WHAT THE STUDENTS THINK ABOUT MEDIATION

8/8/2019 WHAT THE STUDENTS THINK ABOUT MEDIATION

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WHAT THE STUDENTS THINK ABOUT THEIR TEACHERS MEDIATION

Marcos Meier1

I have been carrying out a research into the mediation of learning, itscharacteristics, its concept, its relation to the autonomy of the subject thatlearns and, above all, its importance in the process of the construction ofknowledge.

This approach has brought some questions which became the object ofmy Master Degree research. The most important of them was the following:How do High School students notice the mediation which is exerted by theirteachers? Having this question in mind, I wanted to know if Feursteins2 theoryabout the mediation of learning coincides with the mediation which isaccomplished by teachers.

In order to answer this question, I have made contact with Santa Maria

High School students in Curitiba, Brazil, by means of questionnaires andinterviews. My aim was to check if the characteristics of Feurestein's mediationwere being really observed by the students, and if there were any changes intheir opinions in relation to the degree of importance that each of them has,concerning the mediation theory.

Before presenting the results of the research, it is necessary to retake theconcept of mediation and its importance in the teaching-learning process,mainly considering the students cognitive development. To the adequatedevelopment of the cognitive functions it is necessary that the child experiencesan education which is permeated by mediation at home and at school. It is themediation of learning that will make possible the complete development of thechild, chiefly regarding the cognitive and emotional aspects. Only the childscontact with the environmental stimulus is not enough to achieve this task.

At school, the child learns, fundamentally, by means of a teachers actionwho teaches the contents, abilities, competences or necessary strategies forhis/her progress in academic life and in society. Therefore, the learningmediated experiences become an essential characteristic at school.

There are extremely efficient teachers in their task of teaching. However,there are others that even having followed the same curricular matrix, presentserious problems with reference to the quality of their work. This happens,mainly, in relation to the students development of their creative and

autonomous capacity in the construction of knowledge.Questions were brought up for discussion:

My curiosity in trying to discover the origins of these differences in thesuccess of each of these teachers has contributed to bring about otherquestions such as:

1Master of Education by Federal University of Paran. Pedagogical assessor of CEMEP Centro Marista

de Estudos e Projetos in Curitiba, Brazil. Principal of Martinus College. (www.martinus.com.br)2

Reuven Feuerstein (84), psychologist, is considered to be at the present moment one of the greatest

educator in activity. His Theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability (SCM) has been studied andapplied to important universities all over the world. He is the director of the International Center for the

Enhancement of Learning Potential (www.icelp.org) in Jerusalem, Israel.


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- What are the main characteristics of a teacher and his/her pedagogicactions which make his/her work more effective?

- What is there in the interaction between the teacher and the student thatfacilitates the students learning?

- Do the students notice the existence or absence of these characteristics

in their teachers?

To answer these specific questions, it was raised another one of a moregeneral character: How dohigh school students observe the characteristicsof mediation which are exerted by their teachers?

As a hypothesis, I assumed that the students identify the samecharacteristics of Feuerstein's theory in their best teachers performance.

The concept of mediation

The learning mediation is a specialized way of interaction between a

subject who learns and other one who teaches. The mediator, actingbetween the mediated person and the object to be learned, promotes amodification, a regulation, an adaptation of the stimuli of the concept to belearned. The objective of this process is to cause the learner to becomereally touched and transformed by the modified environmental stimulus. So,the mediators function, by means oh his/her action, is to alter these stimuliand provides the modification in the way they can be perceived by thestudents (the mediated persons).

The objective, however, is not to remain in an eternal mediationmovement or to provide mediated learning continually. The proposal is toprovoke a greater development of the childs capacity in order to receivebenefit from the direct experiences of learning and no mediated stimuli. Inother words, the mediation exists to make the child more and moreindependent of it. Although it seems to be a contradiction, a child benefitsbetter from the present stimuli in the environment, when its cognitivefunctions are well developed. It is through mediation that this processhappens. The more the number of learning mediated experiences, the lessthe child will need help and mediation. Thus, the childs autonomy isconstructed gradually.

As mediation is a special way of interaction, it is specified by twelvecharacteristics3 according to Reuven Feuerstein's Theory of Structural

Cognitive Modifiability.However, four of them are conceived as universal,that is, they are always present in a mediated act. If these fourcharacteristics make part of an interaction, it is already a mediation. Evenso, to be a better mediation the other characteristics need to be taken intoconsideration.

3 Currently, in Feuerstein's Theory, there are twelve characteristics (also called criteria) whichwere already registered and studied. Nevertheless as this study is not closed, there is apossibility to propose a new aspect or new criterion which, according to the author, needs to be

recognized as something important to the action of mediating.


