Jean Piaget (Piaget Jean)

(1896-1980)
Born in Neuchatel (Switzerland) August 9, 1896. From the University of Neuchatel, Zurich, Paris and Lausanne. In 1921 he was invited to work at the Institute of Rousseau in Geneva, in 1929 became its director. Next 50 years, Piaget studied the language and cognitive processes in children, paying particular attention to the presentation of the Child on the space, time, number, and causality, as well as the development of perception and moral development. Piaget kept a detailed diary of their own children and has published several books, . based on materials of these diaries, . including the origin of childhood intelligence (La Naissance de l'intelligence chez l'enfant, . 1936) and Constructing the reality of the child (La Construction du rel chez l'enfant, . 1937),
. Piaget died in Geneva on September 17, 1980.
Piaget's basic idea is that understanding the reality of a child - a coherent and consistent whole, which allows to adapt to the environment. As the child grows up, he goes through several stages, each of which achieved 'balance'. The first turning point, about one and a half years, is also the end of the 'sensory-motor period'. At this age the child is able to solve various non-verbal tasks: looking for objects that have disappeared from sight, ie. understands that the external world exists constantly, even when not perceived. The child may find their way, . making bypass, . uses simple tools, . to get the desired object, . can foresee the consequences of external influences (eg, . that the ball would roll downhill, . but if push swing, . they, . swinging, . return to previous position),
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The next stage, 'pre-operational stage', characterized by a conceptual understanding of the world and is associated with the development of language. At about the age of seven the child reaches the stage of 'concrete operations', for example, understands that the number of objects does not depend on whether they decompose in a long series or a compact bunch, before he could decide that in a long series of objects more.

The last stage accounts for the early adolescence and is called the stage of 'formal operations'. At this stage, is made available purely symbolic representation of objects and their relations, there is the ability to mentally manipulate symbols

. Piaget hypothesized, . that science can also be seen from the genetic point of view, . as an evolutionary process, . and that the scientific view of the nature of reality is a consequence of the establishment of equilibrium, . rather than the gradual opening of an increasing number of 'truths',
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Among the works of Piaget - Speech and thinking in the child (Le Langage et la pense chez l'enfant, 1923), Introduction to genetic epistemology (Introduction l'pistmologie gntique, v. 1-3, 1949-1950), Structuralism (Le Structuralisme, 1968), Problems of genetic psychology (Les Problems de psychologie gntique, 1972).