The+Process+of+Education+Chapter+2


 * The Process of Education by Jerome Bruner

__Chapter 2__: The Importance of Structure

Summary:** The main focus of this chapter is the concept of developing structure in the curricula of schools, both elementary and secondary. Bruner discusses the importance of teaching the basic ideas and concepts (the structure) of each subject, but in an exciting and interesting way. Once the main ideas are understood, the student is able to revisit these ideas with more advanced questions and discoveries. It is essential that the student be able to apply the idea or concept in future experiences in order to expand their understanding, which is only possible if the basic concept(s) and "underlying principles" are fully understood. Understanding the "underlying principles" of a subject and knowing that the information will be useful in the future will capture their attention and encourage curiosity, as well as preserve it in their long term memory. Without understanding the structure of a subject, it is difficult to remember. Students will have a desire to learn, be excited to explore ideas and concepts, and come to their own conclusions; thus creating a connection between the basic concept and its applicability. Bruner believes that without structure, learned information is easily forgotten; no personal connection has been made. Bruner discusses the "method of discovery", as opposed to the "method of assertion and proof" in which the teacher simply states the idea and/or the method and the students are asked to carry it out, perhaps without a complete understanding of why. In the "method of discovery" students have an understanding of the structure and then can apply what they know or what has just been taught to figure things out and come to their own conclusions. Bruner believes that a curricula of this stature must be developed by experts and scholars of the particular field as well as great teachers, those in the field of child development, and even students. All of these people working together can create an effectively structured curricula. They have a deep understanding of what should be included and how it should be incorporated. They will incorporate methods which will ensure that students see and understand the 'big picture' of a subject and its "underlying principles", apply known and new information, and come to conclusions on their own. It can be thought of as 'filling in the blanks'.

p.17 "Learning should not only take us somewhere; it should allow us later to go further more easily." p.17 "The first object of any act of learning, over and beyond the pleasure it may give, is that it should serve us in the future. Learning should not only take us somewhere; it should allow us later to go further more easily." p.17 "Learning in school undoubtedly creates skills of a kind that transfers to activities encountered later, either in school or after." p. 18 "...in order for a person to be able to recognize the applicability or inapplicability of an idea to a new situation and to broaden his learning thereby, he must have clearly in mind the general nature of the phenomenon with which he is dealing. The more fundamental or basic is the idea he has learned, almost by definition, the greater will be its breadth of applicability to new problems." p.19 "Only by the use of our best minds in devising curricula will we bring the fruits of scholarship and wisdom to the student just beginning his studies." p. 20 "Mastery of fundamental ideas of a field involves not only the grasping of general principles, but also the development of an attitude toward learning and inquiry, toward guessing and hunches, toward the possibility of solving problems on one's own. p.22 "How do we tailor fundamental knowledge to the interests and capacities of children?...It requires a combination of deep understanding and patient honesty to present physical or any other phenomena in a way that is simultaneously exciting, correct, and rewardingly comprehensible." p. 23 "The first is that understanding fundamentals makes a subject more comprehensible." p.24 "Perhaps the most basic thing that can be said about the human memory, after a century of intensive research, is that unless detail is placed into a structured pattern, it is rapidly forgotten." p.26 "...the difficultly now found in the progression from primary school through high school to college is that material learned earlier is either out of date or misleading by virtue of its lagging too far behind developments in a field." p.29 "One hears often the distinction between "doing" and understanding". It is a distinction applied to the case of a student who presumably understands a mathematical idea but does not know how to use it in its computation." p. 30 "Indeed, it is the underlying premise of laboratory exercises that doing something helps one understand it. There is a certain wisdom in the quip made by a psychologist at Woods Hole: 'How do I know what I think until I feel what I do?'" p.31 " ...the main theme of this chapter has been that the curriculum of a subject should be determined by the most fundamental understanding that can be achieved of the underlying principles that give structure to that subject." p.31 "Teaching specific topics or skills without making clear their context in the broader fundamental structure of a field of knowledge is uneconomical in several deep senses. p.31 " The best way to create interest in a subject is to render it worth knowing, which means to make the knowledge gained usable in one's thinking beyond the situation in which the learning has occurred." p.32 "Designing curricula in a way that reflects the basic structure of a field of knowledge requires the most fundamental understanding of that field."
 * Key Passages:**


 * Key Terminology:**

__Structure__ - basic ideas or principles of a discipline that we can revisit in more powerful ways to reach a deeper understanding. Structure is the way in which ideas are related to one another and to have in mind that the general nature of the phenomenon in which you are dealing with. The "big picture" of a subject.

__Regenerative Property-__ The idea that a person will remember a formula or picture which will help them to remember vivid details, rather than having to remember an entire event. The person does this through the techniques of condensation and representation allowing a person to not lose all memory of an event.

__Principles and Attitudes__- consists of learning initially not a skill but a general idea, which can be used as a basis for recognizing subsequent problems as special cases of the idea originally mastered

__Method of Discovery__- The idea that a person should be able to mastery fundamental ideas, but also be able to "develop an attitude toward learning and inquiry, toward guessing and hunches, toward the possibility of solving problems on one's own."

__Method of Assertion and Proof__- the generalization is first stated by the teacher and the class is asked to proceed through the proof.

__Transfer of Training__- through it specific applicability to tasks that are highly similar to those we originally learned to perform.

__Transfer of Principles__- In order for a person to be able to recognize the applicability or inapplicability of an idea to a new situation and to broaden his learning, he must have clearly in mind the general nature of this phenomenon with which he is dealing.


 * __Discussion Guiding Questions__**:

1) What are two ways in which learning serves the future? 2) What are the key aspects of mastering the fundamental ideas of a field? 3) What are four general claims that can be made for teaching general principles and general attitudes? 4) What are some of the chief arguments that oppose the idea of teaching general principles and general attitudes? 5) How can the fundamental understanding of a subject be determined and what is the best way to create interest in a subject? 6) What is the best approach to take when designing a curricula in a way that reflects the basic structure of a field of knowledge?