Bruner’s Theory

1. Bruner’s Theory (about 15 min)

2. Jerome Bruner • Goal of education is to make learner “as autonomous and self-propelled a thinker” as possible • Education occurs via cultural integration • Contrasts with ideas of: • Transmission of knowledge • “Culture-free” knowledge • Folk psychology • Focus on creating and understanding meaning • “Contextual Revolution” as opposed to the cognitive revolution • “Golden mean” in student motivation

3. Bruner’s Instrumental Conceptualism: Some Basic Assumptions • Social and cultural interaction and influences are very important • Theory of instruction doesn’t “evolve” out of theory of development – two should go hand in hand • Development of thought follows development of semiosis

4. Bruner’s Instrumental Conceptualism: More Assumptions • We construct knowledge by relating it to a previously acquired frame of reference • Acquisition of knowledge • Transformation of knowledge • Check for relevance and accuracy of knowledge • Cognitive development can be viewed as trajectory from individuals’ need for interaction with stimuli to their interaction with more abstract ideas • Understanding or insight occur via perceptual leaps from the incoming stimuli to the underlying ideas or concepts

5. Bruner’s 3 Modes of Representation • Enactive Representation = information is represented through action • “I can’t tell you, but I can show you.” • Iconic Representation = information is represented through images and perceptions • E.g., maps, flow-charts, diagrams • Symbolic Representation = information is represented in more abstract form • Language, mathematics, symbols

6. Were children able to solve the problems at first just by thinking about them? Why or why not? What did physically manipulating the tiles and the balance beam do for learning? Why was this important? At what point were children able to move from the physical act of putting tiles on the balance beam to using pictures of balance beams on their worksheets? What would represent a shift from using pictures to using symbolism?

7. Bruner’s 3 Modes of Representation: Solving Balance Beam Problems • Enactive – students actually placed tiles on the balance beams • Iconic – students solved problems by drawing pictures of balance beams • Symbolic – students could solve the problems mathematically; props were no longer needed

8. Bruner’s “Bogus Stage Theory” • Although development usually proceeds in order, it isn’t necessary • Stage sequences are invariant, but are not age dependent • Child’s “readiness” determined not by what he knows but by how he thinks • Instruction needs to be ready for learners, just as learners need to be ready for instruction • Process holds for anyone acquiring new knowledge

9. Back to the video… Did everyone in the group progress at the same rate? Why or why not? Were there clear qualitative shifts from stage to stage? What stage of development in Piaget’s theory do you believe these children were in? Why?