Jean Paiget (1896-1980)

Jean Piaget's work as a biologist, a philosopher and a child psychologist focused on developing a theory of knowledge about how children learn about their world. Piaget considered himself a constructivist because he believed that knowledge was acquired through the process of continuous self-construction. His theory states that children invent and reinvent knowledge as they develop and interact with the surrounding world.

Piaget placed children's development on a continuum of four stages that all children will invariably pass through as they construct their own knowledge.

In an educational context, Piaget clearly stated that children must be placed in a situation where they have the opportunity to learn from, and as a consequence of, their own actions. They will interact with their peers to solve problems and be provided opportunities to encounter conflict in their thinking. Children must be placed in an action-oriented environment, where experiment and risk taking are natural.

Reference: Driscoll, Marcy P. (1993). Psychology of learning for instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

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