Dr. John Bransford
Shauna C. Larson Endowed Chair in Learning Sciences College of Education: UW
Ami Tomlin
http://education.washington.edu/areas/ep/profiles/faculty/bransford.html
Credited as one of many scholars that initiated the cognitive revolution, John D. Bransford received his PhD in cognitive psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1970. Throughout the past forty-two years, Bransford has accumulated numerous awards including the 1997 Sutherland Award for Research Excellence, 2001 Recipient of the Thorndike Award and participated as a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Currently serving as a professor at the University of Washington in the College of Education, Bransford also serves as the Shauna C. Larson Endowed Chair in Learning Sciences. His extensive honors serve as evidence of his position as an internationally renowned scholar in cognition and technology.
Prior to his work at the University of Washington, Bransford was Centennial Professor of Psychology and Education and Co-Director of the Learning Technology Center at Vanderbilt University where his influence on Sashank Varma and others was dually noted during our previous course discussion.
Notable Experiments
Early works by Bransford and his colleagues in the 1970s included research in the areas of human learning, memory and problem solving. This experimental research demonstrated the constructive nature of understanding and learning. In a classic study, Bransford, Barclay, and Franks (1972) asked people to read sentence pairs such as, “The turtle was sitting on the log,” and, “The fish swam under the log.” After the reading, participants completed a verification task in which they decided whether they had seen a given sentence verbatim. Partakers demonstrated systematic errors that indicated they had constructed a mental model of the situation. For example, they incorrectly verified they had read, “The turtle swam under the frog.” However, the sentences never explicated stated, “The turtle swam under the frog.” Prevailing theories of behaviorism could not explain why people fashioned this error as behaviorism could only refer to the stimulus and not what may or may not be occurring in the mind, according to Karpov and Bransford (1995).
Prior Knowledge
A central tenet of Bransford’s constructivism is that learning builds on prior knowledge. Preceding knowledge was not in the lexicon of the prevailing theory of behaviorism, which explained human behavior through reinforcement as opposed to knowledge. Bransford and Johnson (1972) demonstrated the significance of prior knowledge by showing participants passages that were largely unintelligible. For example, “The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step.” Bransford illustrated that a simple phrase that elicits the correct prior knowledge can lead to meaning from the unintelligible. In this example, the phrase would be revealed as washing clothing.
Early demonstrations presaged a career of high creativity and theoretical edge. Initially, journal editors were incredulous of Bransford’s findings. Hence, Bransford experienced difficulty in becoming published. However, as he demonstrated the effects on the editors themselves, they realized their blindness by theories and quickly bought into this cognitive revolution.
Curiosity and Collaboration
His career to term, which appears to be youthful, has spurred over 90 journal articles, 90 book chapters, six authored books and four edited volumes. His work has been translated into various languages, including French and Japanese. One explanation for Bransford’s high level of productivity and saturated reach lie in his combination of curiosity and collaborative abilities. Only four of his publications are sole-authored. His collaborative efforts enable him to expand his scholarship into publications that appear in psychology, reading, medicine, engineering, technology, business, science, math and special education outlets. Other fields as specific as animal neuroscience and economics have also cited Bransford.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV)
One of his most broadly collaborative periods involved the development of the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV). Bransford assembled a diverse collection of scholars who dedicated themselves to designing effective, technology-driven educational lessons and assessments in multiple content areas. Much of the work stemmed from his theory of transfer appropriate processing, which attempted to explain why people sometimes fail to apply their prior knowledge, according to Bransford (2007).
Of the many authentic creations of the CTGV (1997), one of the most notable is the “Adventures of Jasper Woodbury,” which aided students in engaging in sustained mathematical problem solving. This problem solving mimicked real-world scenarios in effort to foster learning beyond simple word problems.
Anchored Instruction
Bransford realized that students could not learn complex problem solving at school unless they had a strong body of prior knowledge to help anchor their reasoning. To solve this problem, Bransford composed anchored instruction. Each Jasper adventure was presented as a twenty-minute video narrative. In one adventure, for example, students had to devise a plan to rescue an eagle that had been injured. The video developed the context, constraints, quantities, and the goal of the problem. The anchor created the prior knowledge that enabled students to experience complex problem solving with mathematics, and students developed the type of knowledge likely to transfer to real-world, daily settings.
