Constructivism And Discovery Learning Education Essay

Constructivism And Discovery Learning Education Essay In 1960 Bruner published  The Process of Education. This was a landmark book which led to much experimentation and a broad range of educational programs in the 1960s. Howard Gardner and other young researchers worked under Bruner and were much-influenced by his work. In the early 70s Bruner left Harvard to teach at University of Oxford for several years (1972 1979). He returned to Harvard in 1979.   Later he joined the New York University of Law, where he is a senior research fellow (at the age of 93).   Theory   Bruner was one of the founding fathers of constructivist theory.Constructivism  is a broad conceptual framework with numerous perspectives, and Bruners is only one. Bruners theoretical framework is based on the theme that learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon existing knowledge. Learning is an active process. Facets of the process include selection and transformation of information, decision making, generating hypotheses, and making meaning from information and experiences.   Bruners theories emphasize the significance of categorization in learning. To perceive is to categorize, to conceptualize is to categorize, to learn is to form categories, to make decisions is to categorize. Interpreting information and experiences by similarities and differences is a key concept.   Bruner was influenced by  Piagets  ideas about cognitive development in children. During the 1940s his early work focused on the impact of needs, motivations, expectations (mental sets) and their influence on perception. He also looked at the role of strategies in the process of human categorization, and development of human cognition. He presented the point of view that children are active problem-solvers and capable of exploring difficult subjects. This was widely divergent from the dominant views in education at the time, but found an audience.   Four Key themes emerged in Bruners early work:   Bruner emphasized the role of structure in learning and how it may be made central in teaching. Structure refers to relationships among factual elements and techniques. See the section on categorization, below.   He introduced the ideas of readiness for learning and  spiral curriculum. Bruner believed that any subject could be taught at any stage of development in a way that fit the childs cognitive abilities. Spiral curriculum refers to the idea of revisiting basic ideas over and over, building upon them and elaborating to the level of full understanding and mastery.   Bruner believed that intuitive and analytical thinking should both be encouraged and rewarded. He believed the intuitive skills were under-emphasized and he reflected on the ability of experts in every field to make intuitive leaps.   He investigated motivation for learning. He felt that ideally, interest in the subject matter is the best stimulus for learning. Bruner did not like external competitive goals such as grades or class ranking.   Eventually Bruner was strongly influenced by Vygotskys writings and began to turn away from the intrapersonal focus he had had for learning, and began to adopt a social and political view of learning. Bruner argued that aspects of cognitive performance are facilitated by language. He stressed the importance of the social setting in the acquisition of language. His views are similar to those of  Piaget,  but he places more emphasis on the social influences on development. The earliest social setting is the mother-child dyad, where children work out the meanings of utterances to which they are repeatedly exposed. Bruner identified several important social devices including joint attention, mutual gaze, and turn-taking.   Bruner also incorporated Darwinian thinking into his basic assumptions about learning. He believed it was necessary to refer to human culture and primate evolution in order to understand growth and development. He did, however, believe there were individual differences and that no standard sequence could be found for all learners. He considered instruction as an effort to assist or shape growth.In 1996 he published The Culture of Education.. This book reflected his changes in viewpoints since the 1960s. He adopted the point of view that culture shapes the mind and provides the raw material with which we constrict our world and our self-conception.   Four features of Bruners theory of instruction.   1. Predisposition to learn. This feature specifically states the experiences which move the learner toward a love of learning in general, or of learning something in particular. Motivational, cultural, and personal factors contribute to this. Bruner emphasized social factors and early teachers and parents influence on this. He believed learning and problem solving emerged out of exploration. Part of the task of a teacher is to maintain and direct a childs spontaneous explorations.   2. Structure of knowledge.it is possible to structure knowledge in a way that enables the learner to most readily grasp the information. This is a relative feature, as there are many ways to structure a body of knowledge and many preferences among learners. Bruner offered considerable detail about structuring knowledge.   Understanding the fundamental structure of a subject makes it more comprehensible. Bruner viewed categorization as a fundamental process in the structuring of knowledge. (See the section below on categorization.)   Details are better retained when placed within the contest of an ordered and structured pattern.   To generate knowledge which is transferable to other contexts, fundamental principles or patterns are best suited.   The discrepancy between beginning and advanced knowledge in a subject area is diminished when instruction centers on a structure and principles of orientation. This means that a body of knowledge must be in a simple enough form for the learner to understand it and it must be in a form recognizable to the students experience.   3. Modes of representation: visual, words, symbols.   4. Effective sequencing- no one sequencing will fit every learner, but in general, increasing difficulty. Sequencing, or lack of it, can make learning easier or more difficult.   Form and pacing of reinforcement   Categorization:   Bruner gave much attention to categorization of information in the construction of internal cognitive maps. He believed that perception, conceptualization, learning, decision making, and making inferences all involved categorization.   Bruner suggested a system of coding in which people form a hierarchical arrangement of related categories. Each successively higher level of categories becomes more specific, echoing Benjamin Blooms understanding of knowledge acquisition as well as the related idea of instructional scaffolding (Blooms Taxonomy).   Categories  are rules that specify four thing about objects.   1. Criterial attributes required characteristics for inclusion of an object in a category. (Example, for an object to be included in the category car it must have an engine, 4 wheels, and be a possible means of transportation,   2. The second rule prescribes how the criteral attributes are combined.   3. The third rule assignees weight to various properties. (Example, it could be a car even if a tire was missing, and if it was used for hauling cargo it would be shifted to a different category of truck or perhaps van.   4. The fourth rule sets acceptance limits on attributes. Some attributes can vary widely, such as color. Others are fixed. For example a vehicle without an engine is not a car. Likewise, a vehicle with only two wheels would not be included in car.   There a several kinds of categories:   Identity categories categories include objects based on their attributes or features.   