Cognitive Acceleration

Cognitive acceleration (CA) is based on two premises: (1) that children develop mentally as well as physically as they grow older; (2) that their rate of development with some mental processes, such as cognitive skills, can be accelerated. CA draws on the theories of learning of both Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget suggested that there are three main stages of development: from ‘pre-operational’ to ‘concrete operational’ to ‘formal operational’.

Each stage has certain cognitive skills and abilities associated with it. Advocates of CA argue that learners’ progression through these stages can be ‘accelerated’ by certain means. The goal is usually seen as the learner reaching the ‘formal operational level’ of thinking. At this stage, they can cope with problems involving many variables, as opposed to ‘concrete operational’ when only a limited number of variables can be dealt with.

The underlying drive from CA advocates is that all children should reach their true mental potential—at present, given the existing curriculum and current styles of teaching and learning, many children are not fulfilling the potential that they have for reaching higher levels of development and using ‘higherorder thinking skills’. The theory underlying CA is that everyone can develop a general way of thinking that is applicable in many different contexts. This has been called a ‘general cognitive processing capacity’ (Shayer and Adey, 2002) that is not context-dependent (in contrast, see situated cognition and situated learning).

This general ability or ‘general intellectual function’ develops with age and maturity, but it can also be enhanced and accelerated by the right learning/teaching environment and intervention. Various models of teaching and learning (pedagogy) have been put forward to bring about cognitive acceleration, e.g. observing a peers successful performance; ‘scaffolding’ learning; working in the learner’s zone of proximal development or ZPD. One strategy which uses these and other tactics is the model of pedagogy put forward by the CASE
project (Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education), based on five pillars or stages:

• Concrete preparation: a task is introduced, the context is set, it is related to previous experiences and the language involved is explained.
• Cognitive conflict new information or a new event is presented that does not fit the learner’s existing conception—it poses an element of surprise, a ‘mental hurdle’. The learner’s existing mental structures (their schemata or the schema in the singular) are challenged. Equilibrium is upset—their schemata need to accommodate (adapt, adjust) as a result of these new events or observations, in order to assimilate or make sense of them (Piaget’s terms). This is rather like human vision: our eyes ‘accommodate’, as the muscles adjust the lens, so that we can see or ‘make out’ things nearby or at a distance. For cognitive conflict to be valuable, it must be within the ZPD (Vygotsky’s term)—this is the region between what a learner can achieve or understand unaided and what they can achieve with help from their peers or the teacher (a mediator).
• Construction: pupils develop the ability to make sense of what is going on—this is the difficult step (from conflict to construction). Careful input from the teacher, within the ZPD, is needed in this stage. New concepts and strategies are developed. Small-group discussion can help this process, the ‘social construction of meaning’, provided that it is guided and supported by the teacher (as a golfer once said, it is no good practising your faults). In short, construction requires both support and scaffolding.
• Metacognition: learners think about their own thinking and reflect on the strategies and actions they have used, e.g. how they solved a problem. After doing a task or solving a problem, they should become conscious of their own thought processes—they should make them explicit and bring them out into the open in some way.
• Bridging: this is the final pillar. The way of thinking developed in the lesson is linked to other contexts and situations in the curriculum and to real-life contexts. This should enhance transfer of learning. The teacher’s role is to challenge pupils to suggest links and to make them clear and explicit. For example, after a lesson involving, say, classification of animals, the same skill could be applied to classifying plants or better still the learner’s CD collection, hard disk files, stamp collection or personal documents.

Several large-scale programmes have been active in schools in the past few decades: for example, CASE, GATE and CAME (Cognitive Acceleration in Science/Technology/Mathematics respectively). Programmes for CA in the Arts area have also been developed. Programmes have been applied with a range of ages, at primary and secondary level. Advocates of CA put it forward as a new pedagogic model, i.e. a teaching and learning strategy, with far-reaching positive effects. It requires a shift in teaching and curriculum time away from content and towards general intellectual development. This is sometimes said to be a better preparation for a knowledge, ICTbased society than the traditional curriculum emphasis on content. Another suggestion is that motivation is improved. Evidence has also been collected suggesting that cognitive acceleration of this kind can accelerate pupils’ development and even produce better results in national tests and examinations (Adey and Shayer, 1994; Shayer and Adey, 2002).

An idea related to cognitive acceleration is that of Instrumental Enrichment (IE), based on the work of Israeli psychologist Reuven Feuerstein, whose programme of intervention is based on the views that: (1) thinking skills can be taught and learned and that these skills are transferable and usable in all areas of life; and (2) intelligence is modifiable and not fixed. The aims of the IE programmes are to sharpen critical thinking, to develop independent learning, and to help students to ‘learn how to learn’.
Read More : Secondary Education: The Key Concepts (Routledge Key Guides)

Accelerated learning

Accelerated learning is the notion that a child’s (or an adult’s) learning can be speeded up by certain means. The means vary but are by no means uncontroversial. For example, the suggestions for accelerating learning put forward by Smith (1996) are summarised by the acronym NO LIMIT. This represents seven principles.

