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prepared by Mary Beth DiPrima & Martha Hickson
Rutgers University School of Communication, Information & Library Studies
October 23, 2006

Instruction

Instructional plans must consider four key themes:

  1. Readiness: A predisposition toward learning. This predisposition results from curiosity brought on by uncertainty and ambiguity. “Readiness … is a function not so much of maturation as it is our intentions and our skill at translating ideas in the language and concepts of the age level we are teaching” (Bruner, “On Knowing” 108).
  2. Structure: The key concepts and organizing principles that form the core of the field of study. When students learn the structure of a subject, and not simply memorize facts about it, they can begin to incorporate new information into that structure and see relationships between and among bodies of knowledge. Bruner claimed, “Knowing how something is put together is worth a thousand facts about it” (qtd. in Gardner 92). “Any idea or problem or body of knowledge can be presented in a form simple enough so that any particular learner can understand it in a recognizable form” (Bruner, “Toward a Theory of Instruction” 44). Effective methods of structuring knowledge result in simplifying, generating new propositions, and increasing manipulation of information (Constructivist Theory).
  3. Sequence: The order in which material is presented. The best sequence to promote learning depends on “a variety of factors, including past learning, stage of development, nature of the material, and individual differences (Bruner, “Toward a Theory of Instruction” 49). But it is likely that the optimum sequence moves from economical to complex and follows the stages of cognitive development: enactive to iconic to symbolic.
  4. Motives: Types and timing of rewards and punishments. “Mental life moves from a state of outer-directedness, in which … reinforcement [is] crucial, to a state of inner-directedness, in which the growth and maintenance of mastery become central and dominant” (Bruner, “On Knowing” p. 92). Effective reinforcement comes at a time when the student can use it, e.g., after a period of trial and error when the student is comparing the results of his attempt to the desired goal. Reinforcement before this time may not be understood or remembered, while reinforcement after this time may arrive too late to guide future choices.

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Later Work

From the mid 1970s through today, Bruner’s work has moved in new directions, leading him to criticize aspects of the cognitive revolution, which he saw as “an unwarranted reduction of human thought to a set of computational routines” (Gardner 93). Theorists of the 1960s, he believed, focused too strongly on internal cognitive processes to the exclusion of social influences, such as poverty and racism. “It was taken for granted that students lived in some sort of educational vacuum, untroubled by the ills and problems of the culture of large,” he said (qtd. in Gardner 93).
Instead, Bruner’s later work has been based on cultural psychology, which addresses the influence of an individual’s historical background and culture. In The Culture of Education (1996), Bruner notes that “human mental activity is neither solo nor conducted unassisted, even when it goes on ‘inside the head’” (qtd. in Smith). Accordingly, in the last 30 years, Bruner has investigated such interpersonal psychological issues as infants’ use of language, scaffolding to transfer knowledge from adults to children, the use of stories and myths to deal with reality, and the role of storytelling in the legal process.
Through his body of work, which spans nearly 70 years and has encompassed both cognitive and cultural views of learning, Bruner has been a role model for his own assertion that “There are many ways to learn and many was of encouraging different forms of learning with different ends in view” (“Models of the Learner” 5).
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Bruner's view of a learner actively constructing meaning from the earliest ages holds significant implications for curriculum design, classroom activities, teacher and student responsibilities, and the role of the school library.

Spiral Curriculum

To address readiness, structure, sequence, and motives, Bruner introduced the spiral curriculum, “in which ideas are first presented in a form and language … which can be gasped by the child, ideas that can be revisted later with greater precision and power until, finally, the student has achieved the reward of mastery” (Bruner, “On Knowing” 107). In this design, students return to topics throughout their academic careers, continually building upon what they have already learned as they develop and mature.

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Discovery Learning

Bruner advocated a “discovery learning” approach to education, “Permitting the student to put things together for himself, to be his own discoverer” (“On Knowing” 82). “Discovery… is in its essence a matter of rearranging or transforming evidence in such a way that one is enabled to go beyond the evidence … to new insights” (Bruner, “On Knowing” 82).
Several attributes characterize discovery learning (Bicknell-Holmes and Hoffman 314-15):

  • The creation, integration and generalization of knowledge through exploration and problem solving.
  • Interest-based activities in which the learner exercises some control over the sequence and frequency
  • Activities that strive to integrate new knowledge with the learner's existing knowledge base
  • Emphasis on learning rather than content
  • Recognition of the importance of "failure" as a tool for examination, reflection, and refocused efforts
  • Involvement of students in higher levels of cognitive processing, such as synthesis, evaluation, extrapolation, and analysis
  • Integration of feedback opportunities into instruction or activities

