It’s amazing to think that someone writing 50 years ago had such groundbreaking ideas.

I feel that
many of the ideas Bruner introduces in “Man: A Course of Study” (1965) are, only in the last couple
of decades, starting to take hold, in some schools/systems, as common practice. I think that his
ideas are quite prevalent and most are not outdated. I think that, particularly now given the current
situation with health concerns and the jump to far more use of computer technology, education is
making some changes that Bruner may not have foreseen and show a few of his ideas to need
modification, but conceptually, the way he looks at learning in general and unit planning are worth
serious consideration.

More than anything, I’m impressed with Bruner’s concept of “The Spiral Curriculum” (Clark, 2010).
I’m not sure if this is because I tend to teach subjects such as English Language and Literature, but I
feel that the spiral concept lends itself well to the nature of the way language arts teachers work. I do
wonder more about how it works with EAL teaching, for example.

I like the way Bruner looks at structuring a unit makes a lot of sense. For example, his first
constituent element is “talks to teachers” (Bruner, 1965 p.24). I like that the MYP and PYP
programmes aim to meet this constituent element, but even do it one better and aim that it also, or
mainly, ‘talks’ to students. I think that much of the inquiry element of unit planning has this in mind,
particularly the first 4 elements,
“Inquiry: Establishing the purpose of the unit:
• Key and related concepts
• Global contexts
• Statement of inquiry
• Inquiry questions” (Iboorganization, 2014).

Moreover, Bruner states, in references to his second constituent element, “In trying out materials to
be taught, we have learned certain ways of getting ideas across or getting the students to think out
matters on their own...sometimes they are best stated as hints to teachers about questions to use
and contrasts to invoke” (Bruner, 1965 p.24). I believe that these are the roots of the MYP’s
“statement of inquiry” and “inquiry questions”. In fact, his sample questions about the human hand
and understanding how something can “stand for something else” (Bruner, 1965 p.24) could be
considered a good example of a place to start when teachers are developing a MYP unit on, for
example, ‘Man’.

It may seem that Bruner’s discussions about technicolor and film are outdated, but I argue that they
are, in fact, more important than ever, especially with so many of us currently teaching online. I find it
particularly interesting that he uses the word “devices” because this is the word we use so
specifically for our personal technical gadgets. “Laptops began appearing in classrooms in the mid-
1990s” (Truong, 2020). And now we are at a point that we must understand how to use this
technology better, along with the apps we apply to them, “apps that are most effective for learning
have four qualities: active thinking, engagement, meaningfulness and social interaction” (Truong,
2020). I think that if Bruner had foreseen apps and tablets he would agree that his ideas are more
relevant than ever in developing units of learning.

It’s no wonder that the IB names Bruner as one of its “Key Influential Educationalists”
(Iborganization, 2017). The IB claims that his key insight is “Learning by doing and self-discovery of
information makes students better problem solvers” (Iborganization, 2017). To me, this describes,
especially, the MYP and PYP, which I believe to be one of the more relevant and innovative
programmes currently in education. Thus, I see Bruner’s ideas as relevant as ever.

References:
Bruner, J. (1965). Man a Course of Study. Man: A Course of Study. Occasional Paper No. 3.
Retrieved 16 July, 2020 from
http://www.macosonline.org/research/Bruner_MACOS%20-Occasional%20Paper%203.pdf

Clark, S. (2010). Jerome Bruner: Teacher, Learning and the Spiral Curriculum. Community and
Thought in Education. Retrieved 16 July, 2020 from
https://sheldonclark.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/jerome-bruner-teaching-learning-and-the-spiral-
curriculum2.pdf

Iborganization. (2017). The History of the IB [PDF]. International Baccalaureate Organization.

Retrieved 16 July, 2020 from https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/digital-toolkit/presentations/1711-
presentation-history-of-the-ib-en.pdf

Iboorganization. (2014). MYP: From principles into practice. Retrieved July 16, 2020, from
https://www.spps.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=38342

Truong, D. (2020, February 01). More students are learning on laptops and tablets in class. Some
parents want to hit the off switch. Retrieved July 16, 2020, from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/more-students-are-learning-on-laptops-and-tablets-
in-class-some-parents-want-to-hit-the-off-switch/2020/02/01/d53134d0-db1e-11e9-a688-
303693fb4b0b_story.html