurate and precise in their numeracy
• Be accurate and precise in their Literacy

Define the Problem / Select Relevant Cues

Students can:

• Realise that there is a problem that needs solving. e.g. what is the sum of 5 and 7? (Students need to define what ‘sum’ means before they can solve the problem)
• Know what we have to do.