I’ve admired Jerome Bruner over the years, and have written about his work in my books and in this blog. He died on Monday at the age of 100, and The Atlantic has published a short, and good,…
Please forgive me if my posts are in chunks. You know, I update my blog using only my cellphone. I don't have any laptop or a pc of my own. I repeated this how many times and I will say this again. For those of you who have an old or surplus laptop or pc, I will appreciate it very much if you can give it to me...wehehehe(half joke-half truth) I would like to tackle about one of the constructivist psychologists whose works are actually utilized in schools but unknown to some. Since I lack character spaces on my previous post, I wasn't able to discuss that there are 2 views of constructivism:cognitive constructivism and social constructivism. I will just discuss these later as I discuss each constructivist psychologist and his works. Our man of the moment is Jerome Bruner. He is under the cognitive constructivism school of thought which stresses individual and inner construction of knowledge. He has given us important concepts about learning which I will just discuss one by one. I. Stages of Knowledge Representation According to Bruner, knowledge representation develops in 3 stages: Enactive, Iconic and Symbolic. 1. Enactive. The first stage in which learning is based on hands on experiences of physical objects together with the consequences that go after. Knowledge is represented through senses. You may have noticed this among children who learn about the world through touching and manipulating objects, smelling flowers, tasting a fruit, etc. However, this doesn't mean that this type of representation is only for babies or young children. This could also mean manipulative learning of objects such as learning how to use a microscope, to ride in a bicycle, or practicing how to dance, to do stunts, or to play a musical instrument. 2. Iconic. Knowledge can now be represented using models and pictures. Learners know how to make mental images of their world. This can be seen on books full of brightly colored pictures that are being used to teach children. 3. Symbolic. Learners can think in abstract. So abstract terms and symbol systems can be used to represent knowledge like numbers, mathematical symbols, letters and language. This is the reason why most of the books in college do not have so many pictures compared to books used in elementary. Images of these topics and better and more credible (why? does this mean mine isn't? hehehe) discussions are found in this link http://brunerwiki.wikispaces.com/
Bruner believed that when children start to learn new concepts, they need help from teachers and other adults in the form of active support.
Jerome Bruner proposed that learning is an active process where learners construct new ideas based on current and past knowledge assisted by instructional scaffolds.
Bruner’s spiral curriculum is a curriculum that regularly re-visits the same educational topics over the course of a student’s education.
A spiral curriculum does more than just revisit topics. Look into the design of a spiral curriculum and see examples of how it supports you and your learners.
"Constructivism is a model in psychology that characterizes learning as a process of actively constructing knowledge. Individuals create meaning for themselves or make sense of new information by selecting, organizing, and integrating information with other knowledge, often in the context of social interactions." (EdPsych Modules, 2nd Edition) There have been multiple occasions throughout my graduate studies in which the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky were mentioned when discussing students and their cognitive development. But what are these theories and how can they be applied or observed in the classrooms? While both individuals may have different approaches when it comes to cognitive development, both would agree that 1) learning is a process of actively constructing knowledge, 2) cognitive development is an interaction between heredity and environment, 3) a symbolic system is needed for development, 4) internalized language is needed for conscious thought, promotes reflection, and helps plan, and 5) play is important.
Spread the loveDescription Discovery learning involves allowing learners maximum freedom within a resource-rich environment to discover answers to disadvantages. It requires learners to build upon background knowledge and utilize resources available in the environment to increase their knowledge base. Discovery learning is usually juxtaposed with instructor-centered approaches, as learners are not told all the information; instead, they must discover knowledge for themselves. Advantages Learners generate knowledge for themselves rather than being told what is right and wrong. By discovering the facts, learners will have a firmer comprehension of the reasoning behind why something is real. Disadvantages Too much learner freedom may distract […]
Jerome Bruner proposed that learning is an active process where learners construct new ideas based on current and past knowledge assisted by instructional scaffolds.
Zone of Prox….. what? And how am I suppose to use this? So what is it? The zone of proximal development is a concept created by psychologist Lev Vygotsky. According to Vygotsky, the zone of p…
Social learning theory and constructivism are two types of learning theories that are quite similar, at least on the surface. These two theories contend that learning has both an individual and a social aspect to
Scaffolding Learning Strategies help students be independent self-regulating learners and problem solvers. Scaffolded instruction techniques for students.
Explore the water cycle for kids with this easy water cycle in a bottle activity. A simple way to introduce evaporation, condensation.
How three types of scaffolding instruction (sensory, graphic, interactive) can empower ELLs to access content and develop academic language skills.