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Originally, Feuerstein presented the three first criteria as being universal.Nevertheless, in the International Congress which was promoted by ICELP,in Holland, 2001, the tenth criterion was considered universal as well.

Criteria of Mediation

The twelve characteristics or criteria of mediation which are presented inFeurstein's Theory are:

Number of the CriterionCriterion

1 Intentionality and reciprocity2 Transcendence3 Mediation of meaning

4 Mediation of feelings of competence5 Mediation of self-regulation and control of

behavior6 Mediation of sharing of behavior7 Mediation of individuation and psychological

differentiation8 Mediation of goal seeking / goal setting /

goal achieving / goal monitoring9 Mediation of challenge, novelty and

complexity10 Mediation of an awareness of the human

being as a changing entity.11 Mediation of the search for optimistic

alternatives12 Mediation of a feeling of belonging

Source: International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential(Changing Childrens Behavior: Focusing on the E in Mediated LearningExperience, Louis H. Falik, PhD)

Some conclusions of the research

As a result, the research demonstrated that the students identify in theirbest teachers performance the same criteria which are proposed by Feuerstein.However, they point out a different frequency from what was proposed by theauthors theory. In other words, the hypothesis was just confirmed partially.While Feuerstein proposes the first three and the tenth criterion as universaland necessary to any mediated act, the students cited only two of these ones(the first and the third criteria) as the most frequent to occur. The first criterion isthe mediation of intentionality and reciprocity: I want to teach and I will doall to the best of my ability to prompt you to want to learn'. The tenth criterion isthe mediation of theawareness of the modifiability, that is, the teacher helps

the student to become aware of his/her own capacity of modifying himself, of hisintelligence, of his capacity of learning and continuing to learn.


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The two characteristics which the students believe to be less frequent inthe way of teaching are those concerning the contents. One of them ismediation of transcendence: it means to teach the contents in a way that thestudents can apply what they learned in other situations of their lives and inother contexts. The other characteristic is mediation of meaning, that is, the

teacher helps the students to notice the relation of a theme with other subjects,other contexts and other historical moments related to the concept which wastaught earlier.

Although both caracteristics are considered very important inFeuersteins Theory, in the students point of view, the teachers do not prioritizethem. When analyzed such results, it is possible to affirm that the studentsnotice in their teachers the actions which are related to the teacher-studentinteraction more than the actions connected to the contents and theirimportance to real life. The two other criteria of mediation that the studentsconsider the most frequent in their best teachers performance has to do withthe teacher-student interaction. One of them is the mediation of feelings ofcompetence, that is, the teacher helps the student to perceive himself/herselfas someone capable of learning and developing his/her abilities; someone whohas worth for himself and for society. The other criterion is the mediation ofindividuality and psychological differentiation: the teacher helps thestudents to feel themselves unique, special and different from other peoplewhen he/she considers their difficulties and abilities in the learning process. Inthis case, it can be observed the difference between the teachers practice andthe theory of Mediation. Both of the criteria (which were mentioned in the theoryas universal) regarding the importance of the content are less frequent than theother two regarding the teacher-student interaction.

How to be a good teacher

The preceding considerations refer to what has been happening atschool; they do not refer to the ideal situation that is considered by the students.However, when the students give their opinions about what they imagine to bean excellent teacher, in a way, their answers are similar to what was discussedearlier. The four characteristics which were most cited are:

a) To be friendly and have a good relationship with the students;

b) To explain the contents well;c) To demonstrate competence (to know very well the content);d) To know about the students individual characteristics and be able to deal

with the differences.

The students point out in their answers that it is very important that theteacher acts as a friend, keeping a good relationship with them. Thischaracteristic is considered to be essential in the real actions of the studentsbest teachers as it is essential in their opinion about what they think to befundamental in a good teacher. Nevertheless, it is relevant to emphasize thatthe students have a very particular opinion about what is to be a friend. They

believe that a friendly teacher is someone who is open-minded, who isrespected by the students, who does not humiliate anybody, does not privilege


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the best students and does not prejudice anyone. In addition to these aspects,he/she is also fair and controls the discipline and the students behavior verywell.

According to the students, besides being friendly, the teacher needs tohave a full control of the contents. However, their analysis seems to be too

simple and this simplification may hide some other important aspects. Anyway,it helps the teacher to be aware of how significant it is to invest in therelationship with his/her students, to have a good understanding of them, and tobecome more human and closer to them in order to acquire their confidence.This confidence and solid relationship are the basis for the students to trust theteacher's orientations regarding the studies, the assimilationand construction ofknowledge. One of the students affirmed that It is necessary a relation ofunderstanding and empathy, so we can trust the teacher and what he/she says.So, according to this expererience, the confidence in the teacher is afundamental factor in the construction of learning; it is always present.

