Piagetian and post-Piagetian conceptions of development and their implications for science education in early childhood

The present article discusses how the post-Piagetian conception of development differs from that of Piagetians, and what implications these differences have for science education in early childhood. Although both conceptions are based on constructivism, the post-Piagetian conception assumes that the process of construction of knowledge is facilitated under a variety of domain-specific constraints (i.e., internal cognitive constraints and sociocultural constraints), whereas the Piagetian conception assigns roles almost exclusively to domain-general constraints or structures of thinking. These differences produce different implications for early science education: the possibility of starting science education early with domains where innate constraints are supposed to work, the flexible choice of content areas as goals of science education by respecting children's acquired domain-specific knowledge, and the use of sociocultural constraints to enhance the construction process.

[1]  G. Hatano,et al.  What does a cultural approach offer to research on learning , 1991 .

[2]  Rochel Gelman,et al.  Characterizing supporting environments for cognitive development: Lessons from children in a museum , 1991, Perspectives on socially shared cognition.

[3]  M. Siegal.  Children's knowledge of contagion and contamination as causes of illness. , 1988, Child development.

[4]  M. Shayer,et al.  The Impact of the Work of Piaget on Science Curriculum Development , 1978 .

[5]  Ann L. Brown.  Domain-Specific Principles Affect Learning and Transfer in Children , 1990 .

[6]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  Skills, plans, and self-regulation , 1978 .

[7]  Kayoko Inagaki,et al.  The effects of raising animals on children's biological knowledge , 1990 .

[8]  Bruce D. Henderson.  Social Support and Exploration. , 1984 .

[9]  J. Piaget.  The Moral Judgment of the Child , 1932 .

[10]  Donald A. Norman,et al.  Psychology of everyday things , 1990 .

[11]  L. Kohlberg,et al.  Programs of early education: The constructivist view , 1987 .

[12]  Rheta Devries.  Early Education and Piagetian Theory , 1978 .

[13]  Rochel Gelman,et al.  Structural Constraints on Cognitive Development: Introduction to a Special Issue of Cognitive Science , 1990, Cogn. Sci..

[14]  Constance Kamii,et al.  Physical Knowledge in Preschool Education: Implications of Piaget's Theory. Reissued with a New Introduction. , 1978 .

[15]  F. Keil.  Constraints on Constraints: Surveying the Epigenetic Landscape , 1990, Cognitive Sciences.

[16]  Young children's use of knowledge in everyday biology , 1990 .

[17]  J. Tudge.  Peer influences on cognitive development: Piagetian and Vygotskian perspectives , 1989 .

[18]  J. Piaget,et al.  The Child's Conception of the World , 1971 .

[19]  J. Piaget,et al.  The Psychology of the Child , 1969 .

[20]  S. Carey.  Conceptual Change in Childhood , 1985 .

[21]  Eleanor Duckworth.  The African Primary Science Program: An Evaluation and Extended Thoughts. , 1978 .

[22]  B. Rogoff.  Apprenticeship in Thinking: Cognitive Development in Social Context , 1990 .

[23]  F. Keil,et al.  On the development of biologically specific beliefs: the case of inheritance. , 1989, Child development.

[24]  J. Wertsch.  From Social Interaction to Higher Psychological Processes. A Clarification and Application of Vygotsky’s Theory , 1979 .

[25]  Willis F. Overton,et al.  Knowledge and Development , 1977 .

[26]  Robert S. Siegler,et al.  Five generalizations about cognitive development. , 1983 .

[27]  Giyoo Hatano,et al.  Young Children's Spontaneous Personification as Analogy. , 1987 .

[28]  Michelene T. H. Chi,et al.  How Inferences about Novel Domain-Related Concepts Can Be Constrained by Structured Knowledge. , 1989 .

[29]  Giyoo Hatano,et al.  COLLECTIVE SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY BY YOUNG CHILDREN , 1983 .

[30]  Lev Vygotsky.  Mind in society , 1978 .

[31]  R. Gelman.  First Principles Organize Attention to and Learning About Relevant Data: Number and the Animate‐Inanimate Distinction as Examples , 1990 .

[32]  C. Gallistel,et al.  The Child's Understanding of Number , 1979 .

[33]  G. Hatano,et al.  TWO COURSES OF EXPERTISE , 1984 .

[34]  J. Flavell.  The Developmental psychology of Jean Piaget , 1963 .

[35]  Kayoko Inagaki,et al.  Attributing human characteristics: Developmental changes in over- and underattribution , 1988 .