Is Piaget a Developmental or Learning Theorist?
The first section of this paper deals with the question of whether Piaget is a developmental or a learning theorist; the second section relates Piaget’s research findings and developmental theory to a sequence of curriculum units in mathematics. It is suggested that Piaget makes no distinction between learning and development of cognitive structures, as he presents little information about specific variables which account for learning. The practical application of Piaget’s research findings, however, is viewed as a way of providing more assessment information to the teacher concerning the intellectual functioning of children than the popularly used intelligence tests. Suggestions are made for employing Piaget’s findings in the classroom in order to incorporate a sequence of curricular materials and appropriate units of curriculum based on the child’s level of intellectual operations.
