Jerome Bruner

Bruner was born on 1 October 1915 and is currently a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law.

Bruner suggested that people remember things “with a view towards meaning and signification, not toward the end of somehow ‘preserving’ the facts themselves.” This view of knowledge – and memory – as a constructed entity is consistent with constructivism, with which Bruner is also closely associated.

In his research on the development of children (1966), Bruner proposed three modes of representation: enactive representation (action-based), iconic representation (image-based), and symbolic representation (language-based).

In their early years, young children rely extensively upon enactive modes, ie, through their own actions. Children learn to understand what pictures and diagrams are and how to do arithmetic using numbers and without counting objects. This trait is dominant in young children, even though it is seen in older people as well.

Around adolescense the symbolic mode of learning becomes most dominant. Students can understand and work with concepts that are abstract.

Developmental growth involves mastering each of the increasingly more complex modes- iconic to symbolic. Mastering this incorporates becoming more skilled in translating between each mode.

references
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Bruner
http://au.geocities.com/vanunoo/Humannature/bruner.html

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