A CYBERNETIC APPROACH TO EARLY EDUCATION

Studies investigated the long term achievement of Get-Set children, Ph iladelphia Head Start, who participated in SCILS, the Self-Controlled Interactive Learning Systems program at the Drexel Early Childhood Cen ter, and who were later enrolled in eighteen Philadelphia public and p arochial schools. The original purpose for the program was to find way s of creating an environment to enhance learning, creativity, and expl oration. It was assumed that if the above occurred it would be reflect ed in standardized testing regardless of subject matter. Its premise i s that learning involves both the acquisition of skills, training, and the formation of new concepts, going beyond the ''given,'' education. The proper use of instructional technology is to enable the learner-t he child-to acquire skills which can be utilized in new concept format ion. The teacher's role then shifts from concentration on training to involvement in education. However, if instructional technology is to b e effective in helping students acquire mastery it should incorporate: 1) choice, 2) control by the student, 3) instantaneous dynamic feedba ck to the student which allows for self-control, self-organization, se lf-regulation, and self-correction, and 4) enhancement of adapting beh avior. Fifty-seven Head Start children who were enrolled in the Drexel Early Childhood Center for an average of 2.54 years were the subject of these studies. Fifty-three of the subjects were followed through th e sixth grade, fourteen through the ninth and a small group (all those who could be found) were followed into the tenth and eleventh grades. SCILS children are at or above grade level in reading and reading com prehension with thirty hours of instructional time. Outcomes compared with other Early Intervention Programs, in the United States, since th e 1960s, show that with SCILS the Head Start children's achievement re aches the level of average middle-class children.