Bruner.docx

Bruner.docx

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Bruner

标题:

Bruner'sthreeformsofrepresentationrevisited:

Action,...作者:

Presno,Caroline,JournalofInstructionalPsychology,00941956,June97,册24,发行2

数据库:

EducationResearchComplete

ThisarticlecentersaroundJeromeS.Bruner'stheoryofthethreeformsofrepresentationwhich,itisargued,canbesuccessfullyappliedforeffectivecomputerlearningandinstruction.Thethreecategoriesofrepresentationinclude:

action（enactmentsanddemonstrations）,icons（summarizingpictures）andsymbols（wordsandnumbers）.InordertoshowtherelevanceofBruner'sideastoday,thearticleexamineshowstudiesregardingPaivio'sdual-codingtheoryandstudiesfocusingonproceduralknowledgesupporthistheory.Inthelastsectionofthearticle,itissuggestedthatusingactionanddemonstrations;picturesanddiagrams;andverbalinstructionisthemostcomprehensiveandeffectivewaytoteachstudent'showtousethecomputer.Specificexamplesforinstructionareprovided.

TheBigPicture:

AnIntroduction

Inhisclassicworkfrom1966,TowardaTheoryofInstruction,JeromeBrunerwasinterestedinpictures--notsimplystillphotographs,butpicturesthatincludemotion,imagesandlanguage.Morespecifically,hewasinterestedindescribingthepicturesorrepresentationsthatindividualsusetomakesenseoftheworldaroundthemandtheplaceoftheserepresentationsinaneffectivetheoryofinstruction.Toliveintheworld,peoplemustsomehowconstructafacsimileoftheiractualexperiencesanditisthejobofteacherstoaidthestudentininterpretingandsketchingapictureoftheserealexperiences.Inthebook,BrunerhimselfexpressesthedebtthatthefieldofcognitivedevelopmentowestoJeanPiagetandonecancertainlyseePiaget'sinfluencesinhiswork,particularlyinhisnotionofthestagesofrepresentation.Goingfartherback,onemightalsomaketheargument,thatBrunerwasinfluencedbytheGermanphilosopherErnstCassirerwhointurnwasinfluencedbyanotherGermanphilosopherImmanuelKant.InThePhilosophyofSymbolicForms,Cassirer（1953）discussedthetranslationofrealityintosymbolsandthepowerthatsymbolshavetoaffectperceptionsofreality.ItisthistranslationandthewayBruner'sformsofrepresentationcanbeappliedtothespecificareaofcomputerlearningthatwillbeemphasizedinthisarticle.Itwillbearguedthatthreeformsofrepresentationshouldbeusedincomputerinstructioninorderforthelearnertobesuccessful.But,first,somediscussiononBruner'sideas...

ThreeIsNotaCrowd

AccordingtoBruner（1966）,therearethreewaysinwhichindividualsrepresenttherealworldaroundthem.Throughaction,iconsandsymbols,peopleconvertrealityintotheirownuniqueportrayalofreality.Theenactiveform,whichhedescribedasbasedonstimulus-responsetheory,isthestateofdoing.Henotedthatthisisadifficultformtoteachbecauseoftenthereseemstobenoadequateimageryorwordsthatclearlyrepresenttheaction.Doingskiingordoingswimmingalmostsimplyhastobedemonstratedandthendonebytheindividualsthemselvesratherthantalkedaboutsinceinmanycases,the"sentence[makes]nocontactwiththeirmuscles"（Bruner,1966,p.10）.Theiconicformofrepresentation,whichhestatedisbasedonGestalttheory,isasummaryimageoramentalpictureofapathorpattern.Thissummaryimageisactuallyasynopsisoftheenactmentafteritiscompleted.Finally,Bruner'sthirdformisthesymbolicdomainthatconsistsoflanguage,includingbothnumbersandwords.Thisisanabstractformsincethewordisadisconnectionfromtherealityitrepresents.Inessence,wordsarecapriciouslyassignedtomeanings.Itisusingthisabstractformthatindividualscanmakedeclarativepropositionsandhypotheticalpropositions.Brunersaweachofthesethreeformsofrepresentationascognitivedevelopmentalstagesinchildren;however,healsosawthemasthreewaysoflearningconnectedtooneanother.Hestated:

Itbeginswithinstrumentalactivity,akindofdefinitionofthingsbydoingthem.Suchoperationsbecomerepresentedandsummarizedintheformofparticularimages.Finally,andwiththehelpofasymbolicnotationthatremainsinvariantacrosstransformationsinimagery,thelearnercomestograsptheformalorabstractpropertiesofthethingsheisdealingwith（p.68）.

So,threeseemstobethemagicnumberforthewayeachpersonrepresentstheirworld.

