His studies noted the significance of students' active participation in learning, placing him in the camp of constructivism, a cognitive development theory that contends that learning is “an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge” (Constructivist Theory).

People move through three stages of cognitive development in the way the mind is used to translate experiences into a model of the world (Bruner, "Toward a Theory of Instruction" 44-45). Enactive: During earliest childhood, learning occurs through movement or action (as when babies learn to walk or a child learns to ride a bike). Iconic: During middle childhood, learning occurs through images or icons that represent or summarize objects or events (as when children draw pictures of their families or a summer vacation). Symbolic: During adolescence, learning occurs through abstract symbols (as when students are able to represent mathematical functions using equations or understand metaphorical language such as “Too many cooks spoil the broth”).