Discovery occurs through a continuous process of representing things. First students need an opportunity to manipulate. When learning about measurement, for example, students can begin by pacing off a yard or measuring with a ruler. Then by reflecting on and comparing their actions, students can discover and devise formulas for measurement to represent and simplify their actions. In fact, Bruner claimed that discovery is a byproduct of making things simpler (“On Knowing” 100).
Methods for offering discovery learning can include (Bicknell Holmes and Hoffman 315-319):

  • Case-based learning: Students learn vicariously through stories or vignettes
  • Incidental learning: Students learn through fun, game-like activities, such as a game show or a crossword puzzle
  • Exploring: Students learn through an organized question-and-answer session with the instructor and other students
  • Reflection: By modeling the instructor or online system, students learn how to ask better questions
  • Simulation: Students learn by practicing skills or witnessing their application in a realistic but artificial environment

Discovery learning offers multiple benefits (Bruner, "On Knowing" 83-95):

  • Increased intellectual potency: Mastering a variety of problem-solving techniques and using them to transform information
  • Intrinsic rewards: Feelings of increased awareness and understanding that sustain students and provide gratification during independent problem-solving.
  • Learning the heuristics of discovering: Practicing problem-solving and identifying the underlying skills that can be applied to new situations.
  • Conserving memory: Organizing knowledge around one’s own interests and cognitive structures, thereby increasing the likelihood that knowledge can be retrieved for later use

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Teacher’s Role

Bruner cautioned against a solely lecture-oriented instructional approach: “Teaching by telling [is] out of the context of action” (qtd. in Presno). Instead, teachers should use a variety of instructional|approaches consistent with the cognitive development of their students. For example, a teacher wanting to help children learn about dinosaurs could ask students to construct models of dinosaurs (enactive); they might watch a film about or involving (iconic); or they could consult reference texts and then discuss their findings (symbolic) (Hollyman).
In a Bruner classroom, the teacher is transformed from the “sage on the stage” to the “guide by the side.” Specific teacher behaviors include:

  • Identifying the key elements of an academic discipline
  • Designing activities and tools matched to students’ cognitive abilities
  • Translating information into the learner’s mode of representation
  • Constructing interesting, challenging exercises that incite curiosity and create a motivation to learn
  • Activating problem solving by modeling trial and error, curiosity, and enthusiasm
  • Facilitating the student’s reflection and recoding processes by providing aids and dialogues
  • Helping the students see relationships and patterns
  • Leading students to develop concepts and make sense of operations
  • Coaching students to discover principles for themselves
  • Interacting one-on-one with students
  • Providing timely feedback and reinforcement

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Student’s Role

According to Bruner, “The student is not a bench-bound listener, but is taking a part in the formulation and at times may play the principal role in it” (“On Knowing” 83). Student behaviors in a discovery-learning classroom include:

  • Participating in the knowledge-getting process
  • Testing hypotheses
  • Interacting with the environment
  • Solving problems
  • Developing generalizations
  • Engaging in dialogue and collaborating with the teacher and other students
  • Creating products such as new ideas, solutions, processes, presentations, blogs, or research papers.

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The School Library

Attention to Bruner's three modes of learning can be seen in many school library programs. In elementary schools, for example, teacher librarians use such enactive strategies as:

  • Readers theater
  • Felt-board stories
  • Having students insert shelf markers after they take a book

Iconic approaches at this level include:

  • Computer searching with visual catalogs (e.g., KidsClick!) that use pictures to represent search categories
  • Using signs and pictures to navigate in the library
  • Designing graphic organizers to guide information gathering

In middle school and high school, as students begin to employ the symbolic mode, librarians:

  • Introduce students to more complex resources that depend on reading ability
  • Help students construct search statements using Boolean operators based on mathematic principles
  • Teach students how to evaluate and compare research tools to select the best option for a given problem

Our challenge, though, is to offer instruction that incorporates all three learning modes even after students have begun to use symbolic thinking. We must balance lecture (symbolic mode) with demonstrations (iconic mode) and opportunities for students to conduct experiments by handling online and print materials (enactive mode).
Discovery learning demands such balance. And library instruction, during which students are generally engaged in a search about a new or unfamiliar topic, is naturally suited to it. Discovery learning in the library could engage students in:

  • Developing their own classification schemes
  • Analyzing unsuccessful searches and proposing new approaches
  • Performing the same search on multiple search engines, identifying the differences in result sets, and making inferences about how the search engine works
  • Journaling the research process to identify obstacles and propose ideas for overcoming them
  • Comparing web pages to determine the aspects that indicate the level of quality and reliability
  • Debating the merits of various search tools (e.g., Wikipedia vs. Grolier Online).

