LEARNING THEORY

Studying learning theories of Bruner and Vygotsky: Implementation at school

Studying learning theories of Bruner and Vygotsky: Implementation at school

Introduction

This paper will highlight the importance of two significant theorist Bruner and theories that are based on leaning. However, learning is one of the most important mental functions in human systems. Human learning is related to the education and personal development. Thus, this paper will implement theories of Bruner and Vygotsky into the context of seventh grade students who have diverse backgrounds. We define learning as a process of relatively permanent change in a person's behavior generated by the experience. However, learning involves behavioral change or a change in behavioral capacity, hence, allowing students to grasp the learning behavior.

Vygotsky and Bruner

This part of the paper will highlight that how Bruner and Vygotsky's theories of learning will come into play for the development of seventh grade students with diverse backgrounds. They both have a great reputation in working on the learning theories and implementing their theories in the teaching of students will be beneficial for their development.

Jerome Seymour Bruner is born in New York on October 1, 1915. Bruner not only gained use of his sight but also provided great insight on the human thought processes and the acquisition of knowledge to the branch of science known as cognitive psychology. Bruner's initial research involved the concept of human perception. These investigations sparked a desire for further explorations into the way human are process information. His influential book, The Process of Education, published in 1960, emerged from his committee work, and he became a curriculum innovator. His research on infant cognition led to the beginning of preschool education in the United States and Great Britain. To date, Bruner has written 30 books and over 400 articles and has received several awards for his professional achievements (Olson, 2007).

Bruner took his mentors' ideas and created his own theories on the acquisition of knowledge. However, his initial research findings that an individual's perceptions gets shaped to conform to their previous experiences and knowledge led him to further explore the way people process information. Bruner was influenced by Jean Piaget and Alexander Luria, a student of Lev Vygotsky. However, his main focus was on the discovery of Vygotsky's writing. However, Piaget and Luria's work got incorporated in his theory on cognitive development.

Bruner's theory of learning gets based on the premise that learning is an active cognitive process. It involves the cognitive development of categories, schema, theories, and facts about the world. Knowledge got obtained through discovery learning, concrete representation of knowledge, cultural connections, and group or shared activities. Bruner identifies the factors that influence learning as power (different access to resources), knowledge, teaching and learning strategies, together with the structures of the learning environment. Children progress through a series of representations when presented with alternative learning situations. The progression begins with the inactive representation (thinking through action); is followed by the iconic representation (thinking through images); and is completed with the symbolic representation (thinking through ...