Customer Reviews

A Piaget Primer: How a Child Thinks; Revised Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Piaget is the most influential figure in child psychology ever known. However, it can be rather daunting to plough through his monumental works. So we have books like A Piaget Primer that come to our rescue-books that help to explain the concepts in simpler, more reader-friendly terms. Of course, we cannot expect such books to do justice to the scope and breadth of the original works, but for a thin volume like A Piaget Primer, it has done reasonably well to introduce the most essential concepts of Piaget's theory on child development. Among the essential ideas are assimilation and accommodation, various stages of development, play, language development, number concept, and moral development. There is also a last chapter on the implications and applications of Piagetian theory in the education of our young. What I find most impressive about this volume is its witty use of comics such as Peanut and stories such as Alice in the Wonderland to illustrate many of the confusing concepts. Wish I had this book when I was doing my psychology course.

The author provides very clear explanations of Piaget's theory of thought and play. Complete with comic strips about children, this book is a must for new teachers who are learning about Piaget and also for parents who do not know how children think and learn thru' play. You won't want to put the book down after picking it up, because the contents are so simple yet interesting.

This is a very nice book that uses children's literature, popular comics, and very good writing to demystify Piaget for beginners. I tried to read parts of Piaget's How a Child Thinks and had to put it down. The authors recognize the difficulty in reading Piaget's original works and have written this book for non psychology students. This was a very useful book for a research paper on Piaget for a special education graduate course.

At last, Piaget's concepts are presented in an enjoyable, memorable manner. For decades, teachers have drilled themselves on mastering the concepts of this famous psychologist as they diligently sought to help children make the most of their capacities to learn. This author explains many of Jean Piaget's ideas by using examples from children's literature. It's even illustrated with cartoons. Writers for children have used this book to help them connect their writing to memories of how they thought as children.

Piaget's theories are complex and hard to understand without interpretation. This is exactly the book I needed as it was advertised. Often Piaget's words were of his own coining...since he was a pioneