Bruners theory of Cognitive development. See also handout on Bruner

1
Bruners theory of Cognitive development.See
also handout on Bruner

• Piaget child a scientist dev. occurs in
  relative social vacuum.
• Vygotsky child apprentice dev. occurs thro
  social interaction.
• Bruner agreed with P-
• Underlying cognitive structures mature over time
  child can think about and organise world in
  increasingly complex way.
• Children are active, curious, exploratory adapt
  to environment thro interaction.
• Action /active experience essential to develop
  abstract thought.

2

• Bruner differs from P but like V-
• Stresses role of lang. interpersonal
  communication.
• Emphasise need for active involvement by experts.
• Instruction essential part of learning process
  in natural and educational settings.
• Bruner modes of representation rather than
  stages knowledge and understanding can take 3
  different forms-

3

• Enactive, Iconic and Symbolic modes.
• Enactive baby represents world thro actions
• (sensori-motor stage from Ps theory)
• Knowledge stored as muscle memory baby may
  carry on shaking arm even if you take rattle away
  thought arm movement made the noise!
• Our knowledge for motor skills (eg riding a
  bike) are represented in the enactive mode.
• They become automatic thro repetition.
• Like P, B sees onset of object permanence major
  
• qualitative change in way child thinks.

4

• Iconic mode knowledge represented through
  visual
• or auditory images icons. Relates to last 6
  months of sensori-motor all of pre-op stage.
• Baby can represent rattle as a visual image so it
  is now an independent thing object
  permanence. childs thinking is dominated by
  images -things are as they look in this mode.

Im in iconic mode so you leave my rattle alone!
5

• Symbolic mode like P, major change at 6/7 yrs
  language starts to influence thought. Not so
  dominated by appearance of things can think
  beyond images and use symbols such as words or
  numbers. Information can now be categorised and
  summarised can be more readily manipulated.
• Experimental evidence for the transition from
  iconic to symbolic mode of thought comes from the
  classic study by Bruner Kenney. (1966) pg 501
  /2
• Draw the experimental set up and summarise this
  study in terms of
• Aim, method, results, conclusion.

6
Application to education

• Unlike P, Bruner proposes that the teacher should
  actively intervene to help child construct new
  schemas.
• Teacher provides structure, direction, guidance
  and support, not just facts.
• A key concept is the spiral curriculum
  principles of a subject can be understood at
  increasingly complex levels start off simple
  and revisit topic at more complex level later.

7

• Like V, B proposes use of scaffolding this
  support structure allows child to climb to higher
  levels of understanding by
• Reducing degrees of freedom
• simplifying task.
• Direction maintenance
• motivation encouragement of child.
• Marking critical features
• highlight relevant parts /errors.
• Demonstration
• provide model for imitation.

8

• Bruner emphasises progression within a subject
  via an active problem solving process.
• Educators provide underlying principles and
  concepts rather than just facts. Enables learners
  to move beyond info given and develop own ideas.
• Teachers encourage learners to make links within
  and between subjects.

9

• The role of language and education.
• P language merely reflects and describes
  underlying cognitive structures.
• B language is symbolic /operational /logical
  thought!
• ?language training can speed up cognitive
  development (P wouldnt agree)
• Frank (1964) pre-op children can conserve
  better if encouraged to describe the situation
  using language symbolic mode of thought.
• Reduce iconic mode of classic conservation tasks
  (i.e. screen off the beakers) and get children to
  describe whats happening .
• 5/6 yr olds not only more able to conserve but
  could do so when using unscreened conservation
  tasks.