FIE Achievements

This report is from:
Centro Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento da Modificabilidade através do PEI – ATC (Brazil)
cbm.pei@tavola.com.br, cbm.pei@uol.com.br, cbm.pei@terra.com.br
Rua Itapeva, 240 – 15a – cj1509 – Cep:. 01332-000
Fone/Fax: (55-11) 3141-1443 / 3262-1965

Target Population and Duration

A target population of 33 High School students in their last year was selected by the Teachers Council following the first term of the 2001 school year.

The Project was planned to cover 130 hours, initially organized for a period of two and a half months, and a general assessment set for the beginning of July. The first part of the Project took place from May 28 to July 10, 2001, with 75 hours and four teachers, as mentioned in the provisional report presented to ICELP in July 2001, during the 22nd International Workshops in the Netherlands.

From August 2001, the Project had to be reorganized as the students had shown a high level of commitment, participation and interest in the IE classes, with high grades. In addition, five (5) of the 33 students had to move away from our school to other schools (at a distance) or to other cities, due to family problems. For this reason, our target population in the final part of the project was made up of 28 students.

The last part of the project was held from August to November 2001, in a 75 hour-course, covering two subjects - Portuguese and History.

Evaluation

At the end of the year, only one student (out of 28) failed the tests. Besides their personal and psychological development (which was visible to everyone), we were also able verify intellectual development, for when compared to all third year student groups, this particular one had achieved the best results. An open evaluation was conducted (with 25 students) in which the students were asked to express what they had learned with IE. The results follow:

Student Evaluations of Their Experience and Its Effect Upon Them

Self Evaluation
by Adriana Barbosa Crispim

From the moment I was introduced to the project I changed a lot, not just in my learning methods but also in my ways of thinking and my behaviour. I treat my friends better and feel closer to people.

At first this project seemed nonsensical but later I became interested and saw that IE had something for me. It has a sense, it never denies people the chance to learn. I learned that nothing in life is impossible. However difficult something is one has to struggle and there is always a solution.

Before I was introduced to IE I was nervous before a test. I was unable to control my impulsiveness and on the test itself I was unable to analyse its parts, but now in everything I do I “take a minute” to think, to analyze.... I have learned to focus, to exercise self-control, to be more interested in my studies. Now that I know that I am able, I want to learn more and more. IE has helped me to learn with more facility and to believe in myself. I place more value on the important things in life and I have more respect for others. I am very grateful to my teachers and feel that it was all worthwhile.

IE has improved my learning processes so much and has shown me how to focus beyond myself and put myself in other people's place. My school performance and my daily routine have improved enormously. I have learned to control my impulsiveness and this was in fact the greatest modification in my life. The Analytical Perception tool helped me to notice things around me. I have learnt to solve problems.

I think this project should be continued with other students as IE helps one to see things as they really are and to solve problems with more ease.

My learning process underwent a notable change. Prior to the project I had found it difficult to understand a text and because of this I was not interested in my classes. The teacher's explanations were not enough for me and this always caused a lot of trouble at school.

I decided to accept the project as I could see that it would only be useful if there was interest on my part and that I would have to make an effort to obtain concrete results. Now I am more confident and sure of myself, more open-minded and I have noticed that the teachers' explanations are very useful. It is easier to solve everyday problems, mainly in my job, although I need a lot of patience to overcome other people’s prejudice regarding competitiveness. I am now able to solve my family problems without losing my self-control. My weakest point used to be a lack of self-control and I was very impulsive – I still am a little, because it is difficult to change a characteristic like this.

Before I had very little self-control and I couldn’t control my impulsiveness. I didn't think properly and often acted and spoke without thinking, not caring if people were hurt. Sometimes if a problem presented itself I didn't solve it, I just pushed it aside. Mostly I would pretend that I had no problems, showing myself to be happy at all times. I was always smiling, telling people that I was the happiest person of the world. Up until then I had never considered other peoples’ position, or even my own.

After IE I began to see that things I had considered true were not really so. IE worked and taught me things I would not otherwise have learned.

Now I try to pass these things on to other people, I use IE in my everyday life. My development was fantastic. I can’t say if it worked for the other students, but for me the consequences were wonderful, the results were good. Things I didn’t know now I know.

