Jean Piaget - Natalie, Janique, Katie, Meghan

Jean
Piaget
Theory: Genetic Epistemology
Born on August 9, 1896
In Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Eldest of Professor Arthur
Piaget and Rebecca Jackson
Piaget.
Background
• At age 10 Piaget published an article on
Albino sparrows.
• He became an assistance to the curator (a
biologist at the museum of natural history) in his
teens.
• He studied the curator’s mollusk collection and
by age 15 published articles on mollusk.
• Received a doctors degree in the natural
sciences from the University of Neuchâtel
Background cont..
‫ ﻰ‬He studied psychology, in Zurich and attended lectures of
Swiss psychiatrist.
‫ ﻰ‬He went to Paris to work in the formal laboratory of Alfred
Binet
‫ ﻰ‬In 1912 he began researching child psychology at the
Jean Jacques Rousseau institute of education.
‫ ﻰ‬He was a professor at the University of Geneva from 1929
till his death.
‫ ﻰ‬Founded the center of Genetic Epistemology.
‫ ﻰ‬He was awarded numerous prizes and honorary degrees
from all over the world.
‫ ﻰ‬He married Valentine Chatenay and conceived two
daughters and a son.
Overlook
• His ideas were central to the creation of
development psychology and influential in other
fields including education, sociology and computer
science
• He studied the thought process of children.
• He believed that children past threw 4 periods of
mental development.
• Traced mental development from infancy to
adolescents
• He said “ Children construct his or her model of
reality in several stages.”
• He believed education should aim to offer
opportunities to invent and discover.
Genetic Epistemology
•
•
It’s the study of the origins of knowledge. Piaget’s
study shows how a human develops cognitively from
birth.
According to Piaget, children learn three types of
knowledge.
» Physical knowledge- relating to objects
» Logical/mathematical knowledge- things that man
invents and things that have to be thought of.
» Social arbitrary- has to do with culture, society and
uniqueness. He also called it the equilibration.
Those three types of knowledge are to develop the four types of
development.
Theory
*Four Stages of development.
Sensorimotor period – Till age Two.
They obtain a basic knowledge of objects through their senses. They learn
reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and habits.
Preoperational Period – Age two till seven
Children developed such skills as language and drawing ability. They can only
see things in their point of view and don’t think of others.
Concrete operation period- Age seven till eleven
they begin to think logically. For example they learn to organize their
knowledge, classify objects and do thought problems. They can sort objects
through size, shape color and texture. They can see things from different points
of view, and solve problems logically, not only thinking of themselves.
They can understand that numbers and objects can be
changed(4+5=8) and return to their original state.(8-4=4)
Formal operation period- Age eleven till fifteen
At this time children begin to reason realistically about the future
and to deal with abstractions. Abstractions are ideas about
qualities and characteristics viewed apart from the objects that
have them. They begin to understand love, morals, and values.
A child couldn’t skip a stage, you had to learn everything
from the first stage to move on. It’s a growth of knowledge. For
example, in school you can’t just start at grade 7, you wouldn’t
know any mathematical problems, or grammar. You have to pass
6 grades before that to learn to understand how everything works.
Critic
• One of Piaget’s critic’s is a teacher
educator who believes that his theory
works well and has proven itself useful.
• He practices Jean Piaget’s Theory on
genetic epistemology on a daily basis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtNdLKqPCyI&feature=related
Piaget passed on September
17th,1980 however his
theories and views are still
practiced and studied today
almost 30 years after his
death.
Work Cited
• World book Biographical encyclopedia of
scientists (page 112)
• World Book volume 15(page 445)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_episte
mology
• www.home.gwu.edu/~mcorry/corry2.htm