Jean+Piaget

Jean Piaget was the foremost developmental psychologist of the twentieth century. He was born on August 9, 1896 in Neuchatel, Switzerland and was a Swiss psychologist and philosopher. His theory of cognitive development and epistemology are viewed together called “Genetic Epistemology” ([]). In Switzerland, he studied children's intellectual development, including perception, imagery, play, language, memory, reasoning, problem-solving and the awareness of conceptions of causality, quantity, space, time, distance, movement, speed, number, probability, geometry, and morality. His philosophy focused on the nature of knowledge. How Piaget's ideas or theories are applied to teaching and learning with technology through the formulation of models of cognition which was an approach to the problems of instructional design (Piagetian Approach, p. 72). Piaget's theory and research provides a scientific basis for a technology of instruction. Piagetian instructional design is for teacher to predict the cognitive mode and range of a learner's understanding. His two views of cognitive development dominated instructional design (Piagetian Approach, 77). According to Jonassen (2006) the use of expert systems and systems modeling tools required formal operational reasoning as conceived by Piaget. Piaget's main ideas are based on his theory of cognitive development. His theory of cognitive development has several implications for education. He suggested that educators consider the child's current stage of development and design individual plan of instruction that match the child's abilities. Also cognitive development encourages the active engagement of the child with tasks that are beyond his or her current state of knowledge. According to Wink and Puney (2002) Piaget's theory was primarily interested in how knowledge is formed or constructed. His theory is based on the theory of invention or construction which occurs inside the individual's mind.