Study Of Working Of Child’s Mind

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29907, 22 August 1962, Page 2

Study Of Working Of Child’s Mind

When does a child start to “think”? At what age can he understand such ideas as length and number? When is he capable of what is called “scientific thought”? These questions are asked in a article in the “U.N.E.S.C.O. Courier.”

Educators and parents the world over would be extremely interested in knowing the answers to such questions. Todav, they are being sought in Switzerland at the Institute for the Sciences of Education in Geneva.

The institute was founded In 1912 and was attached to the University of Geneva in 1929. but its origins go further back In 1901 the Medical Society of Geneva heard a daring proposal by Edouard Clarparede, the future cofounder of the institute with Pierre Bovet Claparede called for nothing less than a school “made to measure" for children. Into his startled audience. he dropped this bombshell: “We now pay more attention to children's feet than we do to their minds” Five years later, Claparede was to state: “It is just as important for the educator to know the laws of the mind and its growth as it is for the horticulturist to know the biology of plants or the doctor to know the physiology of organs" It was on this principle that the institute started a laboratory in whtefr experimental psythology is applied to education. For the last 30 years, both at Geneva and at NeuchateL this work has been carried on by Professor Jean Piaget a leading figure in psychological research which has a bearing on education

Development Levels Professor Piaget's studies had previously shown that the development of a child's thought processes can be compared with a ladder: the child goes from one step or level to another At each level, corresponding to a certain. age. there is an equilibrium in his thinking Then, two years ago, a special section of the institute was created to study how the child passes from one stage to another. This study, directed by Dr. Barbel Inhelder professor at the Institute of Child Psychology, and Dr Gerald Noelting, is based upon a long-term experiment Twenty children, divided into four age groups, have been selected from Geneva schools for study They come from all social classes, have average intelligence test ratings and have experienced no special difficulties in school Some SO tests based on special observation techniques developed by Professor Piaget over the years are used with these children In addition, the research workers have at their disposal an experimental psychology laboratory set’ up by the state of Geneva and provided with ultramodern equipment through a grant from an American foundation.

In this laboratory, each conversation between the scientist and a child is recorded on tape. At key pouts in the interview, a motion picture camera comes into play. The result is that the insti-

tute has been able to “produce” records and a film on each child, showing the changes in his social behaviour and the way his mind works at various stages of growth over the years. These experiments have already shown that the child fl-st groups familiar objects or even geometrical elements into “logical classes” between the ages of four and seven By pouring liquids from one glass to another, for example, he grasps the idea of a quantity which does not vary even if its appearance Changes. He understands concepts of length and number between the ages of five and seven. Weight and volume come later—between nine and 12— and now the framework of his thought processes has been erected.

At the age erf 10, he begins to experiment and then, research shows, he is capable »f scientific thinking at 12 when he starts formulating theories and searching for proofs. New Queries Raised

As is often the case in science, the answers to the first questions have now raised new ones. For example, scientists now wonder if this development is the result of mental and nervous “maturing” or whether it is the fruit of education and just plain practice Professor Piaget has already shown that external and internal factors always inter-act—that is. you cannot separate them. How this “in-ter-action” takes place is yet to be answered.

There is also an even bigger question: how is the young child's mind, concentrated on the present and on what he can see and touch, transformed into the mind of the adolescent conscious of the world and capable of cooperating with his fellow men?

This is pure research at present, but Profesor Piaget and the Swiss scientists working with him believe that its results mav represent a valuable contribution to education.