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Unlike Piaget and Vygotsky, neither of whom tailored their work directly towards education, Bruner seems to have had the education process in mind throughout the formulation of his theory. 1960 saw the publication of his ‘landmark’ text ‘The Process of Education’ in which he outlined his idea that children, and learners in general, actively construct their own knowledge.

As you would expect from a theory that has borrowed so much from the work of Piaget and Vygotsky, Bruner’s ideas on education are very much an amalgam of the two, and in particular the ideas of Vygotsky.

Basic philosophy

Bruner believes the child needs to grasp the basic principles of a subject not simply acquire a list of facts. Once these are grasped, the child is less reliant on others, and can go beyond what has been formally taught, and progress to developing ideas of their own.

Throughout, it is important that the child learns for themselves (influence of Piaget) but also that others, such as adults or more able peers can assist in the learning process (influence of Vygotsky).

Unlike Piaget, Bruner believes that the process of cognitive development can be speeded up with the aid of teachers and, like Vygotsky, believes that scaffolding provided by the more competent is an essential part of the teaching process. So teachers are seen as important, as is the role of language and communication that facilitates scaffolding and language use (symbolic mode) by the child.

Cooperative group work (similar to Vygotsky’s peer tutoring) is more important that Piaget’s individual discovery learning. Evidence for this is provided by Nichols:

Role of the teacher

Sutherland (1992) teachers are ‘obliged to make demands on their pupils.’

Teachers are seen as essential in the Brunerian classroom. They need to be aware of the child’s mode(s) of representation, provide scaffolding and speed up development. See below for more detail on each of these:

Nichols (1996)

Studied 81 high school students across an 18 week term.

The students were split into 3 groups:

Group 1: 18 weeks of traditional teaching

Group 2: 9 weeks of cooperative group learning followed by 9 weeks of traditional teaching

Group 3: 9 weeks of traditional teaching followed by 9 weeks of cooperative group teaching

The cooperative method involved splitting the 27 students into small groups where they worked together on solving geometry problems.

Motivation of the students was measured before the study, after 9 weeks and 18 weeks

Results

Cooperative group teaching significantly improved motivation with the biggest increase being during the 9 week phase of the co-op teaching.

Conclusion

Cooperative group teaching is good for improving the motivation of students which would seem to support the effectiveness of student-centred learning, the approach favoured by both Bruner and Vygotsky.

Speeding up cognitive development

Teachers, according to Bruner, should be able to speed up the rate of cognitive development, primarily by improving language acquisition, assisting the transition form iconic to symbolic modes of representation. According to Bruner, the provision of stimulation by teachers should also increase development, particularly in those from deprived backgrounds. The thinking here is that those from poorer backgrounds receive less mental stimulation in their home environment so benefit more when it is provided during the education process. Evidence suggests that children from deprived backgrounds receive less one to one attention from parents and fewer stimulating toys. In the UK the introduction of the National Curriculum in the 1980s was designed to improve attainment across all groups but particularly those in the bottom 40%. Teachers have since been expected to increase the rate of cognitive development.

CASE

CASE (Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education) was designed with this in mind. Shayer and Adey that devised the program claim success, particularly in boys but only when the program is administered in year 8. When year 7s follow the program they show little improvement. Here we have support for i. Bruner: development can be speeded up, but also for ii. Piaget. Children below year 8 simply are not ready for the progression from concrete to formal thinking regardless of the support given.

The Spiral Curriculum

This refers to that very annoying habit that teachers have, of constantly returning to topics each year, but teaching them in different ways! You were probably taught ‘electricity’ in years 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 and each time your new science teacher would say next week we’re going start ‘electricity’ you would doubtless have moaned since you’d done it before. However, as you’d realize if you thought back, each time you would have been taught the topic differently, in ever more complex and eventually in more abstract ways.

Unlike Piaget and his concept of ‘readiness’ that suggests we should only teach abstract concepts when the child has the mental apparatus to cope, Bruner believes any topic can be taught in a meaningful and helpful manner to any child. Take the example of ‘volume.’

Baby: let it play with a bucket and some water (perhaps at the beach)
Pre-school: again play with buckets but this time introducing basic vocabulary such as ‘bucket’, ‘more’ and ‘less.’
Junior school: Now introduce more complex terminology such as ‘volume’ and ‘conservation.’
Secondary school: introduction of abstract concepts such as formulae and the removal of concrete examples.

Modes of Representation

In terms of education the influence of the modes is similar to Piaget’s stages, in that the teacher needs to be aware of the mode(s) being used by each child and structure their teaching, resources and activities around these modes. So for example, early teaching will centre on the enactive mode so activities will need to be hands on and practical in nature.

Taking teaching about dinosaurs as an example: this could involve making models (enactive), watching the BBC’s ‘Walking with dinosaurs (iconic) or an internet search for information (symbolic).

Computers

Computers are very useful in the Brunerian classroom since they can provide scaffolding. Software on a number of educational programs provide prompts and also a range of ‘help’ menus and facilities so the amount of scaffolding provided can be varied to suit the needs of the developing child. Children can also work on group tasks using computers facilitating social interaction with all the Brunerian benefits that go with that (cooperative learning, language etc).

Computers, as any teacher will tell you, also keeps students busy. This allows the teacher to hover and observe, provide scaffolding when required and intervene and target students that are struggling with additional assistance.