Mediated Learning Experience Research Articles

The effects of mother-child mediated learning strategies on psychological resilience and cognitive modifiability of boys with learning disability.

The theoretical framework of the current study is based on mediated learning experience (MLE) theory, which is similar to the scaffolding concept. The main question of the current study was to what extent mother-child MLE strategies affect psychological resilience and cognitive modifiability of boys with learning disability (LD). Secondary questions were to what extent the home environment, severity of boy's LD, and mother's attitude towards her child's LD affect her MLE strategies and consequently the child's psychological resilience and cognitive modifiability. The main objectives of this study were the following: (a) to investigate the effects of mother-child MLE strategies on psychological resilience and cognitive modifiability among 7- to 10-year-old boys with LD, (b) to study the causal effects of distal factors (i.e., socio-economic status [SES], home environment, severity of child's LD, mother's attitude towards LD) and proximal factors (i.e., MLE strategies) on psychological resilience and cognitive modifiability. A sample of mother-child dyads (n=100) were videotaped during a short teaching interaction. All children were boys diagnosed as children with LD. The interaction was analysed for MLE strategies by the Observation of Mediation Interaction scale. Children were administered psychological resilience tests and their cognitive modifiability was measured by dynamic assessment using the Analogies subtest from the Cognitive Modifiability Battery. Home environment was rated by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), and mothers answered a questionnaire of attitudes towards child's LD. The findings showed that mother-child MLE strategies, HOME, and socio-economic level contributed significantly to prediction of psychological resilience (78%) and cognitive modifiability (51%). Psychological resilience was positively correlated with cognitive modifiability (Rc=0.67). Structural equationmodelling analysis supported, in general, the hypotheses about the causal effects of distal and proximal factors of psychological resilience and cognitive modifiability. The findings validate and extend the MLE theory by showing that mother-child MLE strategies significantly predict psychological resilience and cognitive modifiability among boys with LD. Significant correlation between psychological resilience and cognitive modifiability calls for further research exploring the role of MLE strategies in development of both.

Upgrading geometry conceptual understanding and strategic competence through implementing rigorous mathematical thinking (RMT)

To reach higher order thinking skill, needed to be mastered the conceptual understanding and strategic competence as they are two basic parts of high order thinking skill (HOTS). RMT is a unique realization of the cognitive conceptual construction approach based on Feurstein with his theory of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. This was quasi-experimental research which compared the experimental class that was given Rigorous Mathematical Thinking (RMT) as learning method and the control class that was given Direct Learning (DL) as the conventional learning activity. This study examined whether there was different effect of two learning model toward conceptual understanding and strategic competence of Junior High School Students. The data was analyzed by using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and obtained a significant difference between experimental and control class when considered jointly on the mathematics conceptual understanding and strategic competence (shown by Wilk’s Λ = 0.84). Further, by independent t-test is known that there was significant difference between two classes both on mathematical conceptual understanding and strategic competence. By this result is known that Rigorous Mathematical Thinking (RMT) had positive impact toward Mathematics conceptual understanding and strategic competence.

Using a Vygotskian sociocultural approach to pedagogy: Insights from some teachers in South Africa

The goal of the study on which this article is based was to examine teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of adopting a Vygotskian sociocultural approach to teaching and learning in the classrooms. The study used focus group interview discussions to gather views from 20 classroom practitioners who had completed a BEd Hons in Education Psychology. The teachers were from five secondary schools in the Gauteng region. Among the key concepts explored in the focus group discussions (FGDs) were the role of scaffolding when linked to mediated learning experiences (MLEs), the use of situated learning experiences in the learners’ zones of proximal development (ZPD), and how the approach helped transform the learners’ skills from lower to higher psychological functions through the use of material, psychological and semiotic tools in the classroom. The analysis of the data followed a thematic approach, with emerging codes being clustered into code families. Among the key findings of the study was the view of teachers that adopting a multipronged strategy that includes the use of authentic learning conversations, learning tools (material, psychological, and semiotic) and situated learning experiences goes a long way towards fostering useful teaching and learning. The study illustrated that classroom practitioners do need to take into account and adopt the many and varied benefits that can be derived from an authentic sociocultural approach to teaching and learning.

