Jean Piaget Facts
Jean Piaget Facts
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Interesting Jean Piaget Facts: |
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Piaget was born in Neuchatel, in French-speaking Switzerland. |
He developed an early interest in natural history and by the age of 15 he had published several papers on mollusks. |
He was educated at the University of Neuchatel where he majored in psychology. |
He earned his PhD in 1918 and he accepted a teaching post at a boys' school in Paris, France run by Alfred Binet. |
Binet developed the Binet Intelligence Test that is still in use today. |
While grading the tests, Piaget noticed that young children consistently made certain types of mistakes that older children and adults didn't make. |
This led him to theorize that young children's cognitive processes are different from those of adults. |
He proposed a theory of cognitive developmental stages with individuals displaying patterns of cognition common to each age group. |
He observed that children move from egocentrism to sociocentrism and, based on his clinical interviews, noticed that the children's answer to questions gradually became less intuitive and move scientific. |
Piaget believed that this was a result of social interaction with older children. |
HIs research led him to believe that the process of intellectual development is based on assimilation and accommodation. |
In assimilation the child responds to a new situation using what he has learned before. |
In accommodation the child either modifies an existing response or forms an entirely new schema to deal with the new event. |
In 1921 Piaget became director of the Rousseau Institute in Geneva. |
From 1925 t9 1929 he was professor of psychology, sociology and the philosophy of science at the University of Neuchatel. |
From 1929 to 1968 he was the Director of the International Bureau of Education. |
In 1964 he was the chief consultant for educational conferences at Cornell University and University of California, Berkeley which addressed the use of cognitive studies in curriculum development and the implications of cognitive development. |
During the 1970's and 1980's Piaget's work transformed education, leading to a more child-centered approach. |
In 1979 he received the Balzan Prize. |
He was awarded 16 honorary doctorates from various universities around the globe for his ground-breaking work. |
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