Equivalent categories (provide rules for combining categories. Equivalence can be determined by affective criteria, which render objects equivalent by emotional reactions, functional criteria, based on related functions (for example, car, truck, van could all be combined in an inclusive category called motor vehicle), or by formal criteria, for example by science, law, or cultural agreement. For example, and apple is still an apple whether it is green, ripe, dried, etc (identity). It is food (functional), and it is a member of of a botanical classification group (formal).   Coding systems  are categories serve to recognize sensory input. They are major organizational variables in higher cognitive functioning. Going beyond immediate sensory data involves making inferences on the basis of related categories. Related categories form a coding system. These are hierarchical arrangements of related categories.   Bruners theories introduced the idea that people interpret the world largely in terms of similarities and differences.   This is a significant contribution to how individuals construct their unique models of the world.   Application   Bruner emphasized four characteristics of effective instruction which emerged from his theoretical constructs.   1. Personalized: instruction should relate to learners predisposition, and facilitate interest toward learning,   2. Content Structure: content should be structured so it can be most easily grasped by the learner   3. Sequencing: sequencing is an important aspect for presentation of material   4. Reinforcement: rewards and punishment should be selected and paced appropriately.   Intellectual Development   Bruner postulated three stages of intellectual development.   The first stage he termed Enactive, when a person learns about the world through actions on physical objects and the outcomes of these actions.   The second stage was called Iconic where learning can be obtained through using models and pictures.   The final stage was Symbolic in which the learner develops the capacity to think in abstract terms. Based on this three-stage notion, Bruner recommended using a combination of concrete, pictorial then symbolic activities will lead to more effective learning.   Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press   Harley, 1995   http://tip.psychology.org/bruner.html   LeFrancois, 1972   Sahakian, 1976 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 of dealing only with appearances, to provide a more complex yet flexible cognition. The use of words can aid the development of the concepts they represent and can remove the constraints of the here now concept. Basically, he sees the infant as an intelligent active problem solver from birth, with intellectual abilities basically similar to those of the mature adult. According to Bruner the child represents the world to himself in three different ways. Educational Implications of Bruners Theory For Bruner (1961), the purpose of education is not to impart knowledge, but instead to facilitate a childs thinking and problem solving skills which can then be transferred to a range of situations. Specifically, education should also develop symbolic thinking in children. In 1960 Bruners text,  The Process of Education  was published. The main premise of Bruners text was that students are active learners who construct their own knowledge. Bruner (1960) opposed  Piagets  notion of readiness. He argued that schools waste time trying to match the complexity of subject material to a childs cognitive stage of development. This means students are held back by teachers as certain topics are deemed to difficult to understand and must be taught when the teacher believes the child has reached the appropriate state of cognitive maturity. Bruner (1960) adopts a different view and believes a child (of any age) is capable of understanding complex information:  We begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development. (p. 33) Bruner (1960) explained how this was possible through the concept of the  spiral curriculum. This involved information being structured so that complex ideas can be taught at a simplified level first, and then re-visited at more complex levels later on. Therefore, subjects would be taught at levels of gradually increasing difficultly (hence the spiral analogy). Ideally teaching his way should lead to children being able to solve problems by themselves. Bruner (1961) proposes that learners construct their own knowledge and do this by organizing and categorizing information using a coding system. Bruner believe that the most effect way to develop a coding system is to discover it rather than being told it by the teacher. The concept of  discovery learning  implies that students construct their own knowledge for themselves (also known as a constructist approach). The role of the teacher should not be to teach information by rote learning, but instead to facilitate the learning process. This means that a good teacher will design lessons that help student discover the relationship between bits of information. To do this a teacher must give students the information they need, but without organizing for them. The use of the spiral curriculum can aid the process of  discovery learning. Bruner and Vygotsky Both Bruner and Vygotsky emphasise a childs environment, especially the social environment, more than Piaget did. Both agree that adults should play an active role in assisting the childs learning. Bruner, like Vygotksy, emphasised the social nature of learning, citing that other people should help a child develop skills through the process of  scaffolding. The term scaffolding first appeared in the literature when Wood, Bruner and Ross described how tutors interacted with pre-schooler to help them solve a block reconstruction problem (Wood et al., 1976). The concept of scaffolding is very similar to  Vygotskys  notion of the  zone of proximal development, and it not uncommon for the terms to be used interchangeably.Scaffolding  involves helpful, structured interaction between an adult and a child with the aim of helping the child achieve a specific goal. Difference Between Bruner and Piaget Obviously there are similarities between  Piaget  and Bruner, but an importantdifference  is that Bruners modes are not related in terms of which presuppose the one that precedes it. Whilst sometimes one mode may dominate in usage, they co-exist. 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. So the right way of presentation and the right explanation will enable a child to grasp a concept usually only understood by an adult. His theory stresses the role of education and the adult. Although  Bruner proposes  stages of cognitive development, he doesnt see them as representing different separate modes of thought at different points of development (like Piaget). Instead, he sees a gradual development of cognitive skills and techniques into more integrated adult cognitive techniques. Bruner views  symbolic representation  as crucial for cognitive development and since language is our primary means of symbolizing the world, he attaches great importance to language in determining cognitive development. BRUNER AGREES WITH PIAGET BRUNER DISAGREES WITH PIAGET 1. Children are PRE-ADAPTED to learning 1. Development is a CONTINUOUS PROCESS not a series of stages 2. Children have a NATURAL CURIOSITY 2. The development of LANGUAGE is a cause not a consequence of cognitive development 3. Childrens COGNITIVE STRUCTURES develop over time 3. You can SPEED-UP cognitive development. You dont have to wait for the child to be ready 4. Children are ACTIVE participants in the learning process 4. The involvement of ADULTS and MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE PEERS makes a big difference 5. Cognitive development entails the acquisition of SYMBOLS 5. Symbolic thought does NOT REPLACE EARLIER MODES OF REPRESENTATION

