A Brief Introduction to Piaget

Jean Piaget was a pioneer in the study of child psychology, especially focusing on children's intellectual growth. His work has great implications for early childhood education programs. He offers a striking fresh picture of the child himself as the architect of this growth.

Just about 100 years ago, child psychology and especially early childhood education took a great step forward with the work of Professor Jean Piaget of Geneva, yet the profound value of his work has only in recent decades been fully recognized.

Several of his books were translated between 1927 and 1932; though very stimulating, they seemed to trigger a good many doubts. However, the volumes published later, translated into English, and others still untranslated, have shown beyond question how much Piaget can help us to understand children's intellectual growth. We owe to him a striking fresh picture of the child himself as the architect of this growth.

Piaget's interest lies chiefly in the building-up of the basic framework of thought, which later the child, and we, mostly take for granted; but that is what makes the new picture so illuminating.

And from the angle of Infant School teachers it is noteworthy that the period from about 4-5 years to 7-8 years turns out to be a specially important one, anyway for the average run of children. For their biggest step forward in the building of that framework usually is seen within this period.

A Brief Introduction to Piaget by Nathan Isaacs offers a thumbnail sketch of the whole story, as Piaget presents it, and then dwells more fully on the happenings of the Early Childhood Education (Infant School) phase. Piaget's work was based on systematic experiments, carried out since about 1935, not only by Piaget himself but also by colleagues operating under his direction, and many teams of students.