1915-
Founder And Codirector,
Center For Cognitive Studies At Harvard,
Oxford University New School For Social Research

Study of Thinking and Learning.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, researchers were actively investigating two different areas of learning theory — operant conditioning, generally associated with B. F. Skinner, and cognitive psychology, an area of special interest for Jerome Bruner. Bruner and colleagues at Harvard's Center for Cognitive Studies were interested in studying perception, memory, and thinking in an effort to determine what techniques constitute the most effective learning situations. In 1960 Bruner issued a significant report on the deliberations of a large group of scholars, mostly scientists, who had been researching cognitive processes. This report, entitled The Process of Education, offers a sweeping hypothesis: "Any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development, providing attention is paid...