1. Jerome Bruner was an American psychologist who developed theories of cognitive development and learning known as the cognitive theory. 2. Bruner believed that learning involves three stages - enactive, iconic, and symbolic - which correspond to development in how children process and represent information. 3. Key aspects of Bruner's theory included the concepts of scaffolding, spiral curriculum, and discovery learning - which emphasized facilitating active learning through temporary support, revisiting topics at increasing complexity, and allowing students to discover relationships in information respectively. 4. Overall, Bruner argued that education should focus on developing students' problem-solving skills and autonomous learning abilities rather than simply imparting knowledge.

1. I Year B.Ed - CORE 3
LEARNING AND TEACHING
Ms R SRIDEVI
Assistant Professor, Pedagogy of Mathematics,
Loyola College of Education
Chennai 34
UNIT IV
Cognitive And Humanistic
Theories Of Learning
BRUNER’S COGNITIVE THEORY

2. The questions and allotment of marks
are as described below:
• Type of course : Full course
• Type of Questions : Essay type
• Questions : 10
• To answer : 7
• Marks : Each carries 10 marks
• Total marks : 70 ( 7 x 10 )
• Maximum word : 600 words / 5 sides
for each question
• Time : 3 hrs

3. Unit IV
Cognitive And Humanistic Theories Of Learning
• Learning – Meaning of learning as defined by
cognitive psychologists
• Insight learning (Kohler)
• Modes of cognitive development (Bruner)
• Stages of intellectual development (Piaget)
• Learning styles (Kolb)
• Self-actualization ( Maslow)
• Theory of a fully functioning person ( Carl
Rogers).

5. JEROME BRUNER
• Born :October 1, 1915
• Died : June 5, 2016
(aged 100)
• Residence: New York City, USA
• Nationality: American
• Known for :
Cognitive psychology and
Educational psychology

6. 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.

7. Bruner held the following beliefs
regarding learning and education:
• 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.

8. STAGES
ENACTIVE
(Birth to age 3)
Action Based
ICONIC
(Age 3 to 8 yrs)
Image Based
Symbolic
(8 yrs & above)
Language Based

9. ENACTIVE STAGE
• From child’s birth to 3 yrs old.
• Children perceive the
environment through actions
on physical objects that they
initiate.
• Showing and modelling have
more learning value than
telling.
• Learning through motor
actions.

10. ICONIC
• From age 3 to 8 yrs.
• In the second stage, Learning
can be obtained through
using models and pictures.
• Visual memory increases.
• Information is stored visually
in the form of images.
• Decisions are still made on
the basis of perceptions.

11. SYMBOLIC
• Above 8 years…
• Learner develops the capacity
to think
• Children began to use symbols
to represent people, things, etc
• They have the ability to think
and talk about things in
abstract terms.
• They can better understand
mathematical principles and
use symbolic idioms.
• Information can be stored in
the form of a code or symbol
such as language.

12. READINESS
• Bruner (1960) opposed Piaget’s notion of
readiness.
• He argued that schools waste time trying to
match the complexity of subject material to a
child's cognitive stage of development.
• This means students are held back by teachers
as certain topics are deemed too difficult to
understand and must be taught when the
teacher believes the child has reached the
appropriate stage of cognitive maturity.

13. Scaffolding
theory
Spiral
Curriculum
Discovery
Learning

14. SCAFFOLDING THEORY
• Providing individual support / Temporary
support to student learning.
• Way of guiding the students.
• Can use it for different kinds of age groups.
• The teacher provides assisted activities
• For ex – Stories, Read the sentences loud and
etc
• The teacher guide learners through both
verbal and non-verbal.

15. List the
Child’s
interest
Simplify the
Text
Reduce
frustration
Define
Expectations

16. PURPOSE OF SCAFFOLDING
• Simplifying the task or idea
• Motivate and encourage the
child
• Highlighting important task

17. BENEFITS OF SCAFFOLDING
• Individual instruction
• Motivates the learners to
learn
• Minimises frustration

19. SPIRAL CURRICULUM
• Bruner (1960) adopts a different view and
believes a child (of any age) is capable of
understanding complex information.
• “We begin with the hypothesis that any
subject can be taught effectively in some
intellectually honest form to any child at
any stage of development.” (p. 33)

20. SPIRAL CURRICULUM
• Bruner (1960) explained how this was
possible through the concept of the spiral
curriculum. This involved information
being structured so that complex ideas can
be taught at a simplified level first, and then
re-visited at more complex levels later on.

21. SPIRAL CURRICULUM
• Therefore, subjects would be taught at
levels of gradually increasing difficultly
(hence the spiral analogy). Ideally, teaching
his way should lead to children being able to
solve problems by themselves.

23. DISCOVERY LEARNING
• Bruner (1961) proposes that learners construct
their own knowledge and do this by organizing
and categorizing information using a coding
system.
• Bruner believed that the most effective way to
develop a coding system is to discover it rather
than being told by the teacher.
• The concept of discovery learning implies that
students construct their own knowledge for
themselves (also known as a constructivist
approach).

24. DISCOVERY LEARNING
• The role of the teacher should not be to teach
information by rote learning, but instead to
facilitate the learning process.
• This means that a good teacher will design
lessons that help students 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 of discovery learning.

29. • The aim of education should be to
create autonomous learners (i.e.,
learning to learn).
• For Bruner (1961), the purpose of
education is not to impart
knowledge, but instead to facilitate
a child's thinking and problem-
solving skills which can then be
transferred to a range of situations.

30. • Specifically, education should also
develop symbolic thinking in
children.
• In 1960 Bruner's text, The Process
of Education was published.
• The main premise of Bruner's text
was that students are active
learners who construct their own
knowledge.