Education in Crisis

Changing Ways of Learning

Sputnik changed not only the subject focus of education but also triggered discussions about the role of knowledge transfer in the coming Brains Race. Curriculum reformers after Sputnik stressed the importance of "discovery" and "inquiry" instead of "telling" and repeating.

The Harvard Psychologist Jerome Bruner for example, an important curriculum reformer, emphasized "cognitive growth" and "self-generating inquiry."