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Cognitive education is defined and described according to aspects that are common to various curricula and programs as well as aspects that vary across programs. Its most basic and universal characteristic is its focus on processes of systematic logical thinking and especially the application of basic tools of learning. The application of fundamental cognitive and metacognitive concepts in teaching and learning is described with examples. Selected curricula, programs, and approaches are listed and briefly characterized. Criteria for evaluating cognitive education programs are proposed, and some examples of successful evaluation strategies are given. Evaluation of effectiveness across different cognitive education programs shows effects on cognitive development, IQ, school achievement, intrinsic motivation, and reductions in referral to special education, although such effects depend on age of learners, specific program characteristics, and effectiveness criteria.
Keywords: cognitive education; metacognition; evaluation; learning; thinking skills
The term cognitive education has been in professional use for only about 30-40 years, but the notions that underlie the term are as old as education itself. My own first published use of the term and the first that I can find is in a paper on cognitive education with adolescents who had learning disabilities (Arbitman-Smith & Haywood, 1980). In that paper, it referred specifically to application of Instrumental Enrichment (Feuerstein, Rand, Falk, & Feuerstein, 2006; Feuerstein, Rand, Hoffman, & Miller, 1980) in classroom settings, but the authors' intent was to see that program as a sample of the domain of educational approaches that would share certain common characteristics. In the ensuing years, psychologists and educators have come to agree on at least some of those common characteristics. In this article, I offer a view of what is commonly accepted as defining characteristics of cognitive approaches in education and what characteristics vary across programs and curricula, some suggestions on selecting and evaluating cognitive education programs, an illustrative list of available programs of cognitive education, and a brief summary of their demonstrated effects.
There has always been a creative tension among philosophers of education for whom the overriding goal is to expand and enrich learners' abilities to think systematically and effectively and those for whom the goal is to impart a defined body of knowledge (Aristotle, ca. 344 BCE; see Brumbaugh & Lawrence, 1959; Cahn,...