Speeches in The Tempest versus As You Like It :: William Shakespeare

The speeches delivered by Prospero and Jacques each hold extensive contrasting differences. Both Prospero, the tempestuous protagonist in The Tempest, and Jacques, a minor melancholy character in As You Like It, see things in a dissimilar light. They have gone through things in their lives that have shaped their thoughts and opinions on certain topics. Prospero and Jacques’ show this in their moods and then in the subjects of which they speak. By perceiving the contrasting objects in Prospero and Jacques’ speeches, we find that they are quite different in character. Things that have happened, to both Prospero and Jacques, have had an effect on their moods. Before Prospero delivers his speech, he discovers that Miranda and Ferdinand are in love and declares happily, â€Å"It goes on, I see, as my soul prompts it† (Act 1 scene 2, (424-425). Then cheerfully adds, â€Å"So glad of this as they I cannot be, who are surprised withal. But my rejoicing† (Act 3 scene 1, (95-97). Jacques, on the other hand, when hearing Duke Senior state, â€Å"Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy† (Act 2 scene 7, (138-141) openly disagrees. He then proclaims, â€Å"to speak my mind, and I will through and through cleanse the foul body th’ infected world, if they will patiently receive my medicine† (Act 2 scene 7, (138-141). His view of the word seems to poison his mind resulting in his despondent mood. The events that occurred to Prospero and Jacques find a place in their thoughts and are responsible for altering their attitu des. The disposition of Prospero and Jacques’s speeches differ seeing as Prospero’s shows signs of happiness while Jacques’ only shows a depressing hue. Prospero shows a happy tint to his speech namely when he says â€Å"Be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended† (Act4 scene1, (147-148). Jacques, contrastingly, shows his ever-present melancholy personality by saying words that have negative tones such as â€Å"Mewling†¦puking†¦ whining†¦ [and] †¦unwilling† (Act2 scene7, (147†¦150). The attitudes that Prospero and Jacques have, reflect in the content of their speeches. Prospero speaks more about heavenly things while Jacques spends his whole speech addressing the life of man. Prospero seems to be fascinated by mostly spirits and heavenly structures as found in the following passage: â€Å"These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air †¦[along with] the cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, [and] the solemn temples† (Act4 scene1, (148-153).

