Jerome Bruner’s Constructivist Theory

Jerome Bruner’s
 In full Jerome Seymour Bruner was born — blind — in New York City in 1915.
 He earned a degree in psychology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina,
He received masters and doctoral degrees in psychology from Harvard University
in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 After working in military intelligence during the Second World War, he took a
faculty position at Harvard in 1945.
 American psychologist and educator who developed theories
on perception, learning, memory, and other aspects of cognition in young
children.
 Helped to launch the cognitive revolution in psychology — the shift from focusing
on how stimuli or rewards provoke behaviours (behaviourism) to trying to
understand the workings of the mind.
 Bruner’s studies helped to introduce Jean Piaget’s concept of developmental
stages of cognition into the classroom.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jerome-Bruner

Bruner’s Theory on Constructivism

 People construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through
experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.
 Learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts
based upon their current/past knowledge
https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html
Three Modes of Representation
Modes of representation are the way in which information or knowledge are
stored and encoded in memory. Rather than neat age related stages (like
Piaget), the modes of representation are integrated and only loosely sequential
as they "translate" into each other.
1. Enactive representation (action-based)
 This mode is used within the first year of life ( 0 - 1 year )
 Thinking is based entirely on physical actions, and infants learn by
doing, rather than by internal representation (or thinking).
 It involves encoding physical action-based information and storing it
in our memory.
2. Iconic Representation (Image-based)
 1 – 6 years old
  Information is stored as sensory images.
 Learning thought images
3. Symbolic Representation (language based)
 7 years old onwards
 This is where information is stored in the form of a code or symbol
Importance of language
 Important for the increased ability to deal with abstract concepts.
 can code stimuli and free an individual from the constraints of dealing only with
appearances
 to provide a more complex yet flexible cognition

https://weebly.com/uploads/1/9/6/9/19692577/bruner.pdf?
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Principles of Constructivism

1. Readiness
 Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts
that make the student willing and able to learn
2. Spiral Organization
 Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by
the student
3. Going beyond the information given
 Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill
in the gaps

http://methodenpool.uni-koeln.de/concept/TIP%20Theories.htm

Educational Implications of Bruner’s Theory

For Bruner (1961), the purpose of education is not to impart knowledge, but instead to
facilitate a child's thinking and problem solving skills which can then be transferred to a
range of situations. Specifically, education should also develop symbolic thinking in
children.
What is the role of the teacher in constructivist classroom?
The teacher functions more as a facilitator who coaches, mediates, prompts, and helps
students develop and assess their understanding, and thereby their learning.
(https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/
index_sub1.html#:~:text=In%20the%20constructivist%20model%2C
%20the,understanding%2C%20and%20thereby%20their%20learning.)
Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is
helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies,
students in the constructivist classroom ideally become "expert learners." This gives
them ever-broadening tools to keep learning. With a well-planned classroom
environment, the students learn HOW TO LEARN.

You might look at it as a spiral. When they continuously reflect on their experiences,
students find their ideas gaining in complexity and power, and they develop increasingly
strong abilities to integrate new information. One of the teacher's main roles becomes to
encourage this learning and reflection process.
https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index.html

What are the features of a constructivist classroom?

1. Constructed
Students are not blank slates upon which knowledge is etched. They come to
learning situations with already formulated knowledge, ideas, and
understandings. This previous knowledge is the raw material for the new
knowledge they will create.
2. Active
The student is the person who creates new understanding for him/herself. The
teacher coaches, moderates, suggests, but allows the students room to
experiment, ask questions, try things that don't work. Learning activities require
the students' full participation (like hands-on experiments). An important part of
the learning process is that students reflect on, and talk about, their activities.
Students also help set their own goals and means of assessment.
3. Reflective
Students control their own learning process, and they lead the way by reflecting
on their experiences. This process makes them experts of their own learning.
The teacher helps create situations where the students feel safe questioning and
reflecting on their own processes, either privately or in group discussions. The
teacher should also create activities that lead the student to reflect on his or her
prior knowledge and experiences. Talking about what was learned and how it
was learned is really important.
 4. Collaborative
The constructivist classroom relies heavily on collaboration among students.
There are many reasons why collaboration contributes to learning. The main
reason it is used so much in constructivism is that students learn about learning
not only from themselves, but also from their peers. When students review and
reflect on their learning processes together, they can pick up strategies and
methods from one another.
5. Inquiry-based
The main activity in a constructivist classroom is solving problems. Students use
inquiry methods to ask questions, investigate a topic, and use a variety of
resources to find solutions and answers. As students explore the topic, they draw
conclusions, and, as exploration continues, they revisit those conclusions.
Exploration of questions leads to more questions.
6. Evolving
Students have ideas that they may later see were invalid, incorrect, or insufficient
to explain new experiences. These ideas are temporary steps in the integration
of knowledge. For instance, a child may believe that all trees lose their leaves in
the fall, until she visits an evergreen forest. Constructivist teaching takes into
account students' current conceptions and builds from there.

https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/index_sub2.html

Tradition and constructivist classroom

How does this theory differ from traditional ideas about teaching and learning?

As with many of the methods addressed in this series of workshops, in the constructivist
classroom, the focus tends to shift from the teacher to the students. The classroom is
no longer a place where the teacher ("expert") pours knowledge into passive students,
who wait like empty vessels to be filled. In the constructivist model, the students are
urged to be actively involved in their own process of learning. The teacher functions
more as a facilitator who coaches, mediates, prompts, and helps students develop and
assess their understanding, and thereby their learning. One of the teacher's biggest jobs
becomes ASKING GOOD QUESTIONS.

And, in the constructivist classroom, both teacher and students think of knowledge not
as inert factoids to be memorized, but as a dynamic, ever-changing view of the world
we live in and the ability to successfully stretch and explore that view.

The chart below compares the traditional classroom to the constructivist one. You can
see significant differences in basic assumptions about knowledge, students, and
learning. (It's important, however, to bear in mind that constructivists acknowledge that
students are constructing knowledge in traditional classrooms, too. It's really a matter of
the emphasis being on the student, not on the instructor.)

Curriculum begins with the parts Curriculum emphasizes big

of the whole. Emphasizes basic concepts, beginning with the
skills. whole and expanding to include
the parts.

Strict adherence to fixed Pursuit of student questions and

curriculum is highly valued. interests is valued.

Materials are primarily textbooks Materials include primary

and workbooks. sources of material and
manipulative materials.

Learning is based on repetition. Learning is interactive, building

on what the student already
knows.

Teachers disseminate Teachers have a dialogue with

information to students; students, helping students
students are recipients of construct their own knowledge.
knowledge.

Teacher's role is directive, Teacher's role is interactive,

rooted in authority. rooted in negotiation.

Assessment is through testing, Assessment includes student

correct answers. works, observations, and points
of view, as well as tests.
Process is as important as
product.

Knowledge is seen as inert. Knowledge is seen as dynamic,

ever changing with our
experiences.

Students work primarily alone. Students work primarily in

groups.
https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/
index_sub1.html#:~:text=In%20the%20constructivist%20model%2C
%20the,understanding%2C%20and%20thereby%20their%20learning.