Piaget’s views of cognitive development have broad implications for educational
institutions charged with fostering such development. The child is
viewed as an active seeker of knowledge. This pursuit is advanced by his or
her experimental engagement with problems which are slightly more complex
than those problems successfully worked through in the past. The
teacher is a facilitator of the opportunities for such cognitive growth, not a
lecturer or a drillmaster. The teacher provides physical materials that can be
experimentally manipulated. Such materials can be simple: Blocks, stones,
bottle caps, and plastic containers all can be classified, immersed in water,
thrown into fire, dropped, thrown, or balanced. Facilitating peer relation
ships and cooperation in playing games is also helpful in encouraging social
role-taking and moral development.
Because each student pursues knowledge at his or her own pace and in
his or her own idiom, great freedom and variety may be permitted in an essentially
open classroom. The teacher may nudge the student toward cognitive
advancement by presenting a problem slightly more complex than that
already comprehended by the student. A student who understands conservation
of number may be ready for problems involving the conservation of
length, for example. The teacher, however, does not reinforce correct answers
or criticize incorrect ones. Sequencing is crucial. The presentation of
knowledge or skill before the child is ready can result in superficial, uncomprehended
verbalisms. Piaget does not totally reject the necessity of the
inculcation of social and cultural niceties (social-arbitrary knowledge), the
focus of traditional education. He would maintain, however, that an experimentally
based understanding of physical and social relationships is crucial
for a creative, thoughtful society.
ships and cooperation in playing games is also helpful in encouraging social
role-taking and moral development.
Because each student pursues knowledge at his or her own pace and in
his or her own idiom, great freedom and variety may be permitted in an essentially
open classroom. The teacher may nudge the student toward cognitive
advancement by presenting a problem slightly more complex than that
already comprehended by the student. A student who understands conservation
of number may be ready for problems involving the conservation of
length, for example. The teacher, however, does not reinforce correct answers
or criticize incorrect ones. Sequencing is crucial. The presentation of
knowledge or skill before the child is ready can result in superficial, uncomprehended
verbalisms. Piaget does not totally reject the necessity of the
inculcation of social and cultural niceties (social-arbitrary knowledge), the
focus of traditional education. He would maintain, however, that an experimentally
based understanding of physical and social relationships is crucial
for a creative, thoughtful society.
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