The first initial comes from the word kNow: the learner and teacher should know how the brain works in a learning situation—that the brain has different parts, that the right and left sides of the brain should be active and ‘linked’ and that visual, auditory and kinaesthetic (VAK) inputs can enhance this (see multiple intelligences and metacognition).

The second principle refers to Open and relaxed learners: learning is said to be more enjoyable and longer lasting when the environment is enjoyable and the learner is confident and comfortable. For example, if music is played during a learning situation, this may help create the right environment for some learners. This assertion can be challenged, however; it can be the case that learning, especially outside the classroom, sometimes takes place under stressful or even traumatic conditions, e.g. at the scene of an accident.

The third initial L is for learning: by setting step-by-step targets, learners are given a challenging but supportive environment—experiencing success in achieving targets will motivate learners. Input, the fourth principle, is based on the idea that a variety of inputs is needed, e.g. VAK as above.

Fifth, the idea of multiple intelligences leads to the principle that different learners have different intelligences that need to be nurtured and different styles in which they learn. Children may be smart in one area, e.g. ‘number smart’, and can excel in this, if not in other areas.

The sixth principle is to invest in several strategies that can improve self-esteem and enhance learning—these are represented by another acronym, BASIS, with five elements: belonging, aspiration, safety, identity and success (Smith, 1996; Prashnig, 1998).

The final initial in NO LIMIT refers to try it, test it and review it: the idea of constantly reviewing work within a targetsetting system. All the above principles are said to create a supportive learning environment, with a range of sensory inputs, which can motivate learners, enhance their understanding and improve retention of learning (Smith, 1996).

Some of the principles of accelerated learning are said to be based on theories of the brain and how it works. In brief, the brain is said to have three main parts, each with different functions. The ‘reptilian brain’, at the base of the skull, controls our basic and instinctive functions such as breathing or ‘fight and flight’. The middle or ‘limbic’ brain is the seat of our emotions and long-term memory: it has been suggested that we remember best when our emotions are involved in learning.

inally, the ‘neo-cortex’ is the area where higher-order thinking skills and problem solving are said to take place. One of the benefits of this model of the brain is the realisation that all parts of the brain, including the emotions, are involved in learning. Cognition (i.e. skills, knowledge and understanding) is intimately connected with emotion. Positive emotions can encourage effective learning.

Conversely, the implication is that fear and stress can cause activity in the brain to move towards the ‘reptilian’ section, thus reducing activity in the neo-cortex area—consequently suppressing or even negating learning. Again, this hypothesis could be challenged because learning can occur in stressful or traumatic situations in everyday life.

Furthermore, the thinking part of the brain (the neo-cortex) is said to be in two hemispheres. The right side is responsible for creativity, images and visualisation, music, rhythm and rhyme, art and design, and gaining the holistic picture. The left-side processing involves words, language, logic, number, writing and reading and analytic activity. It has been said that artistic people are ‘right-brained’ while mathematicians are left-brained’, though this has been challenged (OECD, 2002).

If we assume that there is some value in these models of the brain, the practical question arises: what is the classroom teacher to do about them, especially when faced with a class of 30 pupils, each with different learning styles and preferences? On the one hand, the teacher could focus on the learning strengths and preferences of individuals and try to build on or exploit them; on the other, they could try to develop the underdeveloped learning styles in the hope of increasing each learner’s repertoire. This is a difficult choice for the classroom teacher to make.

In reality, many teachers opt for a mixture of VAK ingredients in their lessons when planning and conducting them, in the hope of giving something to all learners and learning styles. There are clearly dangers in relying on the two-sided model of the brain too closely as a basis for learning and teaching, especially if learners become labelled as ‘right-sided’ or ‘left-sided’ and this is deemed to be their learning style or learning preference, e.g. holistic imagers in contrast to analytic verbalisers.

Accelerated learning has become something of an industry in the twenty-first century, spawning a host of websites and consultancies. Certain activities and techniques have been developed, allegedly based on theories of the brain, and promoted at in-service and pre-service teacher training events, e.g., ‘brain gym’, target setting, VAK input and creating conducive environments using music.

However sound or unsound the scientific basis for these activities may be, my own view is that the emphasis on improving or even accelerating learning has had certain beneficial effects, e.g. more varied input by teachers built into their lesson planning; increased self-awareness by learners of the way they learn; realisation by teachers that different learners learn in different ways; and the use of activities and environments that can enhance the learning process for many pupils.
Read More : Accelerated learning