How People Learn Framework
Beyond anchored instruction, Bransford merged learning sciences, technology and teaching in other forms. A central component of his contribution to children lies in what Bransford, Brown and Cocking (2000) termed, “The How People Learn Framework” which suggests four lenses useful in any classroom situation. These are listed and discussed below.
1. Knowledge-Centered. The degree to which the nature of the knowledge taught is organized in a fashion that supports understanding and subsequent transfer. Bransford warns that memorization often masquerades as understanding in classrooms.
2. Learner-Centered. The extent to which teachers know preconceptions about subject matter that students possess regarding subject matter and themselves as learners is key. Thinking must be made visible, cultivated and honored.
3. Assessment-Centered. Frequent opportunities for students to test their own knowledge for understanding and subsequently providing them with opportunities to revise. According to Bransford (1995), feedback and revision is probably the single most important thing we can do to facilitate learning.
4. Community Environment. A high degree of community must be established wherein all involved feel free to express their lack of understanding. Students must also have the freedom to collaborate with one another rather than compete with one another in this environment. Structure of grading policies must be examined according to Bransford (1995).
Assessment
Number three on this list of lens refers to assessment. An agenda for research regarding the unsolved problem of assessment is certainly prominent for Bransford. According to Michael, Klee, Bransford and Warren (1993), what is desired are assessments that can accurately report the quality of learning, yet many assessments just measure the ability to memorize information. Some assessments measure transfer, but the theories of transfer that undergird assessments are quite restricted. In an interview with Bransford in 2009, he stated, “Assessments are really what I would call sequestered problem solving because students are only given information to solve the current problem, a much stronger way is to look at whether learners have enough information to apply what they learned in a new situation.” Transfer that facilitates future learning is the goal for assessment.
Clearly, Bransford is a prominent figure in the constructivist revolution and beyond. His work continues to infiltrate multiple domains and content areas. Further, continued collaboration with cohorts imply Bransford will continue to influence the cognitive realm for many years to follow.
References
Bransford, J. D. (2000). A tribute to Ann Brown. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(1), 5-6.
Bransford, J. D. (2007). Preparing people for rapidly changing environments. Journal of Engineering Education, 10(3), 1-3.
Bransford, J. D., Barclay, J. R., & Franks, J. J. (1972). Sentence memory: A constructive vs. interpretive approach. Cognitive Psychology, 3, 193-209.
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Bransford, J. D., & Johnson, M. K. (1972). Contextual prerequisites for understanding: Some investigations of comprehension and recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 717-726.
Bransford, J. D., Sherwood, R., Vye, N., & Rieser, J. (1986). Teaching thinking and problem solving. American Psychologist, 41(10), 1078-1089.
Bransford, J. D., & Vye, N. (2008). District reform and the learning sciences: Issues and opportunities. American Journal of Education, 114(3), 665-672.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt. (1997). The jasper project: Lessons in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development [Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt. (1997). The Jasper Project: Lessons in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.]. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Karpov, Y. V., & Bransford, J. D. (1995). L.S. Vygotsky and the doctrine of empirical and theoretical learning. Educational Psychologist, 30(2), 61-66.
Lin, X., Schwartz, D. L., & Bransford, J. D. (2007). Intercultural adaptive expertise: Explicit and implicit lessons from Dr. Hatano. Human Development, 50(2), 65-72.
Littlefield, J., Delclos, V. R., Bransford, J. D., Clayton, K. N., & Franks, J. J. (1989). Some prerequisites for teaching thinking: Methodological issues in the study of LOGO programming. Cognition and Instruction, 6(4), 331-366.
Michael, A., Klee, T., Bransford, J. D., & Warren, S. F. (1993). The transition from theory to therapy: Test of two instructional methods. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 7(1), 139-153.
Walker, J. M. T., Brophy, S. P., Hodge, L. L., & Bransford, J. D. (2006). Establishing experiences to develop a wisdom of professional practice. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 108, 49-58.