“A Modest Proposal” Essay

Jonathan Swift writes a satirical passage to criticize the England government on their lack of participation in helping the hungry citizens during the years of drought they are experiencing. In his overly exaggerated proposal, he uses an abundance of features of style, voice, and organization to express his point he is trying to make through satire.Swift’s choices on the variety of different features of style he uses were decided upon the fact that this passage is purely satirical. In paragraphs 20-26, Swift uses mature diction to express his standing with the England government. Paragraph 20 says, â€Å"I think the advantages of the proposal which I have made are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance.† Here he is claiming that this proposal is very important, and that the government should agree with him.He writes like he is well educated on the ideas he is proposing. In essence, this is a legitimate proposal to the government, so his choice in words h ave to sound sophisticated. As his subject is about ingesting children, it clearly makes sense for him to use a refined vocabulary. If he would use his vocabulary loosely, the exaggeration and satire in the passage would not be as obvious.A blunt voice is in use during the passage. Swift approaches his point immediately to present the urgency of the problem he is addressing. England is experiencing drought, which is a serious issue that he feels could be resolved by selling, killing and eating children.In paragraph 25 he states, â€Å"Fifthly, this food would likewise bring great custom to taverns, where the vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts for dressing it to perfection..† He straight up tells us that children will make great food. There is no other way to express this point and get the same effect unless it is done bluntly. He wants the government to recognize their absence in the current issue, and being straight-forward with each point he makes guides the reader to believe that the passage is purely satirical, but that there is an underlying meaning with his satire.The organization of the essay was very structured. It is clear that he  thoroughly thought out each of his ideas, and he presented them in a strategic way to make his point. In paragraph 21 he says, â€Å"For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen the number of papists, with whom we are yearly overrun, being the principal breeders of the nation as well as our most dangerous enemies; and who stay at home on purpose to deliver the kingdom of the Pretender, hoping to take their advantage by the absence of so many food Protestants, who have chosen rather to leave their country than stay at home and pay tithes against their conscience to an Episcopal curate.†This shows he is even thinking about religion and how his proposal will affect everyone else in England. He expresses many stomach wrenching thoughts, which could get very co nfusing if he did not have them structured in an orderly fashion. A mess of ideas about eating children would take away from the actual satire in the passage. The reader would be very mislead and may lose the hint of satire he perfectly presents in his writing.Jonathan Swift composes a proposal to not eat children, but to try and open the governments eyes on the problems they are facing. Through style, voice and organization he pulls off a fabulous satirical piece with immense detail and wonderful diction.

Faith And Doubt At Ground Zero Reflection - 1558 Words

September 11, 2001 was one of the most shocking and horrifying days in United States history. There had never been a terroristic attack of this magnitude on U.S. soil ever before, causing panic and confusion among United States citizens. Two planes hit the two towers of the World Trade Center, while another hit the Pentagon later that morning. This caused commotion and panic by American citizens. They did not know what would happen next. Would another plane now hit a well-known American monument or building center again? Would more innocent people be killed? This day not only raised doubts of what else would happen on American soil, but it raised doubts about faith. This is portrayed by the men and women featured in the documentary â€Å"Faith†¦show more content†¦Prior to the September 11th attacks, Marian Fontana had a strong relationship with God, and could be described as a devout Catholic. She prayed consistently, but such a tragedy that impacted her directly, destroye d her relationship with God. She could not understand and grasp the idea that a God would allow for something this horrific and terrorizing, and due to this, she stopped praying to God. She thought the death of her husband in this terrorist attack was something that she could not forgive God for allowing, and thus, her relationship with God became non existent after that day. Marian Fontana’s account has had a minimal impact on my faith life and understanding of God. I agree with her on the idea of how God can allow such an event to happen, especially one that is one state away. But, I do not agree with her about the loss of faith. In that moment, that person are helpless. We can not impact the situation. There is only one thing that person can do and that is to pray. They must look to God in these situations because He is the one that will get them through. He empowers us and will help with any difficulty in our life. Before the documentary, I firmly believed this, and after this account, I agree with it even more. God blessed us with free will, allowing us to make the choices we desire. But, He did not put any human on this earth to commit acts of terrorism against His children, and it was not His â€Å"plan† for this to happen.Show MoreRelatedFaith and Doubt at Ground Zero Essay694 Words   |  3 PagesFaith and Doubt at Ground Zero Rene Bowen Colorado Christian University As I was watching the Frontline Video, Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero, I was immediately faced with the question about evil. It is hard to imagine how someone could do something so horrific in the name of religion. So many lives were forever changed during the events that transpired on Tuesday morning, Sept. 11, 2001. 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