A paradox

[Clarkkent]

Yesterday I heard a programme on Radio 4 about the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and his development of a theory on children's learning. I did study piagetian learning theory as an undergraduate and, although his ideas were not always supported by experimental research, I was impressed by by the child centred approach.


According to Britannica:
"Piaget's concept of ... developmental stages caused a reevaluation of older ideas of the child, of learning, and of education. If the development of certain thought processes was on a genetically determined timetable, simple reinforcement was not sufficient to teach concepts; the child's mental development would have to be at the proper stage to assimilate those concepts. Thus, the teacher became not a transmitter of knowledge but a guide to the child's own discovery of the world."

Some of Piaget's most important research was done when he was at the Sorbonne. It is interesting to note - from comments on this forum:

- that the French education system largely ignores Piaget but his beliefs have had some influence in England,

- and that there are English parents who believe that their children will receive a better education in France.

[Miki]

Clark,

Do you think you ought to have posted this interesting post 'one down' in the listing under "How lucky can I be" It is pretty relevant and it must have played a part, however small as the suspected(?)ignoring of it has, in my view, been detrimental to the French sytem.

Miki

[Moore]

hi - what an interesting post - loved readying all the replies and couldn't resist a response -

Paiget: Isn't he a zoologist rather then a psychologist? This may be worth consideration since many contributors value qualifications (smiley if I knew how to get one). I think his base query was 'how do animals adapt to their envoronment' - human intelligence being considered as part of that quandry. The idea that a child needs to be at the right stage (following a genetically determined timetable) to assimilate a concept is surely why all schools - french and english - teach in year groups. The french system of holding kids back a year surely falls in with Paiget's hypothesis more then that of the english system of letting them through to the next stage whether they are ready (if one believes present learning is on an accruel basis of past learning)or not.

The contributor who speaks of an adaquate sleep quotient as a facilitator of learning I think makes a very valid point - whom ever he heard extol sleeps virtue. If he had studied that theory at uni - the only added info he would have been able to impart would be the name of researchers - which would not validate his comments for me because the university of child rearing is all the proof I need to agree whole heartidly!

Some of the contributions to this topic brought to mind the BBC2 series 'The nations favourite read'. M;ost books (excluding the Jack. Wilsons et al that the youngsters of today voted for)appeared to be in the top 100 due to their study as 'O' or 'A' level study books. Why the link - just that some comments to your posting - appear to be based on 'what I learnt at uni - a long long time ago'; and haven't been updated since.

Just for fun - a two lined poem I once studied at school - went something like this:-

Scottish Education

I telt yer
I telt yer

still makes me smile.