A Piaget Primer

Offers a fascinating and understandable account of childhood development for anyone—education and psychology students, day care center workers and nursery school teachers, and parents. Jean Piaget is arguably the most important figure of the twentieth century in the field of child psychology. Over more than six decades of studying and working with children, he brilliantly and insightfully charted the stages of a child's intellectual maturation from the first years to adulthood, and in doing so pioneered a new mode of understanding the changing ways in which a child comes to grasp the world. The purpose of A Piaget Primer is to make Piaget's vital work readily accessible to teachers, therapists, students, and of course, parents. Two noted American psychologists distill Piaget's complex findings into wonderfully clear formulations without sacrificing either subtlety or significance. To accomplish this, they employ not only lucid language but such fascinating illuminations of a child's world and vision as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as media manifestations like Barney and Sesame Street. This completely revised edition of this classic work is as enjoyable as it is invaluable—an essential guide to comprehending and communicating with children better than we ever have before.

Piaget & Education provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to the work of Jean Piaget. This valuable classroom work roots Piaget's work in its historical context, and then provides dozens of classroom-based examples of how that work helps teachers understand the lives of children. It is an excellent resource for practicing teachers and student teachers, as well as undergraduate and graduate courses in teacher education, curriculum, and philosophy of education.

'Do children have anything to teach teachers? Jean Piaget believes that they do. As a beginning teacher, I focused on elaborate preparation of explanations and demonstrations on content. To piaget and his co-workers I owe a special debt for their ingeneous methods of exploring children's thinking and their theory of intellectual development. A study of Piaget's work, together with direct observations of children, has been instrumental in my transition to another stage of development as a teacher.' -Ed Labinowicz

Jean Piaget's theories about the development of intelligence and their implications for educational practice are explored. Before Piaget began studying the intellectual processes of children, researchers regarded them as "little adults." He derived his early fame from his theory of the "cognitive stages" of childhood. He realized the remarks of children had meaning and revealed modes of reasoning and judgment different from those of adults. The development of the child's thinking is marked by progressive clarification of ideas from global to differentiated thought. It progresses from absolute to more relativistic thought. It also changes from static to dynamic thought as the child matures. Piaget believed thinking and intelligence were synonymous and stressed thinking as a general capacity. Learning and thinking involve the participation of the learner. He believed knowledge was not transmitted verbally, but that it must be constructed and reconstructed by the thinker/learner. Activity is indispensable to learning and thinking. The way the child moves through the stages of development may be clarified by the concepts of schemata, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibrium. The four stages of cognitive development defined by Piaget are sensory-motor, preoperational, concrete operations, and formal operations. (DWH)

Unique in its field, the Encyclopedia of Primary Education brings together a wide-ranging body of information relating to current educational practice in a single indispensable volume. This book provides a series of descriptions, definitions and explanations that engage with important practical and conceptual ideas in primary education and contains over 500 entries incorporating: Curriculum subjects, themes and topics Theories, policies and educational controversies Pedagogical terms relating to teaching and learning Commentaries on current issues in primary education Influential figures in education, both past and present The impact of educational research on policy and practice Based on the author’s extensive experience in primary education, entries combine an interrogation of educational concepts with the pedagogical and practical implications for classroom practice, children’s learning and school management. This handy reference work will be invaluable to anyone currently teaching or training to teach at primary level, teaching assistants, school governors and parents. In fact it is essential reading for anyone with an interest and passion for primary education.

This book aims to cover all aspects of teaching engineering and other technical subjects. It presents both practical matters and educational theories in a format that will be useful for both new and experienced teachers.