Shauna C. Larson Endowed Chair in Learning Sciences College of Education: UW
Ami Tomlin
http://education.washington.edu/areas/ep/profiles/faculty/bransford.html
Credited as one of many scholars that initiated the cognitive revolution, John D. Bransford received his PhD in cognitive psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1970. Throughout the past forty-two years, Bransford has accumulated numerous awards including the 1997 Sutherland Award for Research Excellence, 2001 Recipient of the Thorndike Award and participated as a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Currently serving as a professor at the University of Washington in the College of Education, Bransford also serves as the Shauna C. Larson Endowed Chair in Learning Sciences. His extensive honors serve as evidence of his position as an internationally renowned scholar in cognition and technology.
Prior to his work at the University of Washington, Bransford was Centennial Professor of Psychology and Education and Co-Director of the Learning Technology Center at Vanderbilt University where his influence on Sashank Varma and others was dually noted during our previous course discussion.
Notable Experiments
Early works by Bransford and his colleagues in the 1970s included research in the areas of human learning, memory and problem solving. This experimental research demonstrated the constructive nature of understanding and learning. In a classic study, Bransford, Barclay, and Franks (1972) asked people to read sentence pairs such as, “The turtle was sitting on the log,” and, “The fish swam under the log.” After the reading, participants completed a verification task in which they decided whether they had seen a given sentence verbatim. Partakers demonstrated systematic errors that indicated they had constructed a mental model of the situation. For example, they incorrectly verified they had read, “The turtle swam under the frog.” However, the sentences never explicated stated, “The turtle swam under the frog.” Prevailing theories of behaviorism could not explain why people fashioned this error as behaviorism could only refer to the stimulus and not what may or may not be occurring in the mind, according to Karpov and Bransford (1995).
Prior Knowledge
A central tenet of Bransford’s constructivism is that learning builds on prior knowledge. Preceding knowledge was not in the lexicon of the prevailing theory of behaviorism, which explained human behavior through reinforcement as opposed to knowledge. Bransford and Johnson (1972) demonstrated the significance of prior knowledge by showing participants passages that were largely unintelligible. For example, “The procedure is actually quite simple. First you arrange things into groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities, that is the next step.” Bransford illustrated that a simple phrase that elicits the correct prior knowledge can lead to meaning from the unintelligible. In this example, the phrase would be revealed as washing clothing.
Early demonstrations presaged a career of high creativity and theoretical edge. Initially, journal editors were incredulous of Bransford’s findings. Hence, Bransford experienced difficulty in becoming published. However, as he demonstrated the effects on the editors themselves, they realized their blindness by theories and quickly bought into this cognitive revolution.
Curiosity and Collaboration
His career to term, which appears to be youthful, has spurred over 90 journal articles, 90 book chapters, six authored books and four edited volumes. His work has been translated into various languages, including French and Japanese. One explanation for Bransford’s high level of productivity and saturated reach lie in his combination of curiosity and collaborative abilities. Only four of his publications are sole-authored. His collaborative efforts enable him to expand his scholarship into publications that appear in psychology, reading, medicine, engineering, technology, business, science, math and special education outlets. Other fields as specific as animal neuroscience and economics have also cited Bransford.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV)
One of his most broadly collaborative periods involved the development of the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV). Bransford assembled a diverse collection of scholars who dedicated themselves to designing effective, technology-driven educational lessons and assessments in multiple content areas. Much of the work stemmed from his theory of transfer appropriate processing, which attempted to explain why people sometimes fail to apply their prior knowledge, according to Bransford (2007).
Of the many authentic creations of the CTGV (1997), one of the most notable is the “Adventures of Jasper Woodbury,” which aided students in engaging in sustained mathematical problem solving. This problem solving mimicked real-world scenarios in effort to foster learning beyond simple word problems.
Anchored Instruction
Bransford realized that students could not learn complex problem solving at school unless they had a strong body of prior knowledge to help anchor their reasoning. To solve this problem, Bransford composed anchored instruction. Each Jasper adventure was presented as a twenty-minute video narrative. In one adventure, for example, students had to devise a plan to rescue an eagle that had been injured. The video developed the context, constraints, quantities, and the goal of the problem. The anchor created the prior knowledge that enabled students to experience complex problem solving with mathematics, and students developed the type of knowledge likely to transfer to real-world, daily settings.
