Research-Reaction-Reflection Paper

The educational historians believe that the primary aim of education is to perpetuate the existing power structure. Others believe that the aims of education change according to the context and needs of the time period.

Jean Piaget was a Swiss developmental psychologist known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology". Piaget placed great importance on the education of children. As the Director of the International Bureau of Education, he declared in 1934 that "only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual." Piaget created the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology in Geneva in 1955 and directed it until 1980. According to Ernst von Glasersfeld, Jean Piaget is "the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing."

     Jean Piaget described himself as an epistemologist, interested in the process of the qualitative development of knowledge. As he says in the introduction of his book "Genetic Epistemology" (ISBN 978-0-393-00596-7): "What the genetic epistemology proposes is discovering the roots of the different varieties of knowledge, since its elementary forms, following to the next levels, including also the scientific knowledge."

    Piaget said, “I engage my subjects in conversation patterned after psychiatric questioning, with the aim of discovering something about the reasoning underlying their right, but especially their wrong, answers.” Piaget investigated “natural” logic which addressed the nature of knowledge and the development of reasoning skills as they interacted with, and adapted to, the environment. Intelligence and knowledge develop as we mature and in reaction to the environment – knowledge is created by the activity of the learner.

•      Idea largely based on Swiss Biologist Jean Piaget’s research on child development & learning

•     Piaget’s theory states that children learn by creating “mental maps” or schemes

•  These maps or schemes are added to and adapted as needed to help them understand their environment

•    Structure becomes more complex as child develops

          Jerome Bruner has another important contributor to the inquiry method in education. His books The Process of Education and Toward a Theory of Instruction are landmarks in conceptualizing learning and curriculum development. He argued that any subject can be taught in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development. 

           This notion was an underpinning for his concept of the spiral curriculum which posited the idea that a curriculum should revisit basic ideas, building on them until the student had grasped the full formal concept. He emphasized intuition as a neglected but essential feature of productive thinking. He felt that interest in the material being learned was the best stimulus for learning rather than external motivation such as grades. Bruner developed the concept of discovery learning which promoted learning as a process of constructing new ideas based on current or past knowledge. Students are encouraged to discover facts and relationships and continually build on what they already know.

           Like Piaget, Bruner believed in the invariant sequence of developmental stages, but not in their age dependency. Redefines “readiness for learning”.

            Lev Vygotsky is Russian psychologist & philosopher in 1930’s usually associated with Social Constructivism. Social Constructivism emphasized the effects of one’s environment (family, friends, culture & background) have on learning. Today, Co-Constructivism seems to prevail, incorporating Cognitive and Social aspects.

           The key to instruction effective in influencing cognitive development is that it “awakens and rouses to life functions which are in a stage of maturing, which lie in the zone of proximal development. If an adult uses leading questions and examples and demonstrates the solution to a problem, the child may be able to solve the problem. The child must have some means for crossing from what he or she does not know to what is new knowledge.

•         A child’s readiness affects how well a task can promote cognitive development
  ·    Cognition and language are closely intertwined
  ·    Children actively construct knowledge
  ·    Social interaction supports cognitive development
  ·    Cognitive development involves relating new information to prior knowledge
  ·    Children think in qualitatively different ways at different ages

           In this philosophies of (3) three philosophers explain the stage of learning of a children from (0) zero age until they develop their individual personality. They observe the behavior of children if it is developing the readiness of cognitive development. As Piaget said “only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual." Yes because through education we can mold a better person that can take part other experiences that share to other people as what the philosopher do to us.

         Every philosopher has their own idea on what developing stage of the children before they reach out to adult like. This stage is our guide that they observe to the children. This method of philosophies is very applicable in teaching on how to deal the individual characteristics of the children to be able to get their attention span especially when they are in the stage of learning. The aim of education of the philosopher is not changing it is a continuous process to develop even if the time period or the year passed by is change but our educational philosophies is still remain and still the same. The power of education is unique we can pass to other people and it is also transferable learning.

          The implication of this research to be able to know what philosophy of education does teacher use in classroom situation. The teacher used different method that useful and meaningful to the student. And to be able to identify if the method if it is effective or not. Every method application there is a respond to the student.