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Bruner’s theory of Cognitive Development. Outline, evaluate, apply to Education. Outline of Bruner’s theory. Built on work of Vygotsky & Piaget Thinking based on categorisation – organising knowledge into hierarchies 3 modes of thinking
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Bruner’s theory of Cognitive Development Outline, evaluate, apply to Education
Outline of Bruner’s theory • Built on work of Vygotsky & Piaget • Thinking based on categorisation – organising knowledge into hierarchies • 3 modes of thinking Enactive–action based skills (dominant early childhood) Iconic – image based skills (dominant middle childhood) Symbolic – word/language based (adolescence) Research: Bruner & Kenny – transposition task These are recurrent themes throughout life • Scaffolding
Evaluation • Cultural relevance – people in different cultures make sense of experiences based on the way in which they live: Gredler (1992) – PNG – counting • Doesn’t look at infant development – important stage of learning!! • Support for scaffolding as Vygotsky – Wood et al • As with Piaget & Vygotsky – impact upon education e.g scaffolding & ZPD
Applications to Education • Use of Piaget’s approach of discovery learning • Can teach children difficult concepts at early stage but need to practice & revisit (spiral curriculum) • Difficult to measure & test for effectiveness • Scaffolding – as Vygotsky • Other criticisms as Vygotsky – e.g motivation