Bright Start Research Articles

Thinking In, Around, and About The Curriculum: the role of cognitive education

Although everybody agrees that education reform is needed, there is little agreement on the nature of the problems, and certainly not on the remedies; nevertheless, there is a central focus on curriculum issues. Three principal points are addressed in this paper: (a) new approaches in education are urgently needed, (b) new educational approaches require revised concepts of the nature and development of human abilities, and (c) those new concepts must lead inevitably to emphasis on the acquisition, growth, and application of systematic processes of logical thinking, which is to say, “cognitive” or “metacognitive” education. The author presents a “transactional perspective” on human abilities, with three principal components: intelligence, cognitive processes, and intrinsic motivation. Intelligence and cognitive processes differ with respect to their respective sources, their relative modifiability, their composition, methods of assessment, and the role of parents and teachers in their development. Individual differences in intrinsic motivation are associated with differences in learning effectiveness that are not accounted for by the other two components of the transactional model, which is transactional rather than merely interactive because the ability of any one of the three principal components to influence development of either or both of the other two changes with each effect of one upon another. Two programs of cognitive education, one for preschool children, the other for older children, adolescents, and adults, are described and data are presented showing that systematic classroom application of such programs by well trained teachers can lead to enhancement of cognitive development, intrinsic motivation, and even IQ. Further, relatively long‐term evaluative studies demonstrate that there are positive and long‐lasting effects of cognitive education on subsequent learning and school achievement. Figure 11. School achievement scores, grades 1 and 2, of Bright Start and low‐SES control children (Paour et al., 2000). Figure 10. Percentage of passing grades in French and Math on a national examination, for the national standardisation sample, the high‐SES controls, the low‐SES Bright Start children, and the low‐SES control children. (Paour et al., 2000).

Improvement of Cognitive Functions in Children with Down Syndrome through the Bright Start Program

22 boys and girls with Down syndrome were given Bright Start, a cognitive curriculum for young children, using a version that included some special modifications for use with this population. Learners with Down syndrome showed consistent and sustained improvement in their cognitive processes and scores on intelligence tests, yielding effect sizes ranging from the .70s to 1.07. There are some problems in interpreting these results because the sample could not be selected randomly, and because there was no untreated control group; nevertheless, the gains that these learners made suggested the power of cognitive education, systematically applied, to enhance the cognitive development of children and youth with Down syndrome. This work should be repeated with random sampling from relatively homogeneous populations of learners with Down syndrome so the outcomes could be compared with those of other studies of the effectiveness of Bright Start.

The Effects of Intervention in Seriation from the “Bright Start” Program on the Development of Seriational-Mathematical Thinking of Israeli Kindergarteners of Ethiopian and Russian Origin