Perceptions of Transactional Distance in Blended Learning Using Location-Based Mobile Devices

The current study demonstrates how blended learning using location-based mobile-learning experiences can be improved when student preparation is enhanced with techniques informed by the theory of Mediated Learning Experience (MLE). Our experiment used a sample of 216 junior-high students within the context of school field trips. Tablet computers were custom configured to implement mobile learning with an application dispensing both contextual content and field navigation assignments. A control group prepped for the field trips used traditional information and discussion while an experimental group prepped based on the principles of MLE. Following the experience, students’ subjective perceptions of transactional distance were examined. The findings suggested that those prepared with MLE principles experienced lower transactional distances and, hence, a better outcome. Additionally, gender and thinking style differences were found, highlighting the need to further adapt flexible teaching approaches in mobile-learning environments. Overall, the findings carry significant implications for pedagogic and technological aspects of implementing mobile technologies in education.

Stimulate at Risk Dyscalculic Pupil to Learn a Number Sequence: A Single Case Study in LINUS 2.0 Numeracy Remedial Class in Sandakan, Sabah

This study aims to explore a single case of teaching a number sequence using a new idea which is known as “drawing your hands” in order to engage at-risk Dyscalculic pupils. This research incorporates active learning which based on the cognitive constructivism theory and Feuerstein’ Mediated Learning Experiences to derive a new teaching method. It was implemented at a primary school in Sandakan, Sabah. This is a qualitative study involving one mathematics teacher and one at risk Dyscalculic pupil from a national primary school. The data were collected via lesson observations, interviews, and document analyses. The finding revealed that this new teaching concept was practical to scaffold the at-risk Dyscalculic pupil to learn number sequence.

Presentación de un modelo de análisis de la conversación y experiencias de aprendizaje mediado en la interacción de sala de clase

Las evidencias de los últimos años indican que la calidad del diálogo docente-estudiante en el aula es importante en el logro de aprendizajes. Pero aún no se conocen, de modo suficiente, cuáles diálogos son más beneficiosos, ni qué tipo de modelo de análisis es el más pertinente. El objetivo de este artículo es ilustrar un modelo de análisis de la interacción didáctica en el aula que integre criterios de mediación de la teoría de experiencia de aprendizaje mediado (EAM) y las categorías del análisis de la conversación (AC), específicamente los conceptos de intervención e intercambio. Metodológicamente se trata de un estudio cualitativo de análisis de caso instrumental, que consistió en la filmación de tres clases consecutivas de una profesora de cuarto básico de escuela ubicada en sectores sociales vulnerables de la región Metropolitana de Santiago de Chile. El análisis del registro de observación se realizó con las categorías de la EAM y AC. Los resultados indican que los criterios de la EAM cobran precisión al vincular la acción comunicativa del profesorado con la acción comunicativa del estudiantado –trasladando el foco de observación de la intervención al intercambio–, y los intercambios ganan precisión para describir la acción intencionada del personal docente desde el currículo en relación con las acciones que median el aprendizaje autónomo de sus estudiantes. Se demuestra que hay intercambios en el aula que contienen criterios de la teoría EAM, y aportan a comprender la disposición a aprender en estudiantes que viven en contextos sociales vulnerables.

Learning Words and Definitions in Two Languages: What Promotes Cross-Language Transfer?

This study used a brief vocabulary training paradigm to examine two factors for cross-language transfer: how similar the first language (L1) is to the second language (L2) and L1-L2 proficiency levels. Fifty-four sequential bilingual children (aged 6-8) with similar L2 English proficiency levels were assigned to three equal groups: a Vietnamese-English group with low L1 proficiency, a Spanish-English group with low L1 proficiency, and a Spanish-English group with high L1 proficiency. Individual training consisted of two mediated learning experiences conducted in the L1 targeting eight vocabulary items using narrative-based activities. Four of eight target words were cognates between Spanish and English. Pre- and posttesting measured definition quality in the L1 and L2. All groups showed improvement in the L1 following training, but only the Spanish-English group with high L1 proficiency improved in L2 English, revealing a degree of spontaneous cross-language transfer among children with high L1-L2 proficiency.

