Jean Piaget

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Jean Piaget
Theory Genetic Epistemology
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Biography

• Born on August 9, 1896
• In Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• Eldest of Professor Arthur Piaget and Rebecca
  Jackson Piaget.

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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 curators mollusk collection and
  by age 15 published articles on mollusk.
• Received a doctors degree in the natural sciences
  from the University of Neuchâtel

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Background cont..

• He studied psychology, in Zurich and attended
  lectures of Swiss psychiatrist.
• He went to Paris to work in the formal
  laboratory of Alfred Binet
• In 1912 he began researching child psychology at
  the Jean Jacques Rousseau institute of education.
• He was a professor at the University of Geneva
  from 1929 till his death.
• Founded the center of Genetic Epistemology.
• He was awarded numerous prizes and honorary
  degrees from all over the world.
• He married Valentine Chatenay and conceived two
  daughters and a son.

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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.

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Genetic Epistemology

• Its the study of the origins of knowledge.
  Piagets 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.
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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 dont
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.
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They can understand that numbers and objects can
be changed(458) and return to their original
state.(8-44) 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
couldnt skip a stage, you had to learn
everything from the first stage to move on. Its
a growth of knowledge. For example, in school
you cant just start at grade 7, you wouldnt
know any mathematical problems, or grammar. You
have to pass 6 grades before that to learn to
understand how everything works.
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Critic

• One of Piagets critics is a teacher educator
  who believes that his theory works well and has
  proven itself useful.
• He practices Jean Piagets Theory on genetic
  epistemology on a daily basis.

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http//www.youtube.com/watch?vRtNdLKqPCyIfeature
related
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Piaget passed on September 17th,1980 however his
theories and views are still practiced and
studied today almost 30 years after his death.
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Work Cited

• World book Biographical encyclopedia of
  scientists (page 112)
• World Book volume 15(page 445)
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_epistemology
• www.home.gwu.edu/mcorry/corry2.htm