Jerome Bruner (1915 – )
Jerome Bruner, a renowned and influential psychologist, was a central figure in the field of cognitive psychology. His work and writings in education are seminal works in the field: The Process of Education and Towards a Theory of Instruction are considered classics in education studies and Man: A Course of Study has become a central text in curriculum studies. His more recent work centres on cultural psychology. In The Culture of Education (1996), he writes, “How one conceives of education, we have finally come to recognize, is a function of how one conceives of the culture and its aims, professed and otherwise’ (Bruner 1996: ix-x).
Bruner (1961) suggests that since children are naturally social beings, their construction of knowledge must be done in a social context which acts as a medium through which they interpret their experiences. He further suggests that no “unique sequence” exists for all learners: “the optimum in any particular case will depend upon a variety of factors, including past learning, stage of development, nature of the material, and individual differences” (p. 49). Thus, children must be presented with many options and offered many different choices to facilitate their learning and allow them to construct knowledge in a variety of ways.
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Bruner’s Contribution to Developmental Approaches to Learning
Building on Piaget’s developmental theories, Bruner suggests learning is reflected in three stages of representation.
Enactive Mode: This mode of learning is represented through actions.
Iconic Mode: This mode of learning is represented through pictures.
Symbolic Mode: This mode of learning is represented through words and numbers.
Scaffolding: Bruner used this term to refer to mentor-structured interactional support systems. Bruner believed that scaffolding was most effective when it was gradually withdrawn as the learner achieved greater mastery of the task at hand.
Discovery Learning:
Bruner suggests that Discovery Learning–inquiry-based teaching–is the most meaningful method of learning since learners are able to discover information and relationships on their own. Bruner suggested that ““Practice in discovering for oneself teaches one to acquire information in a way that makes that information more readily viable in problem solving” (Bruner, 1961, p. 26). Discovery Learning usually consists of three components: “1) exploring and problem solving to create, integrate, and generalize knowledge, 2) [learner]-driven, interest-based activities in which the [learner] determines the sequence and frequency, and 3) activities to encourage integration of new knowledge into the learner’s existing knowledge base” (Bicknell-Holmes & Hoffman, 2000).
In other words, students must interact with the world through exploration and experimentation. Thus, teachers should present students with opportunities to experiment, objects to manipulate, case studies/problems to solve, and questions/issues to debate. According to Bruner, since students will have facilitated their own learning, the result will be a much deeper, more meaningful learning experience. Many teachers believe Discovery Learning tends to motivate and engage students more than traditional models of learning and that it produces independent learners capable of critical and creative thought.
The following video shows the application of Discovery Learning in an elementary-school math lesson:
Discussion Questions:
- What kind of learning activities have you used that would fall into the category of Discovery Learning? What type of “scaffolding” would learners have access to? How effective has the activity been?
- Imagine you are teaching a fully online course to adult learners. Explain how you would use the principles of Discovery Learning to teach a specific task related to your discipline/subject area.
- What drawbacks can you see to Discovery Learning?
References and Further Reading:
Bicknell-Holmes, T. & Hoffman, P. S. (2000). Elicit, engage, experience, explore: Discovery learning in library instruction. Reference Services Review. 28(4), 313-322.
Bruner, J. S. (1961). “The act of discovery”. Harvard Educational Review 31 (1): 21–32.
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