CONCEPT LEARNING:

BRUNER’S CONSTRUCTIVISM &

AUSUBEL’S THEORY OF SUBSUMPTION

Silvia Jo SabioEduc 22 Report

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Part. I Jerome S. Bruner’s

Constructivism[also known for]

Discovery LearningRepresentational Learning

Concept LearningInductive Method

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Bruner

A. Introduction: background & framework

B. Representational Learning

• Three Modes of Representation

• The sequence of representational stages

C. The Course of Cognitive Growth

* Learning by Discovery

* Culture & Cognitive Growth

D.Theory of instruction: Inductive MethodSJS

Bruner: going beyond the information given

✤ the outcome of cognitive development => THINKING

✤ aim of education => make the learner “as autonomous & self-propelled a thinker” as possible

✤ to understand:

➡ what it means to know &➡ how one comes to know

✤ 2 Major Themes in his work:

➡ sequence of representational systems children acquire to understand the world; &

➡ role of culture in cognitive growth SJS

Bruner’s FRAMEWORK

✓ PREMISE: learners must acquire ways of representing recurrent regularities in environment

✓ PROCESS: interaction between: (a) evolving basic human capabilities, & (b) culturally invented technologies that amplify these capabilities

✓ Cognitive growth has 2 aspects:

• from the inside out [REPRESENTATIONAL LEARNING]

• from the outside in [ROLE OF CULTURE IN COGNITIVE GROWTH]

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3 Modes of Representing

Understanding

Interactional Theories of Cognitive Development

Jerome S. Bruner Lev S. Vygostky

Vygotsky’s Developmental

Method

Discovery Learning & Inquiry Teaching

Cognitive Growth

Social Origins of Thinking

•Mediation through signs•emphasized culture•based in human activity

•ENACTIVE•ICONIC•SYMBOLIC

Culture

leads to

influences

•Internalization•ZPD•Intersubjectivity

Implications:1. Learning pulls development.2. Instruction should be scaffolded in the ZPD.3. Intersubjective interaction is important

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3 Modes of Representation

1. ENACTIVE: action-based.

mode of representing past events through appropriate motoe responses, e.g. bringing you to place vs. giving directions; air-piano playing

2. ICONIC: image-based.

summarizing events by the selective organization of precepts & of images, by the spatial, temporal & qualitative structures of perceptual field & their transformed images, e.g., making a map; imagining red-hot flames & black smoke for fire

3. SYMBOLIC: language-based; the ultimate mode

result of acquiring a symbol system which represents things by design features that include remoteness & arbitrariness, e.g., language, numeric codes

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3 Modes of Representation

Mode DefinitionImplication for

Instruction

Enactive

Iconic

Symbolic

represents understanding through motor response

use manipulables & tactile instructional strategies with young children to teach concepts with which learners have no

prior experience

using images to represent understanding

accompany instruction with diagrams & other strategies that appeal to the

imagination

Using symbol systems such as language, musical notation, &

mathematical notation to represent understanding

Use familiar symbol systems when teaching new concepts in a subject where the learner already has prior experience

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3 Modes of Representation

✓ NOT A DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE THEORY (aka Piaget): the stages are not delineated, the modes are integrated and only loosely sequential as they "translate" into each other. Influences from environment amplify internal capabilities of learners

➡ REDEFINES READINESS FOR LEARNING: it is a question of translation, as a learner (even of a very young age) is capable of learning any material so long as the instruction is organized appropriately (vs. Piaget); it is not a question of prior knowledge (vs. Ausubel)

➡ ADULTS ALSO MAY GO THROUGH SEQUENCE: when faced with new material, it is efficacious to follow a progression from enactive to iconic to symbolic representation; this holds true even for adult learners.

✓ SEQUENCE & INSTRUCTION: The optimum sequence of instruction is the 3 modes, as any domain of knowledge can be represented in the modes..

➡ Optimal instruction requires knowing the learner’s prior knowledge

➡ Optimal instruction also depends on desired speed of learning: flexibility in mode to fit what is required (time & SKA constraints)

➡ suggests a system of coding to form a hierarchical arrangement of related categories, where each successively higher level of categories becomes more specific (similar to Bloom’s) & the related idea of instructional scaffolding. In accordance with this understanding of learning, Bruner proposed the spiral curriculum, a teaching approach in which each subject or skill area is revisited at intervals, at a more sophisticated level each time SJS

Role of Culture in Cognitive Growth

✓ emphasis in interaction: enables learner to develop the capacity to move through the modes

➡ between genetic predisposition & experience➡ interpersonal interaction (learning is a social enterprise)➡ learner & cultural

✓ Learning by Discovery

➡ DISCOVERY: all forms of obtaining knowledge for oneself by the use of one’s own mind.

