Acts of Meaning: Four Lectures on Mind and Culture

by Bruner

What we don't know about learning could fill a book--and it might be a schoolbook. In a masterly commentary on the possibilities of education, the eminent psychologist Jerome Bruner reveals how education can usher children into their culture, though it often fails to do so. Applying the newly emerging "cultural psychology" to education, Bruner proposes that the mind reaches its full potential only through participation in the culture--not just its more formal arts and sciences, but its ways of perceiving, thinking, feeling, and carrying out discourse. By examining both educational practice and educational theory, Bruner explores new and rich ways of approaching many of the classical problems that perplex educators.

Education, Bruner reminds us, cannot be reduced to mere information processing, sorting knowledge into categories. Its objective is to help learners construct meanings, not simply to manage information. Meaning making requires an understanding of the ways of one's culture--whether the subject in question is social studies, literature, or science. The Culture of Education makes a forceful case for the importance of narrative as an instrument of meaning making. An embodiment of culture, narrative permits us to understand the present, the past, and the humanly possible in a uniquely human way.

Going well beyond his earlier acclaimed books on education, Bruner looks past the issue of achieving individual competence to the question of how education equips individuals to participate in the culture on which life and livelihood depend. Educators, psychologists, and students of mind and culture will find in this volume an unsettling criticism that challenges our current conventional practices--as well as a wise vision that charts a direction for the future.

Genres: Education, Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Social Science

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why anyone would pick this book up unless they are researching Social Reconstruction Ideology or the psychology of qualitative/narrative versus quantitative research. Bruner spends a lot of time defending the importance of culture when interpretting and conveying meaning. Although he tries to conceptualize his stance in a way that the "everyman" can understand, there were several passages that were simply over my head. All in all, however, his argument in a nut shell is that culture plays an integral role in our knowledge, intelligence, perception, and reactions. He says that we cannot have scientific "absolutes" without taking all of the factors into consideration. In fact, he puts the two mindsets into separate categories of computationalism and culturalism.

Computationalism:
1. orderly
2. linear, sequencial
3.objective
4. unbias
5. concrete knowledge (pi=3.14, or whatever)

Culturalism
1. relies on meaning making
2. fluid/evolving
3. subjective
4. man-man
5. social
6. ambiguity
7. bia

Bruner explains that culurualism is messy, which is why computationaists resist its importance; however, he explains throughout the text its importance to provide a holistic view of a topic.

[خالد عبد الرحمن العوض · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on education written in a beautiful language Bruner is well-known for.

[Vance J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruner warns early that this is not an education-education book, but there is good stuff here. His thesis: education has a distinct cultural basis, and we can’t ignore the prevailing culture when educating.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows a collection of essays were written by academics. I find it a nice in which teachers remember their steps in establishing their career.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book represents the worst kind of academic reading, by the end of it Bruner makes several strong points.

[Stephen Bigger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old study by an outstanding scholar - but not his best work.

[Amanda Harrison]

Read most of it, not going to finish