This document summarizes Jerome Bruner's theory of cognitive development. It discusses his three modes of representation - enactive, iconic, and symbolic. Bruner believed that learning involves relating new experiences to prior knowledge and that interest is a better motivator than competition. He also emphasized the importance of language and social learning, proposing that learners construct their own understanding with guidance from adults. The document compares Bruner's views to those of Vygotsky and Piaget on child development and education.

2. BIBLIOGRAPHY

4. HIS
THEORY
 Focuses on learners’ background knowledge.
 Students have to relate the new experiences
they obtain to their own previous knowledge
 Interest in the material to be learned is the best
stimulus to learning, rather than competitive
advantage.
 Language serves to mediate between
environmental stimuli and the individual's
response.

5. THREE MODES OF
REPRESENTATION:
Enactive representation.
Iconic representation.
Symbolic representation.
These are the
way in which
information or
knowledge are
stored and
encoded in
memory.

6. ICONIC (1 - 6 years)
This is where
information is stored
visually in the form of
images.
ENACTIVE (0 - 1 YEARS)
It involves
encoding action
based
information and
storing it in our
memory.
SYMBOLIC (7 + years)
This is where
information is
stored in the form
of a code or
symbol, such as
language.

7. THE IMPORTANCE OF
LANGUAGE
Language is
important for the
increased ability to
deal with abstract
concepts.
Bruner argues that
language can code
stimuli and free an
individual from the
constraints to
provide
flexible cognition.

8. EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
It is to facilitate a
child's thinking and
problem solving
skills which can
then be
transferred to a
range of
situations.
Bruner
proposes
that learners’
construct
their own
knowledge.

9. BRUNER AND VYGOTSKY
Both emphasize
a child's social
environment
They agree
that adults
should play
an active role
in assisting
the child's
learning.

10. BRUNER AND PIAGET
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
Although Bruner
proposes stages of
cognitive
development, he doesn’t
see them as
representing different
separate modes of
thought at different
points of development
(like Piaget)