Interactional Theories of Cognitive Development - Bruner & Vygotsky


Interactional Theories of Cognitive Development - Bruner  & Vygotsky

Bruner studied the means by which human beings interact with the environment cognitively. He states that the outcome of cognitive development is thinking. Bruner agrees with Piaget regarding the description of internal representation of experience. But Bruner emphasized continuity, the importance of language and the importance of education in cognitive development more than Piaget.  According to Bruner, one's intellectual ability evolves as a result of maturation, training and experiences through a series of three sequential stages –the enactive ,iconic and symbolic.


According to Bruner learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure to do so. Cognitive structure (i.e., schema, mental models) provides meaning and organization to experiences and allows the individual to “go beyond the information given”.

Implications on the learning process
Bruner’s learning theory has direct implications on the teaching practices. Here are some of these implications:
1.    Instruction must be appropriate to the level of the learners.
2.    The teachers must revisit material to enhance knowledge. Building on pre-taught ideas to grasp the full formal concept is of paramount importance according to Bruner.
3.    Material must be presented in a sequence giving the learners the opportunity to:
a. acquire and construct knowledge,
b. transform and transfer his learning.
4.    Students should be involved in using their prior experiences and structures to learn new knowledge.
5.    Help students to categorize new information in order to able to see similarities and differences between items.
6.    Teachers should assist learners in building their knowledge. This assistance should fade away as it becomes unnecessary.
7.    Teachers should provide feedback that is directed towards intrinsic motivation. Grades and competition are not helpful in the learning process. Bruner states that learners must “experience success and failure not as reward and punishment, but as information”  (Bruner 1961, p. 26)

 Socio-Cultural Theory - Lev Vygotsky

Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural theory is one of the foundations of constructivism.  The major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. In other words social interaction is a  major factor that leads to Cognitive Development in children. A second aspect of Vygotsky’s theory is The More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) The MKO refers to anyone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept. The MKO is normally thought of as being a teacher, coach, or older adult, but the MKO could also be peers, a younger person, or even computers.
Another aspect is that the potential for cognitive development depends upon the “zone of proximal development” (ZPD): a level of development attained when children engage in social behavior. Full development of the ZPD depends upon full social interaction. The range of skill that can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone.



Vygotsky and Language

Vygotsky believed that language develops from social interactions, for communication purposes. Vygotsky viewed language as man’s greatest tool, a means for communicating with the outside world.
According to Vygotsky (1962) language plays two critical roles in cognitive development:
1: It is the main means by which adults transmit information to children.
2: Language itself becomes a very powerful tool of intellectual adaptation.

Classroom Applications

A contemporary educational application of Vygotsky's theories is "reciprocal teaching," used to improve students' ability to learn from text. In this method, teachers and students collaborate in learning and practicing four key skills: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher's role in the process is reduced over time.
Also, Vygotsky is relevant to instructional concepts such as "scaffolding" and "apprenticeship," in which a teacher or more advanced peer helps to structure or arrange a task so that a novice can work on it successfully.
Vygotsky's theories also feed into the current interest in collaborative learning, suggesting that group members should have different levels of ability so more advanced peers can help less advanced members operate within their ZPD.

Bruner and Vygotsky
•        Both Bruner and Vygotsky emphasize a child's environment, especially the social environment, more than Piaget did. Both agree that adults should play an active role in assisting the child's learning.
•        Bruner, like Vygotsky, emphasized the social nature of learning, citing that other people should help a child develop skills through the process of scaffolding.


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