Biography
Jean Piaget was born on August 9, 1896, in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Zoology interested Piaget and he published his first article when he was 11 years old. In 1923 he was married and years later had three children. Four years before getting married, and while studying in Paris, he created and administered reading tests to children and became interested in the wrong answers they gave. He wanted to explore children's reasoning. When he had his own children he studied their intellectual development as well as the children of his friends (Presnell 1999).
With these studies of children he came up with his theory of four stages of mental growth. The four stages of development are sensory-motor, pre-operational, concrete-operational, and then formal operational (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2012). There were some criticisms of his research methods. The main criticism he received was about him studying his own children (McLeod 2012). Since he only used a small number of children, critics said his findings were not valid
Piaget died on September 17, 1980 in Geneva, Switzerland. Even though his research may be controversial, his theory on stages of thinking and learning have helped many teachers understand how students learn.
With these studies of children he came up with his theory of four stages of mental growth. The four stages of development are sensory-motor, pre-operational, concrete-operational, and then formal operational (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2012). There were some criticisms of his research methods. The main criticism he received was about him studying his own children (McLeod 2012). Since he only used a small number of children, critics said his findings were not valid
Piaget died on September 17, 1980 in Geneva, Switzerland. Even though his research may be controversial, his theory on stages of thinking and learning have helped many teachers understand how students learn.