The document summarizes key learning theories from Piaget, Vygotsky, and Bruner. Piaget identified stages of cognitive development from infancy to adulthood. Vygotsky emphasized that social interaction plays a role in cognitive development. Bruner viewed learning as an active process where learners construct new ideas based on past and current knowledge.

1. Learning Theories
Piaget, Vygotsky, and
Bruner

2. Piaget
Age Stage Major
Developments
Birth to 2 years Sensorimotor Infants use sensory
and motor capabilities
to explore and gain
understanding of their
environments.
2-7 years old Preoperational Children begin to use
symbols. They respond
to objects and events
according to how they
appear to be.

3. Piaget cont.

7 to 11 years Concrete Children begin
operations to think
logically.
11 years and Formal They begin to
beyond operations think about
thinking.
Thought is
systematic and
abstract.

4. Three Mechanisms to Advance
 A child will develop through each of these stages
until he or she can reason logically. The learner is
advanced through three mechanisms.
 Assimilation - fitting a new experience into an
existing mental structure (schema)
 Accommodation - revising an existing schema
because of a new experience
 Equilibrium - seeking cognitive stability through
assimilation and accommodation

5. Vygotsky
 Social interaction plays a fundamental role in
the development of cognition
 The potential for cognitive development
depends upon the "zone of proximal
development" (ZPD): a level of development
attained when children engage in social
behavior

6. Vygotsky cont.
 Principles:
 1. Cognitive development is limited to a
certain range at any given age.
 2. Full cognitive development requires social
interaction.

7. Bruner
 Learning is an active process in which
learners construct new ideas or concepts
based upon their current/past knowledge
 The learner selects and transforms
information, constructs hypotheses, and
makes decisions, relying on a cognitive
structure to do so

8. Bruner cont.
 Principles:
 1. Instruction must be concerned with the
experiences and contexts that make the student
willing and able to learn (readiness).
 2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be
easily grasped by the student (spiral organization).
 3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate
extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going beyond
the information given).
 4, Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models)
provides meaning and organization to experiences
and allows the individual to "go beyond the
information given".

9. Constructivist Teachers…
 1. Encourage and accept student autonomy and
initiative.
 2. Use raw data and primary sources, along with
manipulative, interactive, and physical materials.
 3. Use cognitive terminology such "classify,"
"analyze," "predict," and "create" when framing
tasks.
 4. Allow student responses to drive lessons, shift
instructional strategies, and alter content.

10.  5. Inquire about students' understandings of
concepts before sharing their own
understanding of those concepts.
 6. Encourage students to engage in dialogue,
both with the teacher and with one another.
 7. Encourage student inquiry by asking
thoughtful, open-ended questions and
encouraging students to ask questions of each
other.
 8. Seek elaboration of students' initial responses.

11.  9. Engage students in experiences that might
engender contradictions to their initial hypotheses
and then encourage discussion.
 10. Allow significant wait time after posing
questions.
 11. Provide time for students to construct
relationships and create metaphors.
 12. Nurture students' natural curiosity through
frequent use of the learning cycle model.