Becausethethreestagesoccursequentiallyindevelopment,Bruner（1966）believedthatthemostlikelyandlogicalwaytoteachtothesemodeswasusingthesameorder;however,healsorecognizedthatitmightnotalwaysbepracticalorpossibletodoso.Forinstance,alearnerwhohasawell-developedsymbolicsystemmaybeabletosidestepenactmentandicons,thefirsttwoforms.Hedidmakeapointofcautioningteachersaboutthissincethroughresearchregardingmathproblems,hefoundthatthelearneroftenfallsbackonanimagestructurethatwascreated,evenaftertheabstractformisgrasped.Still,heremainedflexibleontheideaofsequencingenactment,iconsandsymbols,takingintoaccountthenatureofthesubject,studentdevelopment,pastexperienceandotherindividualdifferencesthatmightcauseastudentpreferonemodetoanother.

Theformsofrepresentationareeffectivewhentheyholdbothpowerandeconomyforthelearner.ForBruner（1966）,theeconomyofrepresentationmakespossiblealaconicimageofrealitywhilestillmaintainingaccuracy,whereasthepowerofrepresentationisthedegreetowhichthatimagerepresentsrealityaccurately.Hefeltthatthenotionsofpowerandeconomyareactuallyinseparablesincegenerally,themostpowerfulrepresentationisalsothemosteconomical.Thesetwonotionsarecentraltohistheoryofinstructioninthatitistheteacher'sjobtohelpthelearnerfindthemosteconomicalandpowerfulwaystorepresenttheirworldandinturnbecomeindependentproblemsolvers.Heforesawtheroleofeducatorsexpandingwithregardtofindingthemostefficientandpotentwaysofrepresentation'sinceitisarequirementofarapidlyexpandingtechnologicalworld.Inordertocopeinanewerawhereindividualsmustcontinuouslydealwithanarrayofchangingtechnologies,JeromeBrunerarguedthatatheoryofdevelopmentmustbeconnectedtoatheoryofknowledgeandtoaneffectivetheoryofinstructionwhichforhimisbasedonthethreeformsofrepresentation.

AndTheContemporaryVerdictIs?

Ithasbeensaidthatapictureisworthathousandwords.Well,amajorityofcognitivepsychologistswouldprobablyagreewiththisclassicadage.MuchoftheresearchdoneintheareaofimagesrelatestoPaivio'sdual-codingtheorywhichemphasizestwoseparatesystemsthatcanworkindependentlyortogetherforverbalandimaginalprocessing（Chaplin,199?

）.Supportedbyresearch,dual-codingsuggeststhatpicturesareeasiertorememberthanwordsandthatinformationcodedinbothsystemsiseasiertorememberthaninformationcodedonlyintheverbalsystem.Forinstance,itwasfoundthattextdevoidofpictureswasmoredifficulttounderstandandrecallthanthesametextpresentedafterthepresentationofanorganizingimage（Burtonetal.,1995）.Inanotherstudy,Staderetal.（1990）learnedthatfifthandsixthgradechildrenwhowereprovidedwithamapconsistingofboundaries,iconsandwordlabelsoutperformedonrecallteststhosewhoweregivenmapsofboundariesalone;mapswithboundariesandicons;andmapswithboundariesandlabels.Itisinterestingthattheauthorssummarizedtheirfindingsbystatingthatthesuccessfulchildrenachievedan"economyofrepresentation"whichwerethesamewordsBrunerusedin1966.Ofcourse,itisobviousthaticonicrepresentationcannotreplacethesymbolic;however,ithasbeensufficientlyshownincurrentresearchthatusedtogetherwordsandimagesareapowerfulteam.

Therearetimeswhenwordsandimagesfailandallthatcanbedoneistojustdoit!

Onewaytoclassifydoingoractionisinthecategoryofproceduralknowledge.Proceduralknowledge（asopposedtodeclarativewhichisknowingaboutsomething）isknowing"howtodooruseorapplyaphysicaland/orintellectualprocess,method,orskill"（Smilkstein,1993,p.17）.Smilksteinarguesthatdeclarativeandproceduralknowledgearenottransferable,meaningthatonecannotnecessarilylearnaboutsomethinginalectureandapplyittoanactivity.Instead,itisnecessarytolearnabouttheactivityandsubsequentlygothroughtheprocessofdoingtheactivity.Ahottopicontheinternettodayistheideathattoooftenschoolstreatlearningasifitcanbedisconnectedfromdoing.SchankandCleary（1996）whoareproponentsofgainingexperienceby"tryingthingsout"advocatelearningbydoingandsimulation-basedlearningbydoingthroughsimulationsthatareaccuraterepresentationsoftheaction.Onceagain,itisbacktoBruner（1966）whosawaninherentproblemineducationalinstitutionsandapitfallofthesymbolicformofrepresentationbecause,"teachingbytelling[is]outofthecontextofaction"（p.153）.Itisclearthatdoingwithoutconceptualortheoreticalknowledgeaboutwhatoneisdoingishollow,butbythesametokenisitnottruethat"knowledgeabout"somethingisvacuouswhendivorcedfrom"doingknowledge?

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HypertextandHyperlinks,TooComplexMeThinks...UnlesstheThreeFormsofRepresentationAreUsedinInstruction

Uptothispoint,Bruner'sthoughtsonthethreeformsofrepresentationhavebeensummarizedandithasbeenshownthathisclassicworkfrom1966stillhasgreatrelevancetoday.Now,itistimetolookattheapplicationofhistheoryinthespecificandcontempora