Constructivism And Discovery Learning Education Essay

Constructivism And Discovery Learning Education EssayIn 1960 Bruner publishedThe Process of Education. This was a landmark book which led to much experimentation and a broad range of reproductional programs in the 1960s. Howard Gardner and other young researchers worked under Bruner and were much-influenced by his work. In the early 70s Bruner left Harvard to teach at University of Oxford for some(prenominal) years (1972 1979). He returned to Harvard in 1979.Later he joined the New York University of Law, where he is a elderberry bush research fellow (at the age of 93).TheoryBruner was one of the founding fathers of constructivist theory.Constructivismis a broad conceptual cloth with numerous perspectives, and Bruners is only one. Bruners theoretical framework is ground on the theme that learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon existing knowledge. Learning is an active process. Facets of the process include selection and trans stochastic variableation of information, decision do, generating hypotheses, and make meaning from information and experiences.Bruners theories emphasize the signifi discountce of categorization in breeding. To perceive is to categorize, to conceptualize is to categorize, to learn is to form categories, to make decisions is to categorize. Interpreting information and experiences by similarities and differences is a key concept.Bruner was influenced byPiagetsideas ab erupt cognitive reading in children. During the 1940s his early work foc mathematical functiond on the impact of needs, motivations, expectations (mental sets) and their influence on perception. He also looked at the manipulation of strategies in the process of human categorization, and emergence of human cognition. He presented the superman of view that children atomic number 18 active problem-solvers and capable of exploring difficult subjects. This was widely divergent from the dominant views in schooling at the sentence, that found an audience. Four Key themes emerged in Bruners early workBruner emphasized the role of social organization in learnedness and how it may be made central in teaching. Structure refers to relationships among existent elements and techniques. See the voice on categorization, below.He introduced the ideas of readiness for acquisition and curlicue curriculum. Bruner guessd that any subject could be taught at any stage of development in a way that fit the childs cognitive abilities. voluted curriculum refers to the idea of revisiting basic ideas over and over, building upon them and elaborating to the aim of full understanding and mastery.Bruner believed that intuitive and analytic thinking should both be encouraged and rewarded. He believed the intuitive skills were under-emphasized and he reflected on the ability of experts in every field to make intuitive leaps.He investigated motivation for learning. He felt that ideall(a)y, interest in the subject matter is the best stimulus for learni ng. Bruner did not akin external competitive goals such as grades or class ranking.Eventually Bruner was strongly influenced by Vygotskys writings and began to turn away from the intrapersonal focus he had had for learning, and began to adopt a social and political view of learning. Bruner argued that aspects of cognitive performance be facilitated by language. He stressed the grandness of the social setting in the acquisition of language. His views are similar to those ofPiaget, precisely he places more emphasis on the social influences on development. The earliest social setting is the mother-child dyad, where children work out the meanings of utterances to which they are repeatedly exposed. Bruner identified several important social devices including joint attention, mutual gaze, and turn-taking.Bruner also bodied Darwinian thinking into his basic assumptions about learning. He believed it was necessary to refer to human culture and hierarch evolution in order to understand growth and development. He did, however, believe there were individual differences and that no standard sequence could be found for all learners. He considered program line as an effort to pay heed or shape growth.In 1996 he published The Culture of Education.. This book reflected his changes in view nouss since the 1960s. He adopted the point of view that culture shapes the mind and provides the raw corporal with which we constrict our world and our self-conception.Four features of Bruners theory of reading.1. sensitiveness to learn. This feature specifically states the experiences which 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 learning and problem solving emerged out of exploration. Part of the task of a teacher is to maintain and direct a childs spontaneous explora tions.2. Structure of knowledge.it is possible to anatomical structure knowledge in a way that enables the learner to approximately readily grasp the information. This is a relative feature, as there are many ways to structure a body of knowledge and many preferences among learners. Bruner offered considerable detail about structuring knowledge.Understanding the fundamental structure of a subject makes it more