Before IE my learning processes were not very efficient, because I didn't know how not to be egocentric, I had not learned how to see things through other people’s eyes. Neither did I know how to solve a problem.

After IE, my learning processes were modified greatly. I am still learning how not to be self-centered, but I have learned how to control this and how to decide what is relevant. I learned how to solve my problems more easily.

My performance during the year was satisfactory, in spite of having some difficulties, such as how to pass on to others what I had learned. But, with all those difficulties, IE helped me a lot to understand and solve problems IE helped me with everything and now I don't have any more difficulties.

I learned that it means nothing to study just to obtain a diploma and to get a better job. I learned how to think and solve problems in a better way, to see a problem through a different perspective. I’ve been studying for ten years and now I realize how much time I lost and I feel sorry for that too. I would like to have known IE from the beginning. Now I am aware of what I have missed. IE has taught me that everything teachers teach is important and it is ridiculous to think that there are certain subjects that we will never need.

The importance of IE lies in learning in a different way. IE modified me in some ways, not only how I study but also in the life. I used to make so many mistakes and I didn't learn from them. IE taught me to separate the relevant from the irrelevant, the part from the whole. I don't want to live without learning. When I began the 2001 school year I didn’t feel like coming to school but now IE has changed all that and the change came about when I began to realize the importance of learning.
Modification is a process and people should be open to it. It will never happen if we are egocentric. People can change constantly if they focus on the process of modification.

IE helped me to pay attention to what usually passed unnoticed; it helped me to analyze relevant issues. I used IE out of the school, in my personal problems; IE helped to bring about a change in my way of thinking.

I became more aware of impulsiveness and although I still don’t have total control of it I am more conscious of it. When dancing, if I don't feel the pulse, the movement, action doesn't exist but it must be balanced, used rationally. I must balance my emotion and thereby act consciously. I could have prevented a lot of things if I had controlled my impulsiveness. To me this is one of the most complex lessons of IE, because controlling impulsiveness is the first step towards considering others and by doing that, I can learn better with people and with myself. I feel I must leave my ‘little world’. Although this seems stupid, it is most important.

The year of 2001 began and I entered Paiva. The teaching methods were totally different from the school where I had studied. I had already learned a lot of things and I did well but I had some difficulties. My thoughts were disorganized and my head stored all information – relevant or not. When the second term began I was all confused. I did things without thinking too much and made mistakes. I began to notice that there were certain subjects that I cared about and others not, subjects I was just not interested in.

Some of the teachers decided to show us a new project and we began to use it. It seemed very easy but I noticed I changed and learned how to organize my ideas and speak more clearly, rejecting irrelevant information, exposing my ideas and doubts without fear. I learned how to solve problems more efficiently. I began planning.

In the third term change was slower but gradually I understood that what really counts is one’s will to change. I continued to use what I had learned and I learn more and more.

In the fourth term when I finished High School a lot of things were modified; everything was clearer and simpler to solve. Things become clear if you have a strategy. Learning in 2001 was very good and efficient. I enjoyed learning IE and I thank the teachers for giving us such an important chance of sharing this experience.

From the moment IE entered our lives, I let it modify me. At the beginning, I found it very difficult interpreting what those sheets were trying to transmit. Over the months, I became more and more ‘connected’, more interested in acquiring more knowledge. I also noticed that all the sheets meant something, that there were events in our life; from that point on I began doing self-evaluation. I began to link things quickly, noticing a lot of things that I couldn’t see before. Now, it means so much to me. In my job, I was very impatient and after IE, I was congratulated for my great transformation. The only thing that made me sad it was that I didn't obtain such great results in school, no matter how much I tried. Changes occurred, but not completely.

