Foundational learning in reading and math: Secrets you won’t hear elsewhere

Group Submission Type: Pre-conference Workshop

Description of Session

Reading programs are very popular in CIES, but at best they get very modest results. Specialists often have different and conflicting opinions reading instruction, and governments become confused. Reading emphasis often results in a neglect of math skills. Can better methods be developed for teaching the poor? It helps to know how the brain processes the information and therefore how to teach it most easily. Neuroimaging research is published constantly nowadays, and it offers answers that are quite different from common beliefs. The workshop will present the memory and perceptual mechanisms that lead to efficient instruction of reading and math. Crucial are “low-level” unconscious variables, such as perceptual learning. Methods have been developed and tried in multiple countries and they produced exciting results. They demonstrate that it is possible to make nearly everyone literate in a few months. On numeracy, similarly students can become fluent mental “calculators”, able to tackle more complex operations. Participants will learn the process of preparing and piloting teaching materials that optimize perceptual learning and the variables that make fluency and comprehension possible. This workshop will teach concepts different from those usually taught.

Sub Unit

• Pre-Conference Workshops, Book launches, and Visual Art Exhibits / Pre-Conference Workshop

Workshop Organizer

• Helen Abadzi, University of Texas at Arlington

Presenter

• Aglaia Zafeirakou, The World Bank