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Jean Piaget was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland in 1896. His father was a professor of medieval literature. As a child, he became absorbed in philosophy and zoology, and wrote his first scientific article on the albino sparrow at the age of ten. After graduating from the University of Neuchâtel in 1918 with a degree in zoology, he turned to psychology, going to Zurich to pursue his studies. There he met Theodore Simon, who invited him to work on the development of intelligence in a grade school in Paris.
Trained as a zoologist, Piaget had the skills necessary to begin observing children. He found that children make certain types of errors when solving problems, depending upon their age. He concluded that their thinking is qualitatively different than adults', and thus it was important to understand children from their own viewpoint. Because of his extensive work studying the development of intelligence he has had an important impact on developmental psychology. He believed that cognitive development occurred because of the child's unsatisfactory experiences in solving problems. His observations led him to develop his famous theory of cognitive development. Piaget was a prolific writer and produced numerous books and articles. He continued to teach and write until his death at eighty–four in 1980. |
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