At school I always had great difficulty elaborating answers, expressing them in a clear and objective way, instead of explaining, I only complicated them; but, with IE, I had the opportunity to learn how to organize, determining priorities, subdividing them in a practical and simple way. I hadn’t imagine before it could be so easy to express something or to study, organizing the content and time; I was able to transfer this outside the classroom, to relationships amongst work colleagues. I also taught something on organizing, to relatives and friends, helping them to think about their preconceived concepts, making them see themselves as part of a larger whole, not thinking that they were different wholes when they are only parts. Our world is still full of egocentrics, thanks to capitalism’s support that doesn't leave a lot of space for human relationships, making individuals act by themselves, without thinking about consequences, something like "only the strong will survive", strength given by money. As to the degree of my development I cannot say that it was meteoric, but it removed a lot of the cloudiness of my ideas, I was already a non-egocentric person, but I saw that this went a little further. Well, I missed some classes, but I learned a lot, I participated and I was motivated, even I taught a little, I learned how to criticize seriously, having several points for observation.

IE is an effective and interesting way of learning to be agile. Sometimes we human beings consider thinking is difficult; IE is a concrete and true form of saying that thinking is very easy if you know how to focus on things that you end up obtaining a result that pleases you and others too. One shouldn’t want to do all this in just one day because it’s impossible. IE is simple, but one needs a lot of training. IE did help me a lot with my thinking, intelligence and behaviour. This is interesting. Who would have thought that such a simple thing would change my behaviour?

I believe if we had begun IE in the first year, we would have had better results. Perhaps due to lack of time, we didn't get the results expected by the teachers.

IE made a great change in my learning, it made me progress not only in my studies, but also in daily life, because I started:
_ considering others: I put my egocentrism aside and began putting myself in other people's places, improving my understanding of the actions of other people;
_ controlling my impulsiveness: we are all quite intelligent if we control our impulses;
_ focusing: that is one of the most important things, because it is fundamental to have a broad view of all situations and notice everything that is important or not.

IE seemed to be a little pathetic, joining dots in Organization of Dots, identifying directions in Orientation in Space, it didn't make much sense. But I got to understand that it was fundamental to survival; that’s why IE is very, very important to me.

Since the beginning of my life as a student, all the teachers and even my family told me that learning was the same as memorizing. When teachers gave us a test they would warn us to STUDY (memorize!) for the test next week!” The problem of this “process” is that when test the comes, you forget everything (as if you are a blank sheet), taking too much time trying to remember what you knew by heart and, after some time, you forget what you learned (knew by heart). And later it is the students' fault, they don't make an effort to learn.

After I began the program, I started noticing that I hadn’t learned practically anything, all I had done was memorize texts, calculations and formulas without seeking reasons for their existence, without noticing their relationships with things around us. During IE I learned that learning is not knowing things by heart, but analyzing content, separating whole and parts without forgetting the whole. I learned how to identify what is important and what is irrelevant. I learned that controlling impulsiveness is the most important aspect in the learning process, because if there is no control, you cannot focus on your objective, never concluding anything in your life. I learned how to organize my objectives, my interests; I also learned how to seek more than one way out in order to have choices and not to be forced to choose the alternative presented to me. Today I can say with conviction that I am a self-sufficient person as regards to learning, to life.

My behaviour, before beginning the project, was not very satisfactory, there were moments when I didn't want to do anything and others when I came to study. I also judged people a lot for their attitudes. If someone flattered me I assumed it was because he wanted something, because he wouldn’t do it for nothing, so I judged people for their attitudes.
Our class was disorderly and the students misbehaved a lot so there was the excellent idea of “applying IE in this class”. I was very happy to know that there are people who trust us. With this project I learned a lot of things. I learned to put myself in other people’s places before judging them and not considering their attitudes only. I know much more now, I learned how to overcome my own mistakes and I overcame my difficulties not only in school, but in life also. For me, this project was very useful and I am grateful for this opportunity.

I wish that in all schools students had this opportunity. This would show some people that investing in schools is not at all money thrown away, on the contrary, it develops our knowledge.

In this term I didn't learn so much compared to the second term, but I got the basis for some exercises. We learned how to distinguish between the figures and to compare exercises. That work was not well planned and it was not ended.

Maybe I didn’t learn too much over the last two months, but what I learned previously showed me what that whole work meant. For this reason I can say that I have not been too modified, I lacked concentration which, in turn brought about a lack of interest.

What helped me more in IE was when I obtained more concentration and I learned how to plan things better. That work should be done every year, with groups with concentration problems. If accomplished, that work can help a lot of people. It helped us a lot, we became a group, we can concentrate more in class, we learned how to work in groups; certainly not everybody progressed, but certainly most of us did. Everybody should learn IE, it is great for increasing people's concentration.