Assessing a Remedial Intervention Programme in Developing the Planning Skills of Grade 4 and 5 Learners

The search for assessment procedures that are more fair and useful have led to the investigation of alternatives to traditional forms of intellectual assessment. This study explored an alternative which combined a dynamic assessment approach with the Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive Processing (PASS) model of cognitive processing. The aim was to investigate the effectiveness of a planning intervention programme based on Feuerstein’s criteria for Mediated Learning Experience (MLE) with a group of Grade 4 and 5 remedial school learners who presented with a range of barriers to learning. Twenty six learners were assigned to the experimental group and 25 to the control group. The results showed that there was a significant improvement in the experimental group’s Planning Scale score on the Cognitive Assessment System, following the intervention. These results imply that children often have far greater potential than is realised and that intentional mediation can help to enhance cognitive functioning and assist in further developing children’s learning potential.

Concepções sobre mediação da aprendizagem e relações com indicadores de estresse ocupacional

Resumo A mediação da aprendizagem é um processo importante para a alfabetização. Assim, este estudo analisou as relações entre concepções sobre mediação, variáveis pessoais e indicadores de estresse em 36 professores da região metropolitana de Vitória, ES. A partir de um protocolo e de um conjunto de escalas, houve tratamento quantitativo e qualitativo dos dados. Os participantes apresentaram conhecimentos básicos sobre mediação, mas desconheciam a teoria da Experiência de Aprendizagem Mediada - EAM. Cerca de 40% apresentaram alto nível de estresse. Os principais estressores relacionaram-se ao envolvimento dos alunos e às relações com a comunidade ou instituição. Houve correlação negativa entre estresse e satisfação no trabalho e positiva entre satisfação e evocações ligadas às ações do professor como responsáveis pela mediação de qualidade. Sugere-se acesso a teorias sobre mediação da aprendizagem e investimento em políticas públicas visando à satisfação no trabalho, uma possível variável mediadora entre concepções e estresse percebido.

Cross-generational transmission of teaching strategies: The moderating role of peer-mediation

The objective of the current study was to investigate cross-generational transmission of mother-child teaching strategies and the moderating role of intervention for peer-mediation. Mother–child interactions were videotaped in a teaching situation and analyzed for mediated learning experience (MLE) strategies and non-scaffolding activation behavior (NSAB) using the Observation of Mediated Interaction (OMI) scale. The children (Grade 3) were assigned to an experimental (n=49) and control (n=51) groups. The experimental group received a peer-mediation program and the control group an alternative program. All children were assigned to peers (Grade 1) and taught them inferential problems. The interactions were videotaped and analyzed by the OMI. The findings reveal that children's NSAB was predicted significantly by mothers' NSAB. Cross-generational transmission of MLE strategies, however were transmitted only in a group trained for peer-mediation. Cross-generational continuity has emerged as higher for NSAB behavior than for MLE strategies.

INTEGRATING ASSESSMENT AND INSTRUCTION: DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT AND ITS CRITICISMS EXAMINED

Dynamic Assessment has recently been voiced of constructivism, the socio-cultural theory of learning. This article, challenging the psychometric and product-based test, makes an attempt to delve into the epistemological and ontological theories of Dynamic Assessment (DA) and their criticisms. DA is the offspring of Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Feuerstein’s mediated learning experience (MLE). It emphasises constructing a future through mediations. Interestingly, this development-oriented process of collaboration relies on the unification of instruction and assessment which is a strong threat to the reliability of the psychometric tests. This study also deals with the battle of views on DA. It discusses the appealing face of DA embracing ethical values, fairness and social equity, and the process based assessment. It also argues the negative face of DA comprising modifiability, interventionism, and stability. It finally concludes that each system should be criticised by certain criteria. Faced with the scarcity of research both theoretically and empirically, the critical analysis of this new generation of test in an L2 setting might be helpful for further discussions, suggestions and implications in the second language learning arena.

Advancing the Learning Equity Agenda through a Social Constructivist Epistemology to Teaching and Learning in the Curriculum

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this conceptual paper is to examine how adopting a social constructivist epistemology enhances equity pedagogy in the classroom. The paper thus adopts a Vygotskian conceptual framework in so far as it serves as an ideal model for improving learning equity among students from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds. As a conceptual as opposed to empirical study, the key concepts explored in this discussion are in relation to how the social constructivist approach to teaching and learning enhances equitable learning, how mediated learning experiences (MLE), situated learning activities in the learners’ zones of proximal development (ZPD) help scaffold students skills from lower to higher psychological functions through the use of learning tools (material, psychological and semiotic tools) as well as through the use of learning conversations (LC) and some forms of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the constructivist classrooms. Among the key findings of this study was the view that adop...

Intervention for peer mediation and mother-child interaction: The effects on children’s mediated learning strategies and cognitive modifiability

The effects of intervention for peer mediation and mother-child mediated learning experience (MLE) strategies on children’s MLE strategies and cognitive modifiability (CM) was investigated on a sample of 100 mother–child dyads. CM was examined in domains of executive functions and analogical reasoning. The MLE interactions were analyzed by Observation for Mediated Interaction (OMI) scale. Children of high- and low-mediating mothers were assigned to experimental (n=49) and control (n=51) conditions. The experimental group received a peer-mediation program and the control groups received an alternative creativity program. The children (in Grade 3) were assigned as mediators of learners (in Grade 1) and taught them analogical reasoning problems. The peer interaction was videotaped and analyzed by the OMI. All children were given dynamic assessment after the interaction. Children in the experimental group showed higher MLE strategies and CM than did children in the control condition. Mediators of low-MLE mothers in the experimental group showed greater CM than did mediators in the control group. Structural equation modeling analysis showed that mediators’ cognitive modifiability was explained by proximal factors of treatment, mothers’ quality of mediation (QM) and mediators’ QM; learners’ cognitive modifiability was explained by mediators’ QM. The findings were discussed in relation to the MLE theory and earlier findings.

Mediated Learning Experience: Choosing Cognitive Modifiability

Mediated Learning Experience: Choosing Cognitive Modifiability

Mediated Learning Experience: Questions to Enhance Cognitive Development of Young Children

Mediated learning experience (MLE) stresses that the quality of interaction between the child and the environment via a human mediator plays a pivotal role in the cognitive development of the individual. Feuerstein’s theory of structural cognitive modifiability posited that humans have the propensity to change the structure of their cognitive functioning. Therefore, teachers and practitioners can intervene early during early childhood to potentially enhance cognition functions of young children, which will prepare them for successful adaptation to the rapidly changing environment. This article rides on the theoretical underpinnings of Feuerstein’s theory of MLE to elaborate appropriate use of questions to enhance cognitive development during early childhood. Essentially, appropriate conditions foster the mediation of intentionality and reciprocity, meaning, and transcendence, the three parameters necessary for mediated interaction to take place and questions are used to mediate the parameters as we scaffold through teacher–student interactions.

Significance of the Feuerstein approach in neurocognitive rehabilitation

The theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability and Mediated Learning Experience of Reuven Feuerstein states that individuals with brain impairment, because of congenital or acquired origin, may substantially and structurally improve their cognitive functioning, by a systematic intervention based on a specific, criteria-based type of interaction ("mediated learning"). Three application systems are based on it: a dynamic-interactive assessment of learning capacity and processes of learning, the LPAD (Learning Propensity Assessment Device); a cognitive intervention program called "Instrumental Enrichment Program", which trains cognitive, metacognitive and executive functions; and a program, which is oriented at working in context, Shaping Modifying Environments. These programs have been applied in widely different target groups: from children and young adults with learning and developmental disabilities, at risk of school failure, or having failed at school, because of socio-economic disadvantage or congenital neurological impairment; disadvantaged youngsters and adults in vocational training, to elderly people at the beginning of a dementia process. Experience with cognitive rehabilitation of children and adults with acquired brain damage, has been relatively recent, first in the Feuerstein Institute's Brain Injury Unit in Jerusalem, later in other centers in different parts of the world; therefore scientific data are scarce. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Feuerstein-approach fits into the goals and proposed approaches of cognitive rehabilitation, and to explore its relevance for assessment and intervention in individuals with congenital or acquired brain damage. The methodology of the Feuerstein approach consists of four pillars: dynamic assessment, cognitive activation, mediated learning and shaping a modifying environment. The criteria of mediated learning experience are explained with specific reference to people with acquired brain injury. The procedure of learning propensity assessment device uses visuo-spatial and verbal tasks known from neuropsychological assessment (such as Rey's complex figure drawing), as well as a in a pre-test - brief intervention - post-test format. Cognitive activation is done in various ways: a paper-and-pencil relatively content-free program called "instrumental enrichment", with transfer of learned principles into daily life situations, followed by metacognitive feedback. Four case histories of acquired brain damage are analyzed: a 19 year old man with extensive post-astrocytoma frontotemporal brain lesions; a 19 year old man with bilateral frontal and right temporal and parieto-occipital parenchymatous destruction after a traumatic brain injury; a 24 year old man with hemispherectomy for intractable epilepsy because of Sturge-Weber syndrome; and a 30-year old man with left porencephalic cyst after cerebral hemorrhage. Structural cognitive improvement could be demonstrated in positive change scores in visuo-spatial memory, associative and verbal memory, abstract thinking, and organizing tasks, even more than 10 years post-TBI. In some cases a rise in IQ has been documented. Improvement in daily life functioning and academic skills (re)learning has also been seen. Though impossible to claim scientific evidence, the case histories nevertheless suggest the importance of interactive assessment in designing intervention programs which have sufficient intensity, frequency, duration and consistency of mediation; furthermore, an essential ingredient is the ecological approach which requires working with the patient and the whole network around; a firm "belief system" or that modifiability is possible even with severe brain damage and many years after the injury; a cognitive, metacognitive and executive approach, and a quality of interaction according to criteria of mediated learning. They suggest that Feuerstein approach may offer interesting perspectives to cognitive rehabilitation. More extensive research is needed to provide a broader scientific evidence base.

Dynamic Assessment of Incidental Vocabularies: A Case of Iranian ESP Learners

Dynamic assessment (DA), stemmed from both Vygotsky’s (1978) learning theory and Feuerstein’s (1979) theory of mediated learning experiences, is an alternative to static assessment. It focuses on both instruction and assessment aiming at promoting learning through mediation. DA has been widely researched in different linguistic areas, but there is paucity of research on its practice in ESP contexts. Accordingly, this study investigated the effectiveness of DA on incidental vocabularies emerging in technical reading textbooks, written for electronic engineering students. The study employed a quasi-experimental research design. Due to sample selection problems, an intact group of 25 BA electronic students were selected from the University of Zanjan. A pre-test was administered to check whether they had previous knowledge of the target words, incidentally acquired during the reading activity. As for the instrument stage, DA procedures were utilized in order to individualize participants’ assessment. Following DA implementation, a post-test similar in content to pre-test, was administered to the same participants. The significance of DA for the enhancement of incidental vocabularies was to make participants aware of the strategies of identifying, evaluating and monitoring vocabularies (Nassaji, 2003) through mediation process. The results indicated that participants' incidental vocabulary learning promoted dramatically using DA, which employed structured hints for the mediation process. The results of this study can inform both teachers and learners to provide a step by step procedure to promote both teaching and assessment of ESP learners' vocabulary. Keywords: Dynamic Assessment, Incidental Vocabulary Learning, ESP Learners, ZPD, mediation

Improving children's cognitive modifiability by dynamic assessment in 3D Immersive Virtual Reality environments

Increasing evidence reveals the efficacy of dynamic assessment (DA) procedure in providing rich and reliable feedback regarding children's cognitive modifiability. The DA procedure included four phases: pre-teaching test, teaching, post-teaching and transfer test two weeks after teaching. The teaching phase includes mediated learning experience strategies. Children's cognitive modifiability was examined by pre- to post-teaching improvement and by the transfer test. Children in Grades 1 and 2 (n = 117) were randomly assigned into three experimental groups and one control group. Each of the experimental groups was given the teaching phase in a different modality: 3D Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR, n = 36), 2D (n = 36), and tangible blocks (TB, n = 24). The control group (n = 21) was not given teaching phase. The teaching phase included strategies of solving problems from the Analogies Subtest of the Cognitive Modifiability Battery (CMB). Pre- and post-teaching CMB Analogies tests were administered to all groups followed by CMB Transfer Analogies two weeks later. The findings indicate that the 2D and TB groups showed higher cognitive modifiability than the control group. Also, the findings indicate that teaching in a 3D IVR environment contributed to the children's cognitive modifiability more than in the other groups in the CMB Transfer Analogies. The findings are discussed in relation to the unique enhancing characteristics of the 3D IVR condition combined with the applied mediation strategies.

Towards teaching and beyond: Strengthening education by understanding students’ self-awareness development

In the current era, when information is accessible to all, students are less motivated to invest in long learning processes. Thus, teachers need to focus on education while developing along the way their students’ self-fulfillment that is based on realistic self-awareness. By developing students’ motivation to delve into the information they can easily access, students also learn to develop their own thinking and understanding of the same information everyone has. The question is how to develop self-awareness. This year-long case study applied teaching processes based on the Mediated Learning Experience approach to 16 fourth-grade students via four of their teachers. Focus groups, individual interviews, and observations were used to collect the data, which then underwent discourse analysis. The teachers indicated that, by basing their teaching on building reciprocity and meaningful learning processes according to the Mediated Learning Experience criteria, they better understood the unique self-awareness that each student developed. Their understanding helped them to enhance their students’ internal motivation, and maintain an improved atmosphere in class.

学校における心理教育的援助サービスとダイナミック・アセスメントとの関連

For school nurse teachers as key persons, this study examined several factors to elucidate the relation between psycho-educational services necessary for team support and dynamic assessment of those services. A questionnaire survey was administered to 1,350 randomly selected public elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools. Based on Feuerstein (1979), items related to support attitudes (mediated learning experience; MLE) and dynamic assessment were collected and selected for questionnaire items such as belief for psychological support, burnout, coordination behavior assessment, workplace culture perception, and team cooperation. As a result, the collection rate was 35.9 % (484), yielding 382 valid responses. The results were subjected to factor analysis, correlation analysis, and then path analysis. Psycho-educational services for school nurse teachers showed positive correlation between dynamic assessment as the subscale of children's cognitive development and that of mediating support attitude ("transcendence" (r = .505, p ‹ .01) and "intentionality" (r = .429, p ‹ .01)). Every subscale of coordination activity showed significantly positive correlation (r = .318 to .43, p ‹ .01). Also, in the structure equation, "cooperation" of the workplace atmosphere had a positive path to "team cooperation," and "intentionality" as the subscale of school nurse teachers's support attitude to dynamic assessment. In turn, "dynamic assessment" had a positive path to "cooperation with professions outside school" as the subscale of coordination activity. The results presented above elucidated the relation between school nurse teachers' psycho-educational services and dynamic assessment. Furthermore, results suggest that, in the structure, the intentionality of mediating support attitudes as a factor for team cooperation supports the viewpoint of dynamic assessment and affects cooperation with professions outside the school.