Training – Course

Cognitive Enrichment (FIE)

Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) is a process-oriented cognitive intervention program. Consisting of specially designed instruments or ‘tools’ FIE is a series of tasks that may be mediated in a classroom, group, or individual setting. Each series focuses on different cognitive skills, creating systematic, persistent, and structured conditions to engage students in problem-solving by developing their ability to understand and elaborate information.

FIE is intended for children from ages 9 to adults. If you are looking for cognitive enrichment for younger children, or individuals who are lower functioning, we recommend the FIE Basic program.

How it works

Problems with academic subjects – such as math, literature, history, and science – are frequently unrelated to the subject matter itself. Information is often misprocessed at the input stage, meaning that an error on a math problem may have nothing to do with math, but rather a difficulty in paying attention to two sources of information at once.  An inability to write an essay could likewise be unrelated to poor writing aptitude, but rather a failure in the writer’s planning function. This phenomenon leads to achievement gaps, which keep growing because the root of the problem – learning ability gaps – continues to go unaddressed in standard curricula.

FIE aims to close learning gaps, helping learners to avoid mistakes by enhancing their learning skills.  Students are taught new ways of thinking by completing tasks in areas such as comparison, classification, analysis and synthesis, orientation in space and time, and hypothetical reasoning. Armed with these new strategies for examining problems, learners then “bridge” these new strategies to curricular subjects and problem solve in their everyday lives. With the acquisition of new concepts, cognitive operations, and meta-cognition skills, come increased motivation for learning, self-regulation, and a shift in attitude… transforming a passive learner into an active one with a positive outlook!

FIE promotes and enhances:

Active learning attitude

Intrinsic motivation

Cognitive efficiency

Concept formation

Insightful reasoning

FIE’s numerous benefits also help to significantly lower drop-out rates for at-risk students.

Who it helps

The FIE program has been successfully used in the following frameworks:

Enrichment programs for underachieving, neurotypical, and gifted children

Learning enhancement programs for immigrants and students from cultural minorities

Remedial programs for neurodiverse children, and children with disabilities

Cognitive rehabilitation of individuals with brain injuries and psychiatric patients

Professional training & retraining programs in the industrial, military, & business sectors

Who may train to be an FIE Mediator?

FIE is open to university students, educators, clinicians, professionals, and parents interested in cognitive intervention.

Digital IE-1: Modern Tools for Mediators with Dr. Jeanne Zehr

Learn more: Digital IE-1: Modern Tools for Mediators with Dr. Jeanne Zehr

Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment – Jerusalem, Israel at the Institute

Learn more: Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment – Jerusalem, Israel at the Institute

Help Your Autistic Child Succeed: Feuerstein on Autism Seminar

Learn more: Help Your Autistic Child Succeed: Feuerstein on Autism Seminar