How People Learn Framework
Beyond anchored instruction, Bransford merged learning sciences, technology and teaching in other forms. A central component of his contribution to children lies in what Bransford, Brown and Cocking (2000) termed, “The How People Learn Framework” which suggests four lenses useful in any classroom situation. These are listed and discussed below.
1. Knowledge-Centered. The degree to which the nature of the knowledge taught is organized in a fashion that supports understanding and subsequent transfer. Bransford warns that memorization often masquerades as understanding in classrooms.
2. Learner-Centered. The extent to which teachers know preconceptions about subject matter that students possess regarding subject matter and themselves as learners is key. Thinking must be made visible, cultivated and honored.
3. Assessment-Centered. Frequent opportunities for students to test their own knowledge for understanding and subsequently providing them with opportunities to revise. According to Bransford (1995), feedback and revision is probably the single most important thing we can do to facilitate learning.
4. Community Environment. A high degree of community must be established wherein all involved feel free to express their lack of understanding. Students must also have the freedom to collaborate with one another rather than compete with one another in this environment. Structure of grading policies must be examined according to Bransford (1995).
Assessment
Number three on this list of lens refers to assessment. An agenda for research regarding the unsolved problem of assessment is certainly prominent for Bransford. According to Michael, Klee, Bransford and Warren (1993), what is desired are assessments that can accurately report the quality of learning, yet many assessments just measure the ability to memorize information. Some assessments measure transfer, but the theories of transfer that undergird assessments are quite restricted. In an interview with Bransford in 2009, he stated, “Assessments are really what I would call sequestered problem solving because students are only given information to solve the current problem, a much stronger way is to look at whether learners have enough information to apply what they learned in a new situation.” Transfer that facilitates future learning is the goal for assessment.
Clearly, Bransford is a prominent figure in the constructivist revolution and beyond. His work continues to infiltrate multiple domains and content areas. Further, continued collaboration with cohorts imply Bransford will continue to influence the cognitive realm for many years to follow.
References
Bransford, J. D. (2000). A tribute to Ann Brown. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(1), 5-6.
Bransford, J. D. (2007). Preparing people for rapidly changing environments. Journal of Engineering Education, 10(3), 1-3.
Bransford, J. D., Barclay, J. R., & Franks, J. J. (1972). Sentence memory: A constructive vs. interpretive approach. Cognitive Psychology, 3, 193-209.
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
Bransford, J. D., & Johnson, M. K. (1972). Contextual prerequisites for understanding: Some investigations of comprehension and recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 717-726.
Bransford, J. D., Sherwood, R., Vye, N., & Rieser, J. (1986). Teaching thinking and problem solving. American Psychologist, 41(10), 1078-1089.
Bransford, J. D., & Vye, N. (2008). District reform and the learning sciences: Issues and opportunities. American Journal of Education, 114(3), 665-672.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt. (1997). The jasper project: Lessons in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development [Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt. (1997). The Jasper Project: Lessons in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.]. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Karpov, Y. V., & Bransford, J. D. (1995). L.S. Vygotsky and the doctrine of empirical and theoretical learning. Educational Psychologist, 30(2), 61-66.
Lin, X., Schwartz, D. L., & Bransford, J. D. (2007). Intercultural adaptive expertise: Explicit and implicit lessons from Dr. Hatano. Human Development, 50(2), 65-72.
Littlefield, J., Delclos, V. R., Bransford, J. D., Clayton, K. N., & Franks, J. J. (1989). Some prerequisites for teaching thinking: Methodological issues in the study of LOGO programming. Cognition and Instruction, 6(4), 331-366.
Michael, A., Klee, T., Bransford, J. D., & Warren, S. F. (1993). The transition from theory to therapy: Test of two instructional methods. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 7(1), 139-153.
Walker, J. M. T., Brophy, S. P., Hodge, L. L., & Bransford, J. D. (2006). Establishing experiences to develop a wisdom of professional practice. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 108, 49-58.