Underpinning CPA with research – part 1

Part 1 of this video demonstrates how the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach fits in contemporary research on learning.

Although the ideas behind CPA seem quite reasonable, there is also a lot of empirical evidence that underpins them. This starts with the historical origins. At the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s, Singapore adopted ideas from psychologist Jerome Bruner, who in his book “Toward a Theory of Instruction” talked about ‘enactive-iconic-symbolic’ modes of representation. Multiple representations can play an important role in the effective sequencing of materials.