Jean Piaget's Impact On Children

From an early interest in observing animals to intricate studies on children’s learning habits, Jean Piaget left a large impact on the psychology world. Throughout his life he had over 50 books and articles published on the extensive research he found. Jean Piaget is widely renown for his influence of educational theory, child psychology, and developmental psychology (“Piaget, Jean (1896-1980)”). Jean Piaget was born on August 9th, 1896 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. At an early age he displayed an interest in animals and quickly began to study zoology (“Jean Piaget.” Britannica School). At the age of 11, Piaget studied an albino sparrow. His detailed notes on the sparrow were soon published, and he continued to study and research animals. Many of his articles were
Here, Piaget studied zoology and philosophy, earning his doctorate degree in natural sciences in 1918. After that, Piaget went to Zürich and studied psychology under Carl Jung and Eugen Bleuler. He developed an interest in psychoanalysis while studying in Zürich (“Jean Piaget.” Britannica School). He then traveled to Paris, where he studied psychology at the Sorbonne. In 1920 alongside Théodore Simon in the Binet Laboratory, he aided in developing standardized tests for children. By studying children’s answers to the tests, Piaget reasoned that the “quantitative tests were too rigid” (“Jean Piaget.” Encyclopedia of World Biography). Jean Piaget then revised the tests and examined the children’s reasoning for their answers. This resulted in the conclusion that “children’s incorrect answers better revealed their qualitative thinking at various stages of development.” He examined how children used their imaginations to compensate for answers they did not know, and found many explanations for children’s reasoning. Piaget raised questions and discovered a newfound interest in how children learn (“Jean Piaget.” Encyclopedia of World