 Jean Piaget was born in Switzerland in 1896  He has been labeled as an interactionist as well as a constructivist  His interest in cognitive development derived from his training in natural sciences & his interest in epistemology  He was interested in knowledge and how children come to know their world

 Piaget discovered that children think and reason differently at different periods in their lives  He believed that everyone passes through an invariant sequence of four quantitatively distinct stages  Hthere is some variability in the ages at which children attain each stage

 “...we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.” (Dr. Maria Montessori)

 A central component of Piaget's developmental theory of learning and thinking is that both involve the participation of the learner  Knowledge is not merely transmitted verbally but must be constructed and reconstructed by the learner  The learner must be active; the learner is not a vessel to be filled with facts

 Piaget’s approach to learning is a readiness approach  Readiness approaches in developmental psychology emphasize that children cannot learn something until maturation gives them certain prerequisites

 Intellectual growth involves three fundamental processes: assimilation, accommodation and equilibration  Assimilation involves the incorporation of new events into preexisting cognitive structures  Accommodation means existing structures change to accommodate to the new information  This dual process enables a child to form a schema  Equilibration involves the person striking a balance between oneself and the environment, between assimilation and accommodation  When a child experiences a new event, disequilibrium sets in until he or she is able to assimilate and accommodate the new information and thus attain equilibrium

 Piagetian-inspired curricula emphasizes a learner-centered educational philosophy  The teaching methods which most Canadian school children are familiar with-teacher lectures, demonstrations, audio-visual presentations and programmed instruction-do not fit in with Piaget’s ideas on the acquisition of knowledge

 Children need to explore, to manipulate, to experiment, to question and to search out answers themselves—activity is essential  Piaget believed in active discovery learning environments in our school  Intelligence grows through the twin processes of assimilation and accommodation

 Teacher’s should be able to assess the child’s present cognitive level; their strengths & weaknesses  Teacher’s are guides on the side-they are there to guide & stimulate the students along  Instruction should be individualized as much as possible  Students should have frequent opportunities to interact with one another

 Brainerd, C. J. (1978). Piaget's Theory of Intelligence. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.  Evans, R. (1973). Jean Piaget: The Man and His Ideas. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.  Lavatelli, C. (1973). Piaget's Theory Applied to an Early Childhood Curriculum. Boston: American Science and Engineering, Inc.  London, C. (1988). A Piagetian constructivist perspective on curriculum development. Reading Improvement, 27,  Piaget, J. Development and learning. In LAVATTELLY, C. S. e STENDLER, F. Reading in child behavior anddevelopment. New York: Hartcourt Brace Janovich,  Piaget, J. (1972). To Understand Is To Invent. New York: The Viking Press, Inc.  Sigel, I. and Cocking, R. (1977). Cognitive Development from Childhood to Adolescence: A Constructivist Perspective. NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.  Singer, D. & Revenson, T. (1978). A Piaget Primer: How a Child Thinks. NY: International Universities Press, Inc.