Young Children and Social Knowledge

Abstract

Many people consider Piaget’s theory to provide an excellent description of children’s growing logical and physical knowledge, and as a direct consequence, educational applications in the teaching of mathematics and science abound. Unfortunately, the practical usefulness of these endeavors has been limited, as I had noted more than ten years ago (Furth, 1970). In fact, this awareness first motivated me to write that booklet on what I thought a more appropriate translation of Piaget’s ideas for the classroom. It may come somewhat as a surprise if I now propose that the habit of dividing up areas of knowledge into different departments may be suitable and necessary for certain purposes; however, from a developmental perspective, what develops is not this or that field of knowledge, but the child as a total feeling and thinking person. The education of the whole child has become a cliché and some of its practical manifestations deserve to be treated with suspicion. Nevertheless, because a good idea can be misused, you do not throw out the baby with the bath.