Jerome Bruner’s Instructional

Planning
Sophia Campbell
Yanice Coleman
 Introduction
Jerome Bruner was one of the most influential
constructivists. He was influenced by Piaget’s
ideas about cognitive development in children.
His ideas have been widely discussed among
educators and teachers. Some of Bruner’s
theoretical principles focus on these ideas:
• Nature of Learning and learning process.
• Instructional scaffolding
• The intellectual development of the learner
Bruner’s theoretical principles
Nature of Learning and
Learning Process
 Nature of Learning and Learning
Process

Learning for Bruner is an active process.

The learning process include according to
Bruner:
• selection and transformation of
information,
• decision-making,
• generating hypotheses,
 Nature of Learning and
Learning Process
continued

• make meaning from information and

experiences.
• Learners are able to construct new knowledge
based on their current or past knowledge.
• Bruner focuses on the importance of
categorization in every aspect of learning. This
is done through the interpretation of information
and experiences by similarities and differences.
Effective Instruction
 Effective Instruction

• Bruner emphasized four characteristics of

effective instruction which emerged from
his theoretical constructs.
• Personalized: instruction should relate to
learners’ predisposition, and facilitate
interest toward learning,
• Content Structure: content should be
structured so it can be most easily
grasped by the learner
 Effective Instruction

continued

• Sequencing: sequencing is an important

aspect for presentation of material
• Reinforcement: rewards and punishment
should be selected and paced
appropriately.
Instructional Scaffolding
 Instructional scaffolding

• Based on Vygotsky‘s ideas about the Zone of

Proximal Development, Jerome Bruner and
other educational psychologists developed the
important concept of instructional scaffolding.
This refers to the process through which able
peers or adults offer supports for learning. This
assistance becomes gradually less frequent as
it becomes unnecessary, as when constructing
a building a scaffold is removed.
Intellectual Development
 Intellectual development

• Bruner postulated three stages of intellectual

development.
• Enactive
A person learns about the world through actions
on physical objects and the outcomes of these
actions.
• Iconic
Using models and pictures to obtain learning.
 Intellectual development

• Symbolic-developing the ability to think in abstract

terms.
• According to Bruner, when the learner is faced with
new knowledge, a combination of concrete,
pictorial and symbolic activities will lead to more
effective learning. This holds true even for adult
learners.
The End
 References

Hutagalung, M. (2007, August 11). Jerome Bruner’s Constructivist Theory. In My

English Pages Reflections On New Teaching Horizons!. Retrieved October
2, 2013, from http://myenglishpages.com/blog/jerome-bruners-constructivist-
theory/