comprehensible. Bruner viewed categorization as a fundamental process in the structuring of knowledge. (See the section below on categorization.)Details are better retained when placed within the contest of an coherent and structured pattern.To generate knowledge which is transferable to other contexts, fundamental principles or patterns are best suited.The variate between incurning and advanced knowledge in a subject area is diminished when instruction centers on a structure and principles of orientation. This means that a body of knowledge must be in a simple enough form for the learner to understand it and it must be in a form recognizable to the savants experience.3. Modes of representation visual, words, symbols.4. Effective sequencing- no one sequencing will fit every learner, but in general, increasing difficulty. Sequencing, or lack of it, pot make learning easier or more difficult. manakin and pacing of reinforcementCategorizationBruner gave much attention to categorization of information in the construction of infixed cognitive maps. He believed that perception, conceptualization, learning, decision making, and making inferences all involved categorization.Bruner suggested a system of coding in which people form a hierarchical arrangement of relate categories. Each successively higher level of categories becomes more specific, echoing Benjamin Blooms understanding of knowledge acquisition as well as the tie in idea of instructional scaffolding (Blooms Taxonomy).Categoriesare rules that specify four thing about objects.1. Criterial attr ibutes required characteristics for inclusion of an object in a category. (Example, for an object to be included in the category political machine it must have an engine, 4 wheels, and be a possible means of transportation,2. The second rule prescribes how the criteral attributes are combined.3. The third rule assignees weight to various properties. (Example, it could be a car even if a beat was missing, and if it was used for hauling cargo it would be shifted to a different category of truck or by chance van.4. The fourth rule sets acceptance limits on attributes. Some attributes can vary widely, such as color. Others are fixed. For utilisation a vehicle without an engine is not a car. Likewise, a vehicle with only cardinal wheels would not be included in car.There a several kinds of categoriesIdentity categories categories include objects based on their attributes or features.Equivalent categories (provide rules for combining categories. Equivalence can be determined by a ffective criteria, which render objects equivalent by emotional reactions, functional criteria, based on related functions (for example, car, truck, van could all be combined in an inclusive category called motor vehicle), or by formal criteria, for example by science, law, or cultural agreement. For example, and apple is still an apple whether it is green, ripe, dried, etc (identity). It is food (functional), and it is a member of of a botanical classification group (formal).Coding systemsare categories serve to recognize sensory input. They are major(ip) 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. These are hierarchical arrangements of related categories.Bruners theories introduced the idea that people interpret the world largely in terms of similarities and differences.This is a significant parting to how individuals construct t heir unique models of the world.ApplicationBruner emphasized four characteristics of effective instruction which emerged from his theoretical constructs.1. Personalized instruction should relate to learners predisposition, and facilitate interest toward learning,2. Content Structure content should be structured so it can be most easily grasped by the learner3. Sequencing sequencing is an important aspect for presentation of material4. keep rewards and punishment should be selected and paced appropriately.Intellectual DevelopmentBruner postulated three stages of intellectual development.The first stage he termed Enactive, when a person learns about the world done actions on physical objects and the outcomes of these actions.The second stage was called Iconic where learning can be obtained through using models and pictures.The final stage was Symbolic in which the learner develops the content to think in abstract terms. Based on this three-stage notion, Bruner recommended using a c ombination of concrete, pictorial whence symbolic activities will lead to more effective learning.Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA Harvard University PressHarley, 1995http//tip.psychology.org/bruner.htmlLeFrancois, 1972Sahakian, 1976The Importance of languageLanguage is important for the increased ability to deal with abstract concepts.Brunerargues thatlanguagecan code stimuli and drop an individual from the constraints of dealing only with appearances, to provide a more complex yet flexible cognition.The use of words can aid the development of the concepts they represent and can remove the constraints of the here now concept. Basically, he sees the infant as an intelligent active problem solver from birth, with intellectual abilities basically similar to those of the good adult. According to Bruner the child represents the world to himself in three different ways.Educational Implications of Bruners TheoryFor Bruner (1961), the purpose of education is not to impart knowledge, but rather to facilitate a childs thinking and problem solving skills which can then be transferred to a range of situations. Specifically, education should also develop symbolic thinking in children.In 1960 Bruners text,The Process of Educationwas published. The main premise of Bruners text was that students are active learners who construct their hold knowledge.Bruner (1960) opposedPiagetsnotion of readiness. He argued that schools waste time trying to match the complexity of subject material to a childs cognitive stage of development. This means students are held back by teachers as certain topics are deemed to difficult to understand and must be taught when the teacher believes the child has reached the appropriate state of cognitive maturity.Bruner (1960) adopts a different view and believes a child (of any age) is capable of understanding complex informationWe begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectuall y ripe form to any child at any stage of development. (p. 33)Bruner (1960) explained how this was possible through the concept of thespiral curriculum. This involved information beingness structured so that complex ideas can be taught at a simplified level first, and then re-visited at more complex levels later on. Therefore, subjects would be taught at levels of piecemeal increasing difficultly (hence the spiral analogy). Ideally teaching his way should lead to children being able to solve problems by themselves.Bruner (1961) proposes that learners construct their own knowledge and do this by organizing and categorizing information using a coding system. Bruner believe that the most effect way to develop a coding system is to discover it rather than being told it by the teacher. The concept ofdiscovery learningimplies that students construct their own knowledge for themselves (also known as a constructist approach).The role of the teacher should not be to teach information by r ote learning, but instead to facilitate the learning process. This means that a good teacher will design lessons that help student discover the relationship between bits of information. To do this a teacher must give students the information they need, but without organizing for them. The use of the spiral curriculum can aid the process ofdiscovery learning.Bruner and VygotskyBoth Bruner and Vygotsky emphasise a childs environment, especially the social environment, more than Piaget did. Both agree that adults should play an active role in assisting the childs learning.Bruner, like Vygotksy, emphasised the social nature of learning, citing that other people should help a child develop skills through the process ofscaffolding. The term scaffolding first appeared in the literature when Wood, Bruner and Ross described how tutors interacted with pre-schooler to help them solve a block reconstruction problem (Wood et al., 1976).The concept of scaffolding is very similar toVygotskysnotion of thezone of proximal development, and it not uncommon for the terms to be used interchangeably.Scaffoldinginvolves helpful, structured interaction between an adult and a child with the aim of helping the child achieve a specific goal.Difference Between Bruner and Piaget ostensibly there are similarities betweenPiagetand Bruner, but an importantdifferenceis that Bruners modes are not related in terms of which reckon the one that precedes it. Whilst sometimes one mode may dominate in usage, they co-exist. Bruner states that what determines the level of intellectual development is the extent to which the child has been given appropriate instruction together with practice or experience. So the right way of presentation and the right explanation will enable a child to grasp a concept usually only understood by an adult. His theory stresses the role of education and the adult.AlthoughBruner proposesstages of cognitive development, he doesnt see them as representing different separate modes of thought at different points of development (like Piaget). Instead, he sees a gradual development of cognitive skills and techniques into more integrated adult cognitive techniques.Bruner viewssymbolic representationas crucial for cognitive development and since language is our primary means of symbolizing the world, he attaches great importance to language in determining cognitive development.BRUNER AGREES WITH PIAGETBRUNER DISAGREES WITH PIAGET1. Children are PRE-ADAPTED to learning1. Development is a CONTINUOUS carry through not a series of stages2. Children have a NATURAL CURIOSITY2. The development of LANGUAGE is a cause not a consequence of cognitive development3. Childrens COGNITIVE STRUCTURES develop over time3. You can SPEED-UP cognitive development. You dont have to wait for the child to be ready4. Children are ACTIVE participants in the learning process4. The involvement of ADULTS and MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE PEERS makes a big difference5. Cognitive development entai ls the acquisition of SYMBOLS5. Symbolic thought does NOT REPLACE EARLIER MODES OF REPRESENTATION