Cognitive development: The theory of Jerome Bruner

Learning is at the core of the theory of the American psychologist Jerome Bruner for the cognitive development of children. More specifically, the American psychologist argued that when a child is confronted with new information, it goes through some ways of representation in order to for them to be stored in memory. This process takes place in specific stages, which are not completely distinct from each other as they pass through each other. Do you want to know how to contribute to the proper development of a child of 4 to 8 years old? Then attend the specialised seminar “Kids Athletics-Movement School” organised by Base Training.  The first stage is the enactive representation. From the name alone one understands that it is based only on actions. This stage dominates the first year of a person’s life. Babies learn through actions. This way of learning continues in other stages of life such as learning to ride a bike, writing on the computer etc The second stage is the iconic representation, which prevails until the child becomes 6 years old. The new information the child receives is stored as visual images, either consciously or unconsciously. From 7 years old onwards the child does the symbolic representation which is the last way of representing the new knowledge. Information is stored in the form of a code or symbol, such as language, mathematical symbols, or music. Bruner believed that his theory could be applied to education. He did not agree with the simple presentation of information in schools. He advocated that children can construct knowledge on their own and that the school should “create” autonomous beings with the ability to solve problems. He also considered the phenomenon of “scaffolding” in the educational process. Specifically, the adult, that is, the teacher acts as the child’s mentor providing him with information in order to acquire knowledge and independence. Giota Florou source: psycholognow.gr Recent Articles