How far do you agree with Jerome Bruner’s cognitive theory about education and it needing to be improved by not being

Question: How far do you agree with Jerome Bruner's cognitive theory about education and it needing to be improved by not being focused around memorising facts and why do you believe that. Furthermore, do you have any specific ways/theories that you have around the 'best way' for learning?
- Keywords:
  education,
  learning,
  theory
Asked by anon-269713 on 19 Nov 2020.
- Maggi Laurie answered on 19 Nov 2020: last edited 19 Nov 2020 11:53 am
  
  I don’t know a heap about Bruner’s theory, but I think it’s an interesting idea that education should not be focused on learning of rote facts. Our world is changing significantly and rapidly and education should be equipping young people with the skills they need to thrive in this environment. This is why we’ve seen an increase in teaching computing and related skills, like programming. More than ever, we need people to be curious and confident in questioning facts presented to them, which is important when it comes to interpreting information that is presented in the media. So rather than teaching facts, we need to teach young people how to gather and interpret evidence. Also, there are quite a lot of old education theories, like learning styles, that have not been supported in recent research. I wonder a lot about if and how schools will change as a result of covid, whether there will be differences in the way that we teach which rely more on self-directed learning / remote working.
- Madeleine Steeds answered on 19 Nov 2020:
  
  I think that memorising information shouldn’t be the point of education. Now we have google and other resources easily accessed knowing a fact isn’t that important. It’s more important to be able to think about that fact critically and apply it in useful ways.
  I definitely like learning by doing in general it’s much more fun so it think ‘gamifying’ education (making it more like a game) is a good way to help people learn as it’s more engaging.
- Parise Carmichael-Murphy answered on 19 Nov 2020:
  
  Hi Ash,
  I do think that education should focus less on memory and more on individuals demonstrating their understanding of their learning processes and how this has changed at the individual level. Although it is a good skill for learning in general I don’t believe that being encouraged to recall information gets the best out of people.
  I am not sure I would call upon a specific theory but I do believe in ‘differentiation’ in teaching and learning – where the ‘teacher’ (whoever that might be at the time) should tailor information to individual learning needs. So that people can understand concepts in ways that are relevant and interesting to them!
  Do you have any suggestions from your experience?
- Simona Skripkauskaite answered on 19 Nov 2020: last edited 19 Nov 2020 8:48 pm
  
  I am not too familiar with Bruner’s cognitive theory anymore either, but I agree with others – education should be about more than memorising. My opinion is partially driven by the fact that my own memory retrieval is pretty bad (as evidenced by my inability to remember Bruner’s theory and my abysmal performance in any pub quiz I may take part in). If I was not given the chance to depend on my ability to make logical inferences and use resources, I would certainly not be where I am now. This is particularly important in current information heavy age where things are changing so fast. It is the skill of knowing how to critically evaluate information that is often much more important than retaining that information for long term (our memory is limited after all). Having said that, memory based learning can be useful, especially at the level of basic knowledge. So it is not than memorising should be fully removed from education, but it should definitely not be the sole approach used.
- Naomi Fisher answered on 19 Nov 2020:
  
  I think the most meaningful learning starts with the learner themselves. When a person wants to learn and is interested, then learning is a fascinating process – whereas when someone is being forced to learn, it is slow and cumbersome. I find Deci and Ryan’s Self Determination Theory useful here for thinking about motivation. Essentially it says that motivation which comes from within is always going to be more effective than motivation which is created from outside (by rewards and punishments, for example).
  
  I therefore think that a person’s choices and interests are more important that whether they memorise facts or not. If a person is really interested in history, for example, and chooses to memorise lots of facts around that, then that can be interesting and engaging. If they are bored by history and forced to memorise facts, then it will be tedious and they are unlikely to remember it after the exam.
  
  For me, we should be putting intrinsic motivation and choices at the heart of education, because the psychology shows that this is the most effective way to learn and also that it has a beneficial effect on mental health. There are psychologists writing about this – Peter Gray is an American psychologist who writes about self-directed education, whilst Alan Thomas is a British psychologist who writes about informal learning. They both suggest that effective education can take place in a very different model than traditional schools.