Jerome Bruner was an influential American psychologist who developed a theory of cognitive development. He believed education should focus on intellectual development through problem-solving rather than rote memorization. Bruner proposed that learning occurs through three stages - enactive (action-based), iconic (image-based), and symbolic (language-based). In the enactive stage from 0-3 years, learning is hands-on. In the iconic stage from 3-7 years, images and visuals represent concrete experiences. In the symbolic stage from 7 years onward, language and symbols are used to organize information. Bruner advocated for discovery learning where teachers facilitate by providing information without organizing it for students.

1. BRUNER’S THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
Dr. G.M.SUNAGAR
Assistant Professor
Vijayanagar College of Education Hubballi.

2. Born Jerome Seymour Bruner
October 1, 1915
New York City, New York, United States
Died June 5, 2016 (aged 100)
Manhattan, New York, United States
Residence New York City, United States
Nationality American
Fields Psychology
Institutions  Harvard University
 New York University
 University of Oxford
Alma mater  Duke University
 Harvard University
Thesis A psychological analysis of international radio broadcasts of
belligerent nations (1941)

3. Cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner felt the goal of education should be
intellectual development, as opposed to rote memorization of facts.
Bruner held the following beliefs regarding learning and education:
•He believed curriculum should foster the development of problem-solving skills
through the processes of inquiry and discovery.
•He believed that subject matter should be represented in terms of the child's way
of viewing the world.
•That curriculum should be designed so that the mastery of skills leads to the
mastery of still more powerful ones.
•He also advocated teaching by organizing concepts and learning by discovery.
•Finally, he believed culture should shape notions through which people organize
their views of themselves and others and the world in which they live.

4. Discovery Learning
The concept of discovery learning implies that a learner constructs his
or her own knowledge for themselves by discovering as opposed to
being told about something.
According to Bruner, the teacher should facilitate the learning process
by developing lessons that provide the learner with information they
need without organizing it for them.
This idea of discovery learning is often referred to as constructivism,
which emphasizes the active role of the learner in building
understanding and making sense of information.

5. Jerome Bruner theorized that learning occurs by going through three stages of representation.
Each stage is a "way in which information or knowledge are stored and encoded in memory.
The stages are more-or-less sequential, although they are not necessarily age-related like
Piaget-based theories.
Bruner's Stages of Representation
1. enactive (action-based) (0 - 3 years)
2. iconic (image-based) (3 -7 years)
3. symbolic (language-based) (7 years onwards)

6. 1. enactive (action-based) (0 - 3 years)
Sometimes called the concrete stage, this first stage involves a tangible hands-on
method of learning. Bruner believed that "learning begins with an action - touching,
feeling, and manipulating“
2. iconic (image-based) (3 - 7 years)
Sometimes called the pictoral stage, this second stage involves images or other
visuals to represent the concrete situation enacted in the first stage. One way of
doing this is to simply draw images of the objects on paper or to picture them in
one's head. Other ways could be through the use of shapes, diagrams, and
graphs.
3. symbolic (language-based) (7 years onwards)
Sometimes called the abstract stage, the last stage takes the images from the
second stage and represents them using words and symbols. The use of words
and symbols "allows a student to organize information in the mind by relating
concepts together“.

8. Educational Applications
Teacher must understand the learners
Give more hands on experience in the beginning
Developing enquiry attitude among learners
Developing mastery over the lauguage, because that is the important tool
for learning
Use more A-V aids in teaching and learning
Student must learn by discovery approch
Use graphs, models, pictures, specimans, charts, etc

9. The end.
THANK YOU