The teacher-student's link

In almost all interviews, it was evident the importance of the teacher-student's link in the learning process. This characteristic does not appearexplicitly in the twelve criteria of mediation which are proposed by Feuerstein.Nevertheless it can be inferred from some of them as the mediation ofindividuality, mediation of feeling of competence, mediation of challenge andothers. Considering the degree of importance which is attributed by the studentsto an excellent teachers behavior, we come to the conclusion that Feuersteinstheory should have more clarity about this. Thus, I suggested the inclusion ofone more criterion of mediation in my Master Degree dissertation as a way toguarantee that the link between the teacher and the student is considered inany mediated action. This suggestion does not mean adding something inFeuersteins theory that was not mentioned, nevertheless to include thiscriterion means to make it clearer, more evident, sistematized, althoughrepetitive. It would not be a new fact, because when Feuerstein mentioned thefive axioms of the modifiability, he inferred two of them from the first one.

To explain it better, we could say that the first axiom of modifiabilitystates that all persons are changeable. However, the second and third axiomswhich state that this specific person is changeable and I am personally as wellwould not need to be repeated once they are already included in the concept

when it is used the word all. Concerning this fact, Feuerstein affirmed, in hisconference in the Mediation International Congress in Jerusalem, Israel, July2000, that, despite of the repetition, the other axioms exist to avoid doubtsabout the importance of the awareness of the modifiability.

Proposal

Thus, following the same principle of Feuersteins theory, l suggested theinclusion of one more criterion, the 13th one, in the Cognitive StructuralModifiability Theory. It is the Mediation of the construction of the teacher-student's link. It is necessary to consider the possible generalization to

compose the list of criteria without emphasizing the figures specificallymentioned in the research: the teacher and the student. So, the writing of the


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13th criterion could be: Mediation of the construction of the mediator-mediated (person) link.

It became evident with these reflections the great value of the human,personal and relational aspects in education. It is not necessary to reinforce theimportance of the teacher-students link and the derivations which can be

inferred from this construction, however the teachers good characteristics arelinked to this fact.To be successful, a teacher cannot have only a high level of knowledge

about the subject he teaches or an efficient method of explaining anddeveloping the construction of each students learning. He needs to be human,real, personal. It is necessary that he/she dialogues with the students. PauloFreire Said:

There is no dialogue if there is not humility. The enunciation of the world, withwhich men re-create it permanently, cannot be an arrogant act. The dialogue, as anencounter of men, which enables them to know how to act in a very common way, is

broken if one of its poles loses humility. How can I dialogue if I alienate ignorance, thatis, if I always see ignorance in other people and never in myself? ()Self-sufficiency is incompatible with dialogue. Men, who do not have humility or

who lose it, cannot approach people. They cannot be their enunciation's companions ofthe world. If someone is not able to feel and know himself as the other men, it meansthat this person has to walk much more to arrive to the place of the encounter withthem. In this place there are no absolute ignorant or absolute wise people: there aremen that search to know more in communion. (1983, p. 95)

This Paulo Freires quotation, inspiredin the fight for freedom andfor respect, reinforces what the students presented in their perception: their bestteachers act to approximate the teacher and the students. They constructrelations based on respect and consideration of individual differences. Theyencourage the students to develop a search for a greater self-developmentbased on the awareness that the students are changeable. First of all, a teacherneeds to be a specialist in people!

Bibliography

BEYER, Hugo O. O Fazer Psicopedaggico. A abordagem de ReuvenFeuerstein a partir de Piaget e Vygotsky. Porto Alegre: Ed. Mediao, 1996.

COLL, Csar. Aprendizagem escolar e construo do conhecimento. PortoAlegre: Artes Mdicas, 1994.

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FEUERSTEIN, Reuven. Instrumental Enrichment. Illinois, USA: Scott,Foresman and Company, 1980.

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MARTINS, Enilde Aparecida Bernardi. Aprendizagem Mediada. Um estudoprvio dos efeitos do Programa de Enriquecimento Instrumental de ReuvenFeuerstein em jovens integrados a um processo de qualificao profissionalbsica. Dissertao de mestrado apresentada ao programa de ps-graduaoem tecnologia do Centro Federal de Educao Tecnolgica do Paran CEFET-PR. Curitiba, 2001.

MEIER, Marcos; GARCIA, Sandra. Mediao da Aprendizagem contribuies de Feuerstein e de Vygotsky. Curitiba, Edio do autor. 3 Ed.2008. (Disponvel em www.marcosmeier.com.br)

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VEJA, Revista Veja. n. 19, ano 30, 14/05/1997. p. 50.

VYGOTSKY, L. S. A formao social da mente. So Paulo: Martins FontesEditora, 3. ed., 1989.

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WHAT THE STUDENTS THINK ABOUT MEDIATION