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Piaget's legacy for contemporary research
29
PIAGET’S
LEGACY
FOR CONTEMPORARY
RESEARCH
Robert S. Siegier and Shari Ellis Psychology
Department,
Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, PA 152 13
The purpose of this talk is to discuss three aspects of Piaget’s legacy that seem particularly important influences on current research: constructivism, essentialism, and dynamism. The core assumption that children actively construct new ways of thinking, even when there is no pressure from the social or physical environment to do so, is a very positive, and widely accepted, aspect of the legacy. Essentialism, the belief that there is an essence to children’s thinking at a given age, is a more mixed case. It has motivated a great deal of interesting research, but has also led to unrealistic assumptions about the degree of unity in children’s thinking, within as well as It also may have hindered efforts to understand change. Dynamism, the across domains. emphasis on change as a basic and continuing process in development, is an increasingly important aspect of Piaget’s legacy, though the particular mechanisms that he proposed never were described in sufficient detail to do more than point us in promising directions. Ways in which these inheritances may contribute positively to future research are discussed.
PIAGET’S
LEGACY
FOR CONTEMPORARY
RESEARCH
Robert S. Siegier and Shari Ellis Psychology
Department,
Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, PA 152 13
The purpose of this talk is to discuss three aspects of Piaget’s legacy that seem particularly important influences on current research: constructivism, essentialism, and dynamism. The core assumption that children actively construct new ways of thinking, even when there is no pressure from the social or physical environment to do so, is a very positive, and widely accepted, aspect of the legacy. Essentialism, the belief that there is an essence to children’s thinking at a given age, is a more mixed case. It has motivated a great deal of interesting research, but has also led to unrealistic assumptions about the degree of unity in children’s thinking, within as well as It also may have hindered efforts to understand change. Dynamism, the across domains. emphasis on change as a basic and continuing process in development, is an increasingly important aspect of Piaget’s legacy, though the particular mechanisms that he proposed never were described in sufficient detail to do more than point us in promising directions. Ways in which these inheritances may contribute positively to future research are discussed.