1. A Sample of Children’s Thinking
Piaget: You have already seen the clouds moving along? What makes them move?
Child (8 yrs): When we move along, they move along too.
Piaget: Can you make them move?
Child: Everyone can, when they walk.
Piaget: When I walk and you are still, do they move?
Child: Yes.
Piaget: And at night, when everyone is asleep, do they move?
Piaget: But you tell me that they move when somebody walks.
Child: They always move. The cats, when they walk, and then the dogs, they make the clouds move along.

2. What is Development? Basic Questions development vs learning
stage-like changes?
homogeneity vs. heterogeneity?
Mechanisms
assimilation vs accommodation
changes in info processing
social & cultural context
brain maturation

3. Development vs Learning
global
qualitative change more easily acknowledged
general principles of change
Learning
specific
incremental change more consistent with learning perspective
you can teach specific skills and knowledge

4. Metaphors of Development
Piaget
children as little scientists
Sociocultural Perspectives
children as
apprentices
Information
Processing
children as little computers