ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the use of Reuven Feuerstein’s ideas for meeting the needs of able students, from international research. All children have the right to fulfil their potential, as stated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention considers that education should be directed to ‘the development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential’. Twenty-first century learning has as one of its central tenets that good teaching and learning processes should benefit all learners in a school community. In 1982 John Thickpenny began to explore the value of a programme for teaching problem-solving or thinking skills to intermediate school students with special abilities. In both the Learning Potential/Propensity Assessment Device and the Instrumental Enrichment programme, Feuerstein stresses the importance of understanding the task in order to solve the problems efficiently.
