In 1997, I argued that with the loss of Piaget's theory as an overarching guide, cognitive development had become disjointed and a new metatheory was needed to unify the field. I suggested developmental biology, particularly evolutionary theory, as a candidate. Here, I examine the increasing emphasis of biology in cognitive development research…

We argue that the nativist-empiricist debate in developmental psychology is distorted, both theoretically and methodologically, by a shared framework of assumptions concerning the nature of representation. In particular, both sides of the debate assume models of representation that make the emergence of representation impossible. This, in turn,…

A report entitled "What we can learn from the English, mathematics and science curricula of high-performing jurisdictions" seems taken to suggest... "that imitating the content, pace and pedagogy of Singapore and Hong Kong in particular, would enable us to improve the mathematical performance of English children". This is…

The current faddish use of the term constructivism has taken on as many different definitions as the number of people attempting to define it. This essay clarifies the meaning of constructivism through an examination of Karl Popper's and Jean Piaget's theories. The authors provide a rationale for the use of Popper's paradigm of "Three Worlds" and…

This article outlines Piaget's conception of what philosophy is and is not and places Piaget in the hermeneutic tradition of alternative philosophical perspectives. (MT)

Contrasts holism, elementarism and Piaget's rationalism. Suggests Piaget's views are close to those of transactionalism and that the key difference between Gestalt holistic structure and Piagetian operatory structure is whether the composition laws are additive or not. Piaget's version of structuralism (relationalism) is distinctive in being…

A developmental model of equilibrium-disequilibrium-reequilibration is set forth, and a transformative curriculum is proposed. The author argues that a transformative curriculum fits a reality that is complex, temporal, and multiple better than does a measured curriculum which is uniform. (MT)

Investigators influenced by Anglo-American epistemology have frequently misinterpreted Piaget's genetic constructivism as an empirical psychology, seeing knowledge acquisition as a process in which representations of the world come into increasingly close correspondence with an ontologically unproblematic external reality. Both this interpretation…

This brief paper argues that structural analysis--an extended form of cognitive task analysis--demonstrates that both domain dependent and domain independent knowledge can be derived from specific content domains. It is noted that the major difference between the two is that lower order rules (specific knowledge) are derived directly from specific…

Notes the tumultuous relationship between researchers and theorists who identify with either Jean Piaget or Lev Vygotsky. Argues that both theorists start from basically the same place in developing their contributions to the study of human development and that new and important theoretical contributions may be possible through a dialectical…

This paper outlines a constructivist theory of learning with a more concrete and specific approach to the types of problems addressed in Piaget's equilibration theory. Knowledge, in this constructivist view, results from the subject's transformational activity on the world and his/her real efforts to organize that activity. The first section…

When Piaget ascribed the origin of knowledge to action, he distanced his theory from most other theories of the origins of mind. As a result, Piaget's conception of mental action has been quite controversial. Piaget's recent, functionalist revisions emphasize procedures and their role in the development of structures. In the new view, structures…

The article suggests ways in which common aspects of theories of creativity can be understood within a framework of Piagetian constructivism. It argues that creativity has been too narrowly defined. Creative constructive abilities are available to all people interacting with their social environments and stem from natural intellectual processes.…

Statistical analysis of many studies on Piaget's stage 4 object concept attempts to synthesize available quantitative data. Factors of this "meta-analysis" include: (1) effects of age; (2) number of A trials; (3) length of delay between hiding and search; (4) number of locations; and (5) visual properties of hiding arrays. Includes…

Notes that the pragmatist approach to the study of mind is represented in psychology by Piaget's action orientation. Believes, however, that American empiricists regularly misinterpreted Piaget's approach. Generally supports Barrouillet and Poirier's advocacy of Piaget's orientation, but presents some disagreements with Barrouillet and Poirier as…