The author examined the effect of teaching the Pattern and Sequence (useriation) unit from the intervention program Bright Start on the development of seriational mathematical thinking in kindergartners of Israeli, Ethiopian, and Russian origin. In addition, the author examined the effect of the teaching of this unit on the capacity for cognitive change in this area within the study group of children. Bright Start is a plan for the development of thinking in early childhood. This program, developed by Haywood, Brooks, and Burns (1986, 1992), is based on four developmental theories:(a) Feuerstein’s theory of structural cognitive modifiability and mediated learning experience; (b) Piaget’s stages theory of cognitive development; (c) Vygotsky’s social-historical theory of cognitive development; Haywood’s transactional perspective on human abilities.This study was focused on one unit of the program, the unit dealing with the development of seriational thinking. The teaching of this unit, like the remaining units in the program, is based on the mediational teaching style. The main emphasis of the study was placed on the comparison of three groups of different origin in Israel; therefore, no control group was examined.40 kindergartners from a disadvantaged area in Israel’s central region were examined, of whom 9 were native Israelis, 11 were of Russian origin, and 20 were of Ethiopian origin. The chidren were given several tests before and after the program. The examination consisted of three stages. At the beginning of the school year, the children underwent three tests to assess their ability to solve problem tasks when creating series with different elements. Subsequently, the intervention plan was taught with the aim of fostering cognitive skills of planning, comparison, relating to several sources of information, and restraining impulsiveness. Towards the end of the year, the children were again examined, and they underwent the three tests that they had done in the beginning of the year, checking their ability to solve tasks when creating series with different elements. In addition, the extent of internalization of the various skills was examined, as well as the capacity to apply skills to the area of arithmetic.As stated, this study focused on children of Ethiopian and Russian origin in comparison to native Israeli children. The decision to focus on children of Ethiopian origin derived from gaps that emerged in the learning process of this population as a result of the cultural difference that characterizes it. The children of Russian origin were part of the kindergarten’s population. They too manifested gaps as a result of cultural and social changes occurring among immigrants from the former Soviet Union.The purpose of the study was to demonstrate that intervention in specific thinking processes—in this case seriation from Bright Start at kindergarten age—will result in greater effectiveness and a significant cognitive ability to change in this area, particularly in children of Ethiopian origin whose initial cognitive level was poor. The hypothesis was confirmed that the children of Ethiopian descent did indeed evince initial inferiority visa-vis the other two groups, but after the intervention program they improved their performance and narrowed the gaps in comparison to the other groups. It is noteworthy that, according to the theory, cognitive processes are not related to any particular content or culture, but are suited to everyone. These processes were found to be beneficial to all of the children, but the cognitive change in seriational thinking as a result of the intervention program was particularly conspicuous in children of Russian origin.The effect of the intervention program was expressed in the ability to apply acquired skills to unstudied areas. Internalization of cognitive skills was apparent, as was the improved ability to comprehend a series and the acquisition of mathematical skills in all of the kindergarten children.The findings of this study have didactic implications relating to the significance of teaching seriation to kindergarten children. In addition, the study indicates the need for early education programs adapted to the population of children of Ethiopian and Russian origin in Israel.

Preschool Cognitive Education: Why, How, With What Effects?

The authors make the case for the application of cognitive education with low-achieving children in preschool education. Their principal argument is that it is not sufficient to modify the curriculum contents and to present rich and varied activities in order to help the children to confront the basic learning tasks of the primary grades under good conditions. One must also help them to put into practice an effective cognitive functioning in these activities. Building upon a constructivist view of learning and development, the authors propose and illustrate a group of psychopedagogical conditions for presenting tasks that can help to induce and sustain modes of effective functioning that lead to conceptual abstraction. The authors illustrate the application of their concepts with empirical data obtained with a program of cognitive education for young children, Bright Start, as a vehicle for implementing these conditions.

Bright Start Curriculum in the Cognitive Rehabilitation of Dysphasic Pupils during their First School Year

Bright Start Curriculum in the Cognitive Rehabilitation of Dysphasic Pupils during their First School Year

Paper son: one man's story

Preface Winifred C. Chin Introduction: Paper Lives K. Scott Wong Prologue Part I: The Early Years Gold Mountain My Village A Gold Mountain Man Between Father and Son Everybody for Himself Fighting Chinese City Hall The Cheating Game Turning to Wisdom Part II: Gold Mountain Dreams A Navy Man A New Outlook The Period A Bitter End, a Bright Start A Paper Son's Duty Under Suspicion A Dream in Flames Chinese Communism Part III: Becoming American Paranoia Assimilation The Homecoming The Problem with Confession The Final Visit Writing Again The Lunar New Year Living in the Present Postscript Winifred C. Chin

Effects of Cognitive Education in Kindergarten On Learning to Read in the Primary Grades

Although kindergarten curricula typically center on the teaching of “basic skills,” cognitive education programs that pursue the same goal have not been entirely successful at fostering reading, writing, and numbers skills. Previous research in our laboratory reinforced our confidence in the ability of cognitive early education to promote educability, especially in children of low socio-economic status. As a preventive measure, we gave the “Bright Start” program of cognitive early education to a group of children from a very low SES group during the kindergarten year, and assessed its effects on acquisition of reading competence through the first three grades, in comparison to a control group from the same social milieu and a control group of much more socially advantaged children. The results affirm once again the influence of the socio-economic environment on learning, and provide evidence that cognitive early education can promote reading acquisition and can compensate in very large measure for socio-economic differences.

