teaching disadvantaged children in the preschool

Carl Bereiter

Siegfried Engelmann

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language as a teaching instrument

what is necessary in order for language to function as an adequate communication system between teacher and children in the learning situation

in any teaching situation,the child must learn something,he comes into the situation without an adequate understanding of a certain conceptual dimension,through verbal or nonverbal means,the teacher demonstrates the concept by presenting examples of what the concept is and what it is not,the teacher then requires the child to respond and demonstrate through either verbal or nonverbal means that he understands the concept as defined,the child may perform in a way that shows his understanding of the concept,or he may not,in either case,the teacher responds by telling him something about his performance,perhaps this telling will come in the form of a nonverbal demonstration of a contradiction in his thinking; perhaps it will come in the form of a direct"no,that's not right."regradless of the manner in which the child is told,he must be told whether he is right or wrong

examples of the concept are presented

feedback is provided for the child 

a minimum teaching language-whether it is phrased in standard english or uses a series of nonverbal symbols-must satisfy two basic requirements:

1.it must be capable of representing reality,of naming or pointing out things(evenif the naming is accomplished by a series of grunts),and if the language is to be a full fledged communication system,it must be capable of creating a symbolic equivalent of waht is observable in physical reality

2.a closely related requirement,it must have provisions for indicating truth and falsity in a relatively unamiguous way

language as an equivalent of reality

all coins are in the box

are some of the coins under the box?

no,all coins are in the box

is the box empty?

no,because it has all of the coins in it

where are all conins?

show me,the toy is under the bed

language as a vehicle for truth

the teaching language must occur in the domain of yes-no,the teaching language must be able to let the child know either"yes,your behavior is consistent with the concept" or "no, your behavior is not consistent."since this yes-no orientation is common to all teaching situations,the basic unit of the teaching language must be the statement of fact

the presentation is an attempt to convey a fact-a picture of what is

the substandard language

the teaching language in a given situation may fail for either of two reasons:

1.the language may be inadequate for the task

2.the language may be adequate,but the child may not learn that it is

the conventional,basic concepts cannot be effectively taught to the child,because he cannot be corrected in an unambiguous manner

how to translate reality into statements

the statement hierarchy

the half-verbal statement used to teach simple labels is dangerous

two important points emerge from this demonstration:

1.the problems encountered with the half verbal presentation are precisely the same as those encountered with the nonverbal presentation,both must reudce ambiguity and direct attention to the concepts in a prescribed way,for this reason,the solution to the problem are the same,the half verbal statement is a parallel to the nonverbal statement

2.both the half verbal statement and the nonverbal statement are being forced into the formation of a grammar,already,conventions for yes-no have been introduced,as well as conventions for the order of words.when the concept to be taught was simple,the grammar was relatively simple(point-book),when the concept to be taught was a second order modification,the grammar became more complicated,in order to teach prepositions,the grammar would obviously have to become more complicated,involving at least three content words in addtion to the pointing signal

the fully verbal language has two great advantages over the half verbal and nonverbal presentation:

1.it represents a minimum learning,even if a child learned a perfectly adequate nonverbal lanugage,he would be expected to learn the standard,verbal language also,a great deal of time is saved if he does not spend time learning two such language but concentrates on the one that will ultimately be expected of him

2.verbal statements that precisely parallel any half verbal or nonverbal presentation can easily be created,the teaching language,whether it is completely nonverbal or completely verbal.is the language of true-false statements,the statement demands of a given situation are the same for any presentation,fully verbal language is well designed to handle true-false statements,in fact,it is far better designed than the half-verbal or nonverbal language

makig the statement fully verbal:this is - a book

this book is red

this is not a yellow book

this car is red

this red car is an oldsmobile

this red lodsmobile car is speeding down the road

this red oldsmobile car which is speeding down the road is being driven by a woman

the expandable property of the second order statement is an indication that by using the statement form,it is possible to teach a series of compatible concepts in a completely unambiguous way

this ball is blue

this blue ball is on the table

the first order statement form and the second order statement form are capabel of teaching all the basic concpets-names of things and actions,positions,color,class,and relationships in time and space

statements have parts

the parts retain their indentity even when they appear in different statements

statements imply questions,and questions can be answer by referring to the original statement

certain statements contradict other statements

certain statements are compatible with other statements

a physical presentation is capable of being described with many non contradictory statements

relations expressed by statements are generalizable to a range of situations

the structure of the second order statement

this book is 

this book is big

this book in on the table

this book is heavier than a mouse

......

on the basic of structural difference,there are three basic ways in which a second order statement may be completed:

1.with a polar concept-one that has an opposite(this dog is big)

2.with a nonpolar concept that is shared by only some of the members of the identity class( this dog is white;this dog is in the yard)

3.with a nonpolar concept that is shared by all members of the identity class(this dog is a four legged creature,this dog is an animal)

four basic presetation patterns:

1.the first order pattern(this is a dog)

2.the second order pattern for polar concepts(dis dog is fat)

3.the second order pattern for nonpolar concepts that are shared by only some members of the identity class(this dog is brown)

4.the second order pattern for nonpolar concepts that are shared by all members of the identity class(this dog is an animal)

some concepts,such as color,relative size,position,etc.,require an empirical investigation, other concepts,such as class names,do not require an empirical invenstigation