Jerome Seymour Bruner is an American psychologist who made signification contributions to educational, cognitive and developmental psychology. This paper will focus on who Bruner is, his main theories explained, plus a comparison between Bruner and Piaget and the effectiveness of Bruners theories in the classroom.
Bruner was born and raised in New York City, Bruner graduated high school in 1933 and went on to major in psychology at Duke University; earning an AB degree in 1937. Subsequently, Bruner pursued a graduate study at Harvard University receiving the MA in 1939 and a Ph.D. in 1941.
Gardner (2001) noted;
“Jerome Bruner has served a vital role in the educational discourse of our time: bringing to bear the latest thinking in psychology on the contemporary problems of the society.” (page 94).
In 1960, Bruner published 'The Process of Education'; a landmark text which had a direct impact on policy arrangement in the US, influencing thinking and orientation of a wide group of teachers and students. The main objectives of this process is to present subject matter effectively, not only for coverage but the structure too. Bruner (1960) focusses on 4 key themes which emerged around the process. The first theme is the importance of the structure; a practical approach focusing on two different ways of learning. The first way of learning describes specific relevance to tasks that are highly similar to those who we originally learned to preform and the second is earlier learning renders later performance more efficiently through the transfer of principles and attitudes. The second theme is the readiness for learning. This theme suggests that schools have wasted a great deal of time postponing the teaching of important areas ...
... middle of paper ...
...idge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Bruner, J. S. (1964) The Course of Cognitive Growth. 19, 1-15.
Bruning, R. H. Schraw, G. J. & Ronning, R. R. (1999). Cognitive psychology and instruction (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River. NJ: Prentice Hall.
Byrnes, J. P. (1996). Cognitive development and learning in instructional contexts. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Driscoll, M. P. (2000) Psychology of Learning for Instruction. (2nd ed.) Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Gardner, H (2001). “Jerome S. Bruner.” Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education. New York: Routledge.
LeFrancois, G. R. (1999) Psychology for Teaching. (10th ed.) University of Alberta Wadsworth: Thomson Learning.
Schunk, D. H. (2000) Learning theories. An educational perspective. (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Wragg, T. (2004). An Icon of the Mind. The Times Educational Supplement: London.
Schultz, D.P., & Schultz, S.E. (2012). A History of Modern Psychology (10th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Stage, Frances K. et al. "Creating Learning Centered Classrooms: What Does Learning Theory Have to Say?" ERIC Digest, 1998. ED422777.
Woolfolk, A. E., Winne, P. H., & Perry, N. E. (2011). Educational psychology (5th ed.) Toronto: Pearson.
Goldstein, E.B. (2011). Cognitive psychology: connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Coon, D. & Mitterer, J. (2013) Introduction to Psychology Belmont CA. : Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Retrieved May 07, 2014
Jerome Seymour Bruner was born October 1st, 1915. Jerome received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1937. In 1939 he furthered his education to a master’s degree then to a doctorate degree in 1941. Bruner has made many contributions to different types of psychology such as cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational psychology. Also, he was interested in working with history and the general philosophy of education.
Coon, D., & Mittterer, J. ( 2013). Introduction to psychology gateways to mind and behavior . (13th ed.). California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
B. Banner, J. a. (1999). The Elements of Learning. New York: the Kingsley Trust Association .
Vosniadou S. (1996) TOWARDS A REVISED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY FOR NEW ADVANCES IN LEARNING AND INSTRUCTION. Learning and instruction,6( 2), 95-109.
Pritchard, A. (2008). Ways of learning: Learning theories and learning styles in the classroom. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis e-Library.
Feist, G. J., & Rosenberg, E. L. (2012). Learning. In Psychology: Perspectives & connections (2nd ed., p. 310). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Smith, E. E. and Kosslyn, S. M. (2009). Cognitive psychology: Mind and brain. New Jersey: Pearson Education
Groome, D., & Grant, D. (2013). An introduction to cognitive psychology: Processes and disorders (3rd ed.). Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press.
Much current work involves identifying the cognitive components (such as memory and attention span) used in problem-solving activities. Researchers also are trying to identify the processes that occur in the transition from one level of thought to the next. Another area of investigation is the cognitive components in reading and arithmetic. It is hoped that this research will lead to improved methods of teaching academic skills and more effective remedial teaching.
One hundred years ago, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a young man developing new insights about learning. He was one of a handful of constructivist-minded writers and educational theorists of the time. Learning theories open educators up to new ideas. They are necessary to expand our knowledge of how learning works. Piaget’s work is a well-tested and educators around the world should be aware of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive development in particular because it will improve the quality of their teaching. Once a teacher knows this theory, they can plan lessons appropriate to their students’ cognitive ability and build upon students’ earlier knowledge in a constructivist way.