Learning to Learn in Preschool Education: Effects on Later School Achievement

This paper is a report of an evaluation of the Bright Start program that has been designed to assist the cognitive development of children in the early school years. Children in both experimental and control groups lived in the same public housing project in North Marseilles, France, went to school in the same district, and were of the same chronological age. Analyses were conducted on two non-independent criterion variables: overall school achievement, and achievement scores in specific subject areas. The results of the study showed that it is possible to learn to learn at preschool. Pupils who received cognitive early education in kindergarten learned better and applied more effectively a range of new academic knowledge in the two years that immediately followed the intervention than did comparable children who did not receive cognitive early education.

Effects of the “Bright Start” program in kindergarten on transfer and academic achievement

Bright Start (Cognitive Curriculum for Young Children; Haywood, et al, 1986 , Haywood, et al, 1992 ) is an early education program designed to increase learning effectiveness and prepare children with the cognitive tools for school learning. Bright Start was systematically applied, for 10 months, with 82 preschool socioeconomically disadvantaged children while 52 children in a comparison group received a skills-based but not cognitively oriented program. Both static and dynamic assessment ( Campione, 1989 ; Feuerstein, Rand, & Hoffman, 1979 ; Hay-wood & Tzuriel, 1992 ; Lidz, 1987 ; Tzuriel, 1997 ) tests were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program along with tests of task-intrinsic motivation and metacognitive activity. A follow-up study was carried out in Grade I to study the program's effects on cognitive performance and on achievement tests in Math and Reading Comprehension. Children in the experimental group improved their performance on different cognitive tasks and showed more task-intrinsic motivation and metacognitive behavior than did those in the comparison group. The cognitive scores on static tests and cognitive modifiability indices on dynamic assessment tasks were compared for each group at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and follow-up. Although lower at pre-test, the experimental group progressively closed the initial gap with the comparison group and showed superiority towards the end of Grade I. Achievement in Grade I Math and Reading showed slight (non-significant) superiority of the experimental over the comparison group, in spite of the relatively limited application of Bright Start, the emphasis on basic readiness skills in the comparison group, and the relatively higher initial cognitive level of children in the comparison group. The results are discussed in relation to developmental aspects and previous findings.

Bright start for 1999 Divisional activities

Bright start for 1999 Divisional activities

Effects of the “Bright Start” Program in Kindergarten on Teachers' Use of Mediation and Children's Cognitive Modifiability

Two studies were done to investigate the effects of participation in a cognitive early education program, Bright Start, on teachers' use of mediated learning strategies and on children's cognitive modifiability and task‐intrinsic motivation. In Study 1,11 teachers who had been trained in and had taught Bright Start in their classrooms were compared to 11 teachers who had not had this training or experience, using an observation instrument to assess their use of mediational techniques in their classes, following one year of application of the program. There was evidence of greater use of mediation in the Bright Start group than In the control group, especially in the category of Mediation for Transcendence. In Study 2,51 socio economically disadvantaged children in kindergarten were randomly assigned to experimental (n=25) and control (n = 26) groups. Two of Bright Start's seven “cognitive small‐group” units were systematically applied, for 3 months, with the experimental children while children in a control group received a skills‐based but not cognitively oriented program. Both static and dynamic tests were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Children in the Bright Start group improved their performance on cognitive tasks and showed a higher level of task‐intrinsic motivation than did those in the control group. The change scores on dynamic assessment tasks were compared at post‐treatment. The experimental group showed an overall higher performance than did the control group at pre‐ and post‐teaching phases of the Children's Analogical Thinking Modifiability (CATM) and Complex Figure tests. Significant Treatment X Time (pre‐ and post‐teaching) interactions indicated that the Bright Start group improved its performance from pre‐ to post‐teaching more than did the control group. The results are discussed in relation to developmental aspects and previous findings.