➡ process is important to intellectual development➡ not a random event; information gathering must have connectivity & organization,

or else deficiency in problem-solving skills

✓ Prerequisites

➡ sufficient prior knowledge➡ guided practice in inquiry: need models (concept attainment model) & teachers

must model the conduct of inquiry (not random)➡ reflection: must know what they did, if successful or not➡ contrast: leads to cognitive conflicts, which then leads to discovery SJS

Role of Culture in Cognitive Growth

✓ intelligence is to a great extent the internalization of “tools” provided by a given culture

➡ cultural environment determines use/application of a concept

➡ schooling is an instrument of culture

✓ cognitive growth is growing from within and without: theories of instruction must consider the natures of:

➡ knowledge➡ knower➡ knowledge-getting process

determines the mode of representation to be used

determines the instructional strategies

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Part. IIDavid P. Ausubel’s

Theory of Subsumption[also known for]

Meaningful [Verbal] LearningConcept Learning

Theory of AssimilationAdvance OrganizersDeductive Method

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MEANINGFUL LEARNING &

SCHEMA THEORY

Meaningful Reception Learning

Schema Theory

Cognitive Organization

Processes of Meaningful Learning

Schema-based Processes

The Nature of Schema

• Hierarchical cognitive structure• Individual anchoring ideas

• Derivative subsumption• Correlative subsumption• Superordinate learning• Combinatorial learning• Assimilation• Retention

• Packets of knowledge similar to theories & procedures

• Mental modes that guide & govern performance

• Accretion (add to an existing schema)

• Tuning (modify an existing schema)

• Restructuring (develop a new schema by analogy)

Instructional Implications:1. Activate prior knowledge using advance organizers & schema signals.2. Make instructional materials meaningful with comparative organizers & elaboration.3. Provide new contexts & examples to apply to prior knowledge.

By: David P. Ausubel

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Ausubel’s Meaningful Reception Learning

Cognitive Organization Processes of Meaningful Learning

• Hierarchical cognitive structure

• Individual anchoring ideas

• Derivative subsumption

• Correlative subsumption

• Superordinate learning

• Combinatorial learning

• Assimilation

• Retention

THEORY OF ASSIMILATION: LEARNING & RETENTION SJS

Ausubel’s • Developed parallel with, and essentially unaffected by the

CIP THEORY.

• Initially, Ausubel viewed MRL as fundamentally different from thrust of SCHEMA THEORY.

➡ But schema theory developed as similar to MRL.

➡R. Mayer proposed synthesis of verbal learning research that included SCHEMA THEORY & Ausubel’s Meaningful Learning Theory.

• NOW: Ausubel’s theory not as popular as SCHEMA THEORY in learning research & theory, but some aspects of Ausubel’s theory is standard part of educational practice.

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Ausubel’s • Developed parallel with, and essentially unaffected by the

CIP THEORY.

• Initially, Ausubel viewed MRL as fundamentally different from thrust of SCHEMA THEORY.

➡ But schema theory developed as similar to MRL.

➡R. Mayer proposed synthesis of verbal learning research that included SCHEMA THEORY & Ausubel’s Meaningful Learning Theory.

• NOW: Ausubel’s theory not as popular as SCHEMA THEORY in learning research & theory, but some aspects of Ausubel’s theory is standard part of educational practice.

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Ausubel’s • MEANING is at the very core of cognitive

experience.

✓occurs when learners actively interpret experiences using certain internal cognitive operations.

✓interaction between cognitive operations & experience ===> THEORY OF MEANINGFUL RECEPTION LEARNING

✓made 2 distinctions: kinds of learning & rote vs. meaningful learning

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Meaningful Reception Learning

★ 1st distinction: there are 2 types of learning in classroom:

1. RECEPTION LEARNING:

‣ what is to be learned is presented to the learner in its final form.

‣ learner must internalize information in a form that will be available for later use

‣ akin to expository instruction

Ausubel: this is most common type of learning in classrooms.

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Meaningful Reception Learning

★1st distinction: there are 2 types of learning in classroom:

2. DISCOVERY LEARNING:

‣ The learner must:

a) rearrange information,

b) integrate it with existing cognitive structure,

c) reorganize/transform the integrated combination to create desired end product or discover a missing means-end relationship;

d) internalize discovered content.SJS

Meaningful Reception Learning

★ 2nd distinction: Rote vs. Meaningful Learning

A. ROTE LEARNING:

‣ verbatim memorization

‣ no real connection between what was already known & what was memorized

B. MEANINGFUL LEARNING:

‣ process of relating potentially meaningful information to what the learner knows in a non-arbitrary & substantive way

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Meaningful Reception Learning

1. Reception Learning

2. Discovery Learning

a. Rote Learning

b. Meaningful Learning

Kinds of Classroom Learning

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3 Essential Conditions to Meaningful Learning

1. The Learner must use meaningful learning set to any learning task.➡ not just memorize

2. Material must be potentially meaningful.➡ learning tasks & materials should be organized, readable & relevant.

3. What learners already know & how that knowledge relates to what they are asked to learn.

➡ existing cognitive structure (organization, stability & clarity of knowledge)--the principal factor influencing the learning & retention of new material. ➡anchoring ideas --- provide entry points for new information to be connected.

