Latvian Education Foundation (LIF)
COMPREHENSION ENHANCEMENT PROJECT
Introduction
Today there is an abundance of various education projects, largely due to different approaches to teaching within the limits of a particular subject. Each project has a different sequence of teaching the subject matter, clarification of definitions, visual teaching aids, demonstrations of experiments etc.
Neither a mere learning by heart the theory or a subject matter, nor the abundance of information would guarantee comprehension. There is a strong demand for developing comprehension skills, as learning by heart just gives the possibility to repeat the acquired material automatically, whereas hinders the ability of high quality development.
Today the problem related to comprehension skills has become even more topical. This is demonstrated by a global encouragement for credit institutions to educate their clients who often have no profound understanding of the services offered.
Comprehension and Communication
Poor understanding is the result of a poor communication. Poor communication, in its turn, can be described as a presentation of facts and viewpoints in such a system of notions (usually theories, instructions, rules, customs and other man-created notions with their inherent terminology, concepts and fixed correlations) that is unfamiliar to the target audience. That either creates erroneous and insufficient conception or is not perceived at all, as everything seems incomprehensible.
Communication can be improved by a tailor-made interpretation targeted at a particular audience, using concepts and correlations familiar and well-known to that audience, and by creating equivalent (also associative) models.
Here a word "model" denotes the interpretation of concepts or correlations used in a theory, rule, instruction or another notion by expressing them by/through well-known, familiar phenomena and natural, conventional relation that creates a conception that is easy to perceive intuitively.
Comprehension Enhancement
Models aid to develop intuitive perception/notion of a phenomenon,
understand what it is and
according to what principles it functions
The best models for a particular target audience can be developed by members of this audience, on condition that they are verified by respective experts
Communication and comprehension problems appear when providing aid to various countries of the world to improve access to and quality of education. A large part of the subject matter will not be understood properly, unless it is formulated in a „regional language” (here the phrase „regional language” is not used in its literal meaning, but has to be looked at in a broader sense, i.e., covering concepts, traditions, familiar objects, etc. particular to the region in question). It will not be understood if formulated in a style that is not rooted in the experience of the particular region.
Functions of Comprehension Worksheet
Comprehension Worksheet is a public internet tool that provides:
- comprehension of the concepts and correlations related to the subject matter through models/interpretation more familiar to the particular region and its target audience (these are multiple choice questions, like – what does it mean? why and how does it function?);
- feedback – participation of the target audience in the development of new models and in the evaluation of the existing ones;
- verification of models/interpretation submitted by the target audience;
- quality assurance and quality control of the presented material;
- participation statistics.
Comprehension Worksheet is designated for enhancement of comprehension skills and does not aim at comprehensive teaching of the subject matter or skills, therefore Comprehension Worksheet contains links to websites to the teaching materials of subject matter and related tasks and exercises.
Latvian Education foundation is responsible for the quality and promotion of Comprehension Worksheet , to be ensured by providing training (sharing know-how and providing follow-up on its practical application) to teachers/professors and checking their activities on Comprehension Worksheet.
All materials/ information included in Comprehension Worksheet are public and have been verified, however, it is possible to set a limited access to particular learning materials on the basis of a separate agreement.
Innovation
Innovation is know-how, used by Latvian Education Foundation when developing the system. The main role in the Comprehension Worksheet is played by verified models developed by the target audience rather than academics. These models substantially improve communication and enhance comprehension. The main issue is a specific training in model development and verification of the submitted models (know-how) to be provided, as well as feedback. Comprehension Worksheet aims to accumulate various models (and rate them according to evaluation given by the target audience) that ensure that any issue or question is looked at from as much standpoints as possible.
Current situation in teaching programmes
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school
(Albert Einstein)
We strive to develop the area which is currently underdeveloped, so that the Einstein's quotation comes true
Comprehension Sheet in Latvia
The comprehension sheet available on: www.goerudio.com has been developed and functions in Latvia on the basis of the above mentioned principles and know-how, and provides new possibilities to make the teaching and learning process more efficient. The results are obvious and tangible. The scope of activity of Latvian Education Fund includes teacher training, as well as promotion and further development of this website.
Latvian Education Fund calls on everyone, regardless of the country and status, who has any possibility to improve the communication with their target audience, enhance comprehension of theories, instructions, rules etc., improve their competitiveness in various project competition, to join the users and developers of Comprehension Sheet.
Comprehension Sheet is well-suited for developing perception and comprehension of matters related to sciences, rules, legal acts and complicated instructions. The content of the material to be taught in each region and to each target audience will be set by experts, being representatives of the region.
LIF shall provide training, development and updating of tailor-made comprehension sheet version for each particular target audience, as well as guarantee the verification of all information included in the site.
Contacts
Romans Vitkovskis
LIF Board Member
mob. 371+29467554
comments and suggestions