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Read the following article (available in the Doc Sharing or Discussion sections of our online class) to learn more about the application of Bruner's theory in one aspect of library instruction:

  • Presno, Caroline. "Bruner's Three Forms of Representation Revisited: Action, Pictures and Words for Effective Computer Instruction." Journal of Instructional Psychology 24 (June 1997): 112-18. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega. H.W. Wilson. Rutgers U Lib., New Brunswick, NJ. 6 Oct. 2006 <

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  • What learning mode do you prefer when learning new material? What learning mode do you usually address when teaching? Describe a unit of library instruction that could be adapted to encompass all three learning modes.

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Bicknell-Holmes, Tracy, and Paul Seth Hoffman. “Elicit, Engage, Experience, Explore: Discovery Learning in Library Instruction.” Reference Services Review 28.4 (2000): 313-22. Library Literature and Information Science Full Text. H.W. Wilson. Rutgers U Lib., New Brunswick, NJ. 19 Oct. 2006 <
Bruner, Jerome. “Models of the Learner.” Educational Researcher 14.6 (June-July 1985): 5-8. JSTOR. 6 Oct. 2006 <
Bruner, Jerome S. On Knowing: Essays for the Left Hand. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1966.
- - -. The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1960.
- - -. “The Process of Education Revisited.” Phi Delta Kappan 53 (Sept. 1971): 18-21.
- - -. Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1966.
Bruner, Jerome S., Jacqueline J. Goodnow, and George A. Austin. A Study of Thinking. New York: Science Editions, 1967.
Constructivism as a Paradigm for Teaching and Learning. 2004. Educational
Broadcasting Corp. 22 Oct. 2006 <
concept2class/constructivism/>.
“Constructivist Theory (J. Bruner).” TIP: Theories. 6 Oct. 2006 <
Gardner, Howard. “Jerome S. Bruner.” Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education. Ed. Joy A. Palmer. New York: Routledge, 2001. 90-96.
Hollyman, David. Jerome Bruner. Sept. 2000. 14 Oct. 2006 <
Presno, Caroline. “Bruner’s Three Forms of Representation Revisited: Action, Pictures and Words for Effective Computer Instruction.” Journal of Instructional Psychology 24 (June 1997): 112-18. Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega. H.W. Wilson. Rutgers U Lib., New Brunswick, NJ. 6 Oct. 2006 <
Pritchard, Florence Fay.Teaching Thinking Across the Curriculum with the Concept Attainment Model. ED379303. ERIC. EBSCO. North Hunterdon High School Lib., Annandale, NJ. 6 Oct. 2006 <
Smith, M. K. “Jerome Bruner and the Process of Education.” Infed. 28 Jan. 2005. 6 Oct. 2006 <
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Bruner with pipe. Photograph. Fondazione Sigma-Tau . 2006. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Draw Dewey signs. Photograph. Palm Beach County Library System. 2006. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Gardner, Jay. Hobbs Professor Howard Gardner. Photograph. HGSE News. 1 June 2004. Harvard Graduate School of Education. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Grennon Brooks. Photograph. Association of Suffolk County Supervisors for Educational Technologies. Spring 2006. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Jerome Bruner. Photograph. Jerome Bruner. Ed. Helen Barry. Massey University, New Zealand. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Keep smiling. Photograph. Tobias Ott. iStockphoto. 22 Oct. 2006

Looking at pictures. Photograph. Butler Public Library. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Piaget. Photograph. The Jean Piaget Archives. 16 July 2002. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Playing with a book. Photograph. Babycare Direct. 22 Oct. 2006 <
The Process of Education book. Photograph. Harvard University Press. 2004. Barnes & Noble. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Reading for research. Photograph. Merion Mercy Academy. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Rogoff. Photograph. Currents Online. U California Santa Cruz.22 Oct. 2006 <
Shelf marker. Photograph. The OLA Store. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Spiral. Photograph. Blue Coil Spring. 2006. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Tolman. Photograph. How Do You Think People Learn? Ed. Johanna L.H. Birkland. Syracuse University. 22 Oct. 2006 <
Vygotsky. Photograph. The Vygotsky Project. Dec. 2001. 22 Oct. 2006 <