IE is a very important learning process for us, but we must have a personal interest in it. It helped my way of thinking a lot, it helped me to see the world differently, how to live together with ‘difficult’ people. That learning process helped me how to think. Before, I thought everything was beautiful; I began to see that nothing happens by chance, we have to fight for what we want and never become discouraged. Even if we have problems, we should never despair, that is worse, because it can cause great confusion or even tragedy.

Before, my vision of the world was totally out of focus, I was not interested in what happened in the world; nowadays, I am much more interested, I read magazines, newspapers, that also help me to be ‘inside’ the world.

My way of living with people changed a lot, before I didn't consider other people’s places. I noticed that this changed my thoughts, in fact that helped me a lot at home, because I live together with very difficult people and I depend on them; when I become independent I will already have a very better notion of coexistence.

In conclusion, IE was a very good process for me, I put some things into practice, that is very good for my life.

I improved greatly in the 2nd term. I learned how to concentrate more and see things and think differently and consider other people’s places in some situations. In the first term, I didn’t care about studying, I had no focus, it seemed as if I lived on the moon, I came from another world, I was ‘turned off’, never caring what was happening to others.

IE helped me to be smarter, it was like a therapy, relating figures, discussing difficulties and comparing them to our lives. Some discussions were very interesting and others were not, they seemed to have no reason, especially those given by teachers Nina and Márcia, they were meaningless and we couldn’t get the point. On the other hand, teachers Marcello and Eliza got into the subject and created a very nice mood during the discussions.

I changed quite a bit. In the beginning I thought IE was like a therapy for 9,10 year old children with difficulties in school. This is true, although it is not only for children but also for adolescents and adults, and it helped me understand things and I use this almost always, when I am driving, in my personal problems and other things. It was all great!

IE modified my behaviour in school, at home, in the streets, in all my life. At home I was bad-mannered with my siblings and my mother, I always wanted to be right, the others were always wrong. In the streets I was very ignorant, people couldn’t look at me without me wanting to fight with them and if someone said something I didn't like, it irritated me. I always thought a lot about myself but now I think about others first.

I sometimes misbehaved in class and didn’t control myself when some of the teachers would discuss my behavior (I was often in conflict with teachers Yomara and Eliza who never allowed me to sleep in her classes). At those moments, I argued and left the room, but later, I calmly realized that she was trying to help me. That’s why I say that IE helped me a lot in my life; things at home improved 100%. Thank you all the teachers who worked with IE and always believed in our potential (Marcello, Maria Eliza, Nina, Márcia), congratulations. I am looking forward to beginning IE2.

Whilst I was learning IE and afterwards, there were several changes, not only in school, but also in my own life, there was plenty of modifiability. One of the changes was that I learned how to look at the whole, to analyze before doing something; that for me is already a great difference.
IE brought about several changes, with it I learned how to classify plenty of things and analyze a table, etc.
In school there were several changes, I was a little more interested in learning IE and also other subjects, such as Biology, in which I to build a model. That also happened in History, for me it was easy. I liked this project. I wish other people would have the opportunity that I had. There were some people who did but they didn't appreciate what they were learning.

This work was very good for me and certainly one day it could change my life, analyzing, looking at the whole and also doing the best for me.

With IE I learned how to have a high degree of control over my impulsiveness as opposed to before, when I acted without thinking, I made decisions for other people. This helped me because besides having self-control I also learned to consider other people’s points of view, because what I don't want for myself I won't wish on others.

When I had difficult moments I thought that maybe there were people in worse situations than mine (even if I didn’t know them) although before knowing IE, I was quite egocentric, I didn't think of other people’s problems, considering only mine. I can say now that this was an experience in my life, I have other attitudes. I am no longer that person with quite an unpleasant temper.

IE also motivated me to attend classes that before I didn't like or that hardly touched on life’s reality. With this method life now shows me new things which I didn't see before, as people who live by themselves only. A lot of people could learn this way, there would not be disrespect to neighbors, egocentrism. I can say that today I use IE in my life, in my work, with my family and even with my colleagues, I cannot teach that for everybody, but for those who need it, I will teach what I learned in IE.