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PREREQUISITES TO MEANINGFUL LEARNING

1. COGNITIVE STRUCTURE: ✓ the learner’s overall memorial structure or integrated body of

knowledge.✓ made up of sets of ideas that are hierarchically organized, and

by theme.➡ within a hierarchy, the most inclusive ideas are the

strongest & most stable. ✓ similar to model of memory, except for hierarchy.

2. ANCHORING IDEAS: ✓ describes how specific linkages occur within the structure✓ specific, relevant ideas in the cognitive structure that provide

the entry points for new information to be connected.➡ enables the learner to construct meaning from new

information & experiences that are only potentially SJS

COOKING

includes different types involves preparation

stove oven

frying

sauteing baking

roasting

determining recipe

assembling ingredients

mixing

stir beat whip

egg beater

whip whisk

Ideas high in the hierarchy

Ideas low in the hierarchy

general stable

specific unstable

HIERARCHY OF KNOWLEDGE AS APPLIED TO COOKING

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PROCESSES OF MEANINGFUL LEARNING

New information can be:

1. Subordinate to - lower in the structure; - under more general & inclusive anchoring ideas already in memory

2. Superordinate to - higher in the structure

3. Coordinate with -same level in the structure

How is new information added to an existing structure?

SUBSUMPTION1. Derivative2. Correlative

SUPERORDINATE

COMBINATORIALSJS

AUSUBEL’S ASSIMILATION THEORY

1. SUBSUMPTION1A. DERIVATIVE

1B. CORRELATIVE

a3. Labrador

A. DOG

a2. Bulldog a4.Dalmatiana1. Poodle

-> new examples of learned concepts

-> elaboration, extension or modification of learned concepts [A becomes A1]

Judiciary

Government

Congress local governmentPresident

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AUSUBEL’S ASSIMILATION THEORY

2. SUPERORDINATE

Do all assignments ahead of time

Educ22 Report has to be made

Educ27 video has to be edited

Educ29 Mother of all PEs

-> synthesis of established ideas, i.e. learning a new concept under which established ideas can be subsumed.

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AUSUBEL’S ASSIMILATION THEORY

3. Combinatorial

Flow of heat through metalConduct of electricity through

metal

-> new ideas are neither more inclusive nor subordinate to anchoring ideas, i.e. not relatable in a specific sense to an existing anchor, but

relevant to a broad background of information.

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Ausubel’s Assimilation Theory

THE MEANINGFUL LEARNING PROCESSES

SUBSUMPTION (derivative, correlative)

SUPERORDINATECOMBINATORIAL

Revised:process of learning &

Original:process of retention

result of the interaction that takes place between (a) new

material to be learned, and (b) the existing cognitive

structureSJS

RETENTION OF MEANINGFUL LEARNING

✓ RETENTION: maintain availability of acquired information, for access at a later time.

✓ immediately after meaningful learning, new information is easily accessible➡ stability due to anchorage to relevant concepts in cognitive

structure.✓ over time, subsumed ideas less distinct from anchor. When no

longer retrievable as separate from anchor, deemed forgotten.✓ forgetting more serious for correlative, superordinate &

combinatorial vs. derivative learning.✓ difference between forgetting after rote vs. meaningful learning

==> net gain in cognitive structure in latter.

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READINESS FOR LEARNING

✓ the learner’s developmental level of cognitive functioning. ✓ determines the extent to which learners are capable of learning

at various levels of abstraction within a subject matter➡ “the most important single factor influencing learning

is what the learner already knows. Ascertain this and teach him accordingly.”

✓ depends on a) substantive content in cognitive structure; b) cognitive organization of the learner; [also]c) age differences among learnersd) cultural disadvantage

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ADVANCE ORGANIZERS

★concept developed & systematically studied by Ausubel ★Definitions:

• "statement of inclusive concepts to introduce and sum up material that follows" (Woolfolk, 2001).

• Cognitive instructional strategy used to promote the learning and retention of new information (Ausubel, 1960).

• method of bridging and linking old information with something new

• information that is presented prior to learning and that can be used by the learner to organize and interpret new incoming information (Mayer, 2003).

★works best when there is no prior knowledge-- serves as prior knowledge before learning new material

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ADVANCE ORGANIZERS

★ highly useful in process of transferring knowledge: allows organization of new material to familiar structure, e.g., creative problem solving or transfer of knowledge to new situations

★ TYPES:

• EXPOSITORY- describe the new content; serves to make appropriate prerequisite knowledge available to the learner by providing new information

• COMPARATIVE: serve to build external connections with existing knowledge that is relevant to the new information by reminding the learner about prior knowledge are called comparative organizers (Mayer, 2003, 128)

• NARRATIVE- presents the new information in the form of a story to students.

• SKIMMING - used to look over the new material and gain a basic overview.

• GRAPHIC ORGANIZER- visuals to set up or outline the new information.

• CONCEPT MAPPINGSJS