Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

Jerome Bruner 61
Eskimos seal hunting. Eventually, the controversy over the MACOS curriculum found its way
to the United States Congress. Beginning in the 1970s, the National Science Foundation had to
submit to the Congress for reviewing all project curriculums under budgetary consideration. As
a result, MACOS lost funding and began to be removed from the many schools that adopted the
curriculum. In the 1970s, Bruner’s theories began to receive criticism from across the political
spectrum. Left, right, and radical writers in the field of educational psychology attacked the
writings about cognition by Bruner. Shortly after the failure of the MACOS project, Bruner left
the United States and began his tenure at Oxford University.
Bruner continued to develop his theories about learning in many books and novels. In his
later writings, Bruner became very critical of anti-intellectualism found in public opinion. One
of Bruner’s concerns in education had been how to bridge the gap between the “high brows” and
“low brows” by developing a higher level of culture for all groups (Weltman, p. 259). Bruner
wanted children to think like a scientist and thereby causing the child to appreciate the field
of science. Bruner’s work helped psychologists to see the child as a social being and not as a
being who developed in isolation. Bruner’s original theory of the child as an active scientist has
changed over the years with his growth as a scholar. His concerns and writings have been focused
more on the social activism and cultural studies. In his writings today, Bruner can be viewed as
a poststructuralist. He has moved away from the formalism in his earlier writings and now tends
to analyze statements and writings as forms of narrative text. Bruner continues to write about the
link between psychology and education. His latest concern is with cultural psychology and its
impact on education.
REFERENCES
Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bruner, J. (1983). In Search of Mind: Essays in Autobiography. New York: Harper & Row.
Hevern, V. W. (2004, April). Key Theorists: Jerome S Bruner. Narrative Psychology: Internet and Resource
Guide. Retrieved on December 10, 2005, from the Le Moyne College Web Site: http://web.lemoyne.
edu/∼hevern/nr-theorists/bruner jerome s.html.
Smith, M. K. (2002). Jerome S. Bruner and the Process of Education. The Encyclopedia of Informal
Education. Retrieved on December 10, 2005, from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bruner.htm. Last
updated: January 28, 2005.
Weltman, B. D. (1995). Debating Dewey: The Social Ideas of American Educators Since World War II an
Examination of Arthur Bestor, Jerome Bruner, Paul Goodman, John Goodlad, and Mortimer Adler
(Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, 1995). Dissertations Abstract
International, 56/09, 3479.