After IE there was a significant change in my inner self, due to that new teaching method applied by the teachers. With that method, I started to think better, to analyze several situations in which I was before trying to solve them. At the beginning I noticed that it was not a simple exercise for the fastest one to get to a solution, there was an entire process behind it and what I benefited from in the learning method was considerations that I will use for the rest of my life. They are:
_ dividing things up into parts: I started to divide up my problems and solve them one by one. For example, in Athletics, they say High Jump (of which I am a specialist) it is a very technical test. In order to do it properly it is necessary to learn several steps until you get a good jump. That showed me how important it is to divide things up before solving the problem.
_ controlling your impulsiveness: being calm when solving problems, not losing your mind, acting with your head.
_ focusing: focusing on what is going to be done without deviating, seeking just what has to be solved.

My learning process expanded and it is helping me in other areas

There was a lot of modification... before I didn't do anything at school, I only thought about making trouble, but I only realized that life is not like that in my last year of school, when I saw the real world, but now I am sorry for what I did. Now I will think twice before doing anything, I also see the damage of not having studied before, I know almost nothing. I learned how to consider and respect other people’s point of view and I changed a lot. I was constantly under stress, I treated others badly, I was always in bad mood, not now, I feel happy with my life.

However the only thing I don't only know is how to write a composition; during my school years they didn't teach me how to write good compositions and poetry; my knowledge of Portuguese and English is poor. I don't know anything. I should have modified myself much sooner, now it doesn't matter, the year is already finished, it is not worthwhile trying to do in a few days what I didn’t do for so long. For eleven years of study, I learned almost nothing. It is not even one year of preparatory course that will help me to learn, it would have to be several years.

Before the learning process, I was very egocentric, shy of exposing my ideas, I couldn’t express myself and I participated very little. After the process, I started showing myself more, expressing my ideas and considering others, but I still can't totally express my ideas, but IE helped me partially to increase my participation.

The learning process made me change my behavior in a funny way. As I was very shy, I didn't talk to anybody, but after the process I started talking to several people and my behavior got worse because I talk a lot during the classes and the teachers dislike it, they ask me to stop talking to my classmates.

The process helped me to solve problems in several ways. Just as a circle rotates until it finds an easier and shorter exit. IE didn’t help me to solve problems in my personal life, but it helped me to think about an all-encompassing way, so I could see which way out would be better. In this aspect it helped me a lot to see problems in several ways, it didn’t help me in everything, but it did show me how to think.

Well, before IE, I was like other people, blind, I only wanted to see my reasons, I didn't have spatial orientation in my own life. Things happened around me and I could not solve anything because I took into account irrelevant things, then, I never solved them.

After I encountered IE my life got better, but not immediately. It was a little long process, but from the first few months I already started feeling some differences, understanding things faster. My poetic side emerged and I began writing poems – something I had never done before.
One of the things that improved a lot is controlling my impulsiveness. I was a very impulsive person. For example, when I had to wait for somebody, or begin something, I never had any control, now I am calmer whether in school or in my life.

Our IE classes required the students to express themselves better. I had some difficulty with this because at the beginning I was very quiet, but as time went by I started giving my ideas in class and I saw that they were good and today, I have a reasonable sense of criticism. One of the most difficult things for me was to consider other people’s points of view, think of others, see the other side... I am still an egocentric myself, but I not as much as I used to be.

Finally, this experience was unique, I liked it a lot, there were days when I hated it, but it was very valuable, I hope I can use IE with another people.

There was great modifiability in my way of learning. Before I didn't stop to analyze things that I read, neither did I learn anything. Since I began analyzing, I could learn more and even solve some problems.

At the beginning I was against IE, I didn't like it. I felt it was too much to have to attend classes. Today, things are very different, I like it, I enjoy going to IE classes. Today, maybe I don’t see so many results, but tomorrow I am sure that it will be indispensable for my professional knowledge. I have improved my feelings towards other people, I used to judge them a lot without knowing them; now can control my feelings before forming an opinion. What I really noticed was that my way of thinking changed. IE helped me a lot during this year. I even re-do things that are wrong without complaining.