Understanding, observing and teaching cognitive competences trought school subjects

Abstract

Is taking place in a general rethinking of the school system. Today, the purpose of the school is to prepare students to rapid socio-cultural changes so that they are not overwhelmed.
Fundamental for this purpose executive functions have proved to be, especially
the mental planning of idea, the reflexivity, the systematic in addressing a task/problem and the ability to stay focused. These are skills they will need tomorrow’s leaders (Diamond and Lee, 2011). But cognitive competences need a foundation for being applied, developed and generalized, and they find it in the disciplinary contents that from goal become tool of the training process.
The Feuerstein’s Instrumental Enrichment (IE) is one of the methods that develop cognitive competences (Feuerstein, Rand & Rynders, 1995). The main purpose is to develop in students the competence of learn to learn by training effective cognitive habits and transferable to other contexts. One of the strengths of the Feuerstein’s teaching proposal is that it is structured around methodological criteria separable from the program itself and transferable in teaching discipline. It contains clear directions and simple to allow teachers
to apply immediately. Our study aims to integrate the methodological criteria developed by Feuerstein in the usual school activities to teach cognitive competences through disciplinary contents.