The Early Years

Just a fun little video exploring shooting baskets and the concepts of Jean Piaget.

Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget

Piaget insists on the fundamental importance of the child as agent of his own learning throughout development. In the early years knowledge of the outside world is assimilated to the structure of elementary actions, and later involves the reconstruction in thought of operations performed in action. This restricts the child’s ability to think logically. By middle childhood (the junior school period) greater coordination of thought is achieved but is limited in its sphere of application to objects rather than to verbal propositions. According to Piaget’s theory of stages, it is not until early adolescence that children become capable of formal reasoning and hypothetico-deductive thinking.

– Oxford Companion to the Mind

Piaget placed great importance on the education of children. As the Director of the International Bureau of Education, he declared in 1934 that "only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual." Piaget's theory and research influenced several people. His theory of child development is studied in pre-service education programs. Educators continue to incorporate constructionist-based strategies.

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