Jerome Bruner's Theory Of Development

Jerome Bruner was born October 1, 1915 in New York City. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1937 and his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1947. He worked at Harvard University from 1952 to 1972 in the Department of Psychology. In 1960, Bruner published a book called The Process of Education and in 1996 he published another book called The Culture of Education. In 1972, Bruner left Harvard and taught at The University of Oxford for a period of seven years. He left The University of Oxford in 1979 and returned to Harvard. Bruner was known as one of the founding fathers of the constructivist theory. This theory has many different perspectives and has a broad conceptual framework. Bruner’s perspective is based upon the theme that

His early work focused on the impact of needs, motivations, expectations, and their influences on perception. Bruner believed that children are active problem solvers and that they are very capable of exploring subjects that may be difficult for them. He had four key themes in his early work. First of all, he stressed the importance of the role of structure in learning and how it may be a central part in teaching. Next, Bruner introduced the ideas of readiness for learning and spiral curriculum. He believed that any subject could be taught to children at any stage of development as long as it fits the child’s cognitive ability. On the other hand, spiral curriculum is about revisiting basic ideas over and over, building on the ideas, and elaborating on the ideas until there is the full understanding of the ideas. Third, Bruner believed intuitive and analytical thinking should be encouraged and rewarded. He thought that intuitive skills were not stressed enough. Finally, the last theme is he investigated in motivation of learning. He believed that the best way to stimulate learning is interest in the subject matter. He did not like grades or class ranking at all because he believed that they were

First of all, the first characteristic is personalized. Instruction should relate to the learners’ predisposition and help produce an interest in learning. Next, the second characteristic is content structure. Content should be structured to make it easy for the learner to be able to grasp. The third characteristic is sequencing. Sequencing is very important for presenting material. Finally, the fourth characteristic is reinforcement. Reinforcement involves rewards and punishment and they should be selected and used appropriately. Furthermore, Bruner came up with three stages of intellectual development. The first stage is the Enactive stage and it is when a person learns about the world through actions on physical objects and the outcomes of those objects. The second stage is the Iconic stage. This stage is where learning is obtained by using models and pictures. Finally, the last stage is the Symbolic stage. This stage is where the learner is able to think in abstract terms. Bruner recommended using a combination of concrete, pictorial, and symbolic activities in order to lead to more effective