Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

CHAPTER 26
Jean Piaget
RUPAM SARAN
Jean Piaget, the Swiss biologist and psychologist, was also an educator who inspired the world
with his concept of “Piagetian education”—an educational phenomenon that is grounded in
developmental psychology and constructivism. The educational implications of his scientific
theories have inspired educators and education reformists throughout the civilized world to bring
reform in the traditional mode of education. Although he was not an education reformer, he was
one of the pioneering scholars whose conception of children’s cognitive development influenced
education reforms profoundly, in the United States as well as many European nations.
The constructivist tenets in education came to be known after Piaget’s work on the cognitive
development and knowledge construction of young children. Piaget believed children constructed
knowledge by interacting with their environment and learned by “doing,” rather than storing
knowledge as passive learners. Piaget pressed for an active education for an inquiring mind.
He declared that children learn best by trial and error. Thus, the concept of constructivism is
attributed to Piaget. He was not an educationist and had never taught in a school setting, but he
perceived teaching as an art. It was his belief that “the art of teaching” shaped students’ minds,
and therefore practitioners of this art must acquire knowledge of their students’ minds (Piaget,
1948, 1953). Piaget argued that educators should have a good understanding of developmental
psychology.
Until the early 1950s, Piaget’s contributions were not fully recognized in the United States.
Although in the 1920s and 1930s, his research of children’s behavior and child development
attracted American scholars, it failed to capture their full attention because his informal work was
not considered scientific experimental study. However, in the early 1950s, American psychologists
began to take interest in his research and his developmental theories.
Educators were the first ones to embrace Piaget’s theories to construct developmentally appropriate
curricula and to reform the old ones. Piaget’s research set the stage for education reform and
child-centered teaching practices in the American education system. His theories about human
learning and cognition, children’s inner thought process, and children’s logic behind their action
are the building blocks for those American progressive educational and pedagogical practices that
advocate for developmentally appropriate curricula in schools. Piaget’s theories of one’s learning
practices argued for children’s active involvement in their own learning. Thus, he initiated those