About the author

Nathan Isaacs

Nathan Isaacs (1895-1966) was a philosopher and psychologist who promoted Piaget’s ideas to the education community in England. He was especially interested in the idea that educators must adapt educational practice to the nature of the child, not the reverse. Isaacs felt that the child brings an eagerness to learn and a certain set of cognitive abilities to school, both of which are rapidly squelched by the usual teaching methods. Learning must occur through active involvement and integration of material into the child’s pre-existing picture of the world.

A Brief Introduction to Piaget

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Just about 100 years ago, child psychology and especially early childhood education took a great step forward with the work of Professor Jean Piaget of Geneva, yet the profound value of his work has only in recent decades been fully recognized.

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Jean Piaget was a pioneer in the study of child psychology, especially focusing on children's intellectual growth. His work has great implications for early childhood education programs. He offers a striking fresh picture of the child himself as the architect of this growth.

About the Book

Just about 100 years ago, child psychology and especially early childhood education took a great step forward with the work of Professor Jean Piaget of Geneva, yet the profound value of his work has only in recent decades been fully recognized.

Several of his books were translated between 1927 and 1932; though very stimulating, they seemed to trigger a good many doubts. However, the volumes published later, translated into English, and others still untranslated, have shown beyond question how much Piaget can help us to understand children's intellectual growth. We owe to him a striking fresh picture of the child himself as the architect of this growth.

Piaget's interest lies chiefly in the building-up of the basic framework of thought, which later the child, and we, mostly take for granted; but that is what makes the new picture so illuminating.And from the angle of Infant School teachers it is noteworthy that the period from about 4-5 years to 7-8 years turns out to be a specially important one, anyway for the average run of children. For their biggest step forward in the building of that framework usually is seen within this period.

A Brief Introduction to Piaget by Nathan Isaacs offers a thumbnail sketch of the whole story, as Piaget presents it, and then dwells more fully on the happenings of the Early Childhood Education (Infant School) phase. Piaget's work was based on systematic experiments, carried out since about 1935, not only by Piaget himself but also by colleagues operating under his direction, and many teams of students.

About the Book

Jean Piaget's research into how children think and learn is among the most important work ever done in child psychology, yet for decades it remained either misunderstood or overlooked in educational practice. Nathan Isaacs wrote this slim but remarkably clear guide to make Piaget's ideas genuinely accessible — not just to academics, but to teachers, parents, and anyone trying to understand how young minds actually develop.

The book brings together two connected essays. The first walks through Piaget's account of how children build their understanding of the world, from the sensori-motor phase of the first eighteen months through to the stage of intuitive thought between eighteen months and four or five years. Isaacs explains how children gradually construct their grasp of space, distance, movement, speed, and time — concepts adults take completely for granted but that young children have to painstakingly work out for themselves.

The second essay focuses on something that surprises many readers: Piaget's discovery that a child's ability to count has almost nothing to do with actually understanding number. Through careful experiments designed as play situations, Piaget revealed a striking gap between reciting numbers and genuinely grasping what numbers mean. The educational implications here are significant for anyone teaching early arithmetic.

Isaacs was closely connected to the influential Malting House School in Cambridge, co-founded by Geoffrey Pike and Susan Isaacs, which put progressive child development theories into real classroom practice. This book remains a valuable entry point into Piagetian psychology for students, educators, and curious general readers alike.

Additional information

Weight N/A
Book Type Ebook, ePub, Soft cover
Pages

118

Release Year

LC Classification

LB775.P49 I8 1972

Dewey code

155.4/13

BISAC I

EDUCATION / Schools / Levels / Early Childhood (incl. Preschool & Kindergarten)

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