Module 13

Module 13 - BRUNER'S CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY

BRUNER'S MAIN CONCEPT

3 ways to represent knowledge.

1. ENACTIVE REPRESENTATION - Children represent objects in terms of their immediate sensation of them. They are represented in the muscles and involve motor responses, or ways to manipulate the environment (i.e. riding a bicycle and tying a knot, tasting the apple).

2.. ICONIC REPRESENTATION - This second stage is when learning can be obtained through using models and pictures. The learner can now use mental images to stand for certain objects or events. Iconic representation allows one to recognize objects when they are changed in minor ways (e.g. mountains with and without snow at the top).

3. SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION - In this third stage, the learner has developed the ability to think in abstract terms. This uses symbol system to encode knowledge. The most common symbol systems are language and mathematical notation.

SPIRAL CURRICULUM

The task of the instructor is to translate information to be learned into a format appropriate to the learner's current state of understanding. Curriculum should be organized in a spiral manner so that the student continually builds upon what they have already learned.

In a spiral curriculum, teachers must revisit the curriculum by teaching the same content in different ways depending on students' developmental levels. Sometimes a topic can be revisited within the same semester or school year. 

In the spiral progression approach, the teaching of concepts increases in depth and breadth across the Grade levels.

DISCOVERY LEARNING

Obtaining knowledge for oneself. The teacher plans and arranges activities in such a way that students search, manipulate, explore and investigate. Students learn new knowledge relevant to the domain and such general problem-solving skills as formulating rules, testing and gathering information.

THEORY OF INSTRUCTION (1966)

1. PREDISPOSITION TO LEARN. "readiness for learning". Bruner believed that any subject could be taught at any stage of development in a way that fits the child's cognitive abilities. —Move the learner toward a love of learning in general, or of learning something in particular. Motivational, cultural and personal factors contribute to this. Bruner emphasized social factors and early teachers and parents' influence on this. He believed that learning and problem solving emerged out of exploration. Teacher's task: maintain and direct a child's spontaneous explorations.

2. STRUCTURE OF KNOWLEDGE. Ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured so that it can be most readily grasped by the learner. Bruner emphasized the role of structure in learning and how it may be made central in teaching

3. EFFECTIVE SEQUENCING. No one sequencing will fit every learner, but in general, the lesson can be presented in increasing difficulty. Sequencing, or lack of it, can make learning easier or more difficult. Spiral curriculum —revisiting basic ideas over and over, building upon them and elaborating to the level of full understanding and mastery.

4. REINFORCEMENT. Rewards and punishments should be selected and paced appropriately. He felt that ideally, interest in the subject matter is the best stimulus for learning. Bruner did not like external competitive goals such as grades or class ranking.

CATEGORIZATION

1. Criterial attributes - required characteristics for inclusion of an object in a category.

2. The second rule prescribes how the criterial attributes are combined.

3. The third rule assigns weight to various properties. 

4. The fourth rule sets acceptance limits on attributes. Some attributes can vary widely, such as color. Others are fixed. 

SEVERAL KINDS OF CATEGORIES

1. IDENTITY CATEGORIES - categories include objects based on their attributes or features.

2. EQUIVALENT CATEGORIES - (provide rules for combining categories). Equivalence can be determined by affective criteria, which render objects equivalent by emotional reactions, functional criteria, based on related functions or by formal criteria. For example, an apple is still an apple whether it is green, ripe, dried, etc (identity). It is food (functional), and it is a member of a botanical classification group (formal).

3. CODING SYSTEMS - categories that serve to recognize sensory input. They are major organizational variables in higher cognitive functioning. Going beyond immediate sensory data involves making inferences on the basis of related categories. Related categories form a "coding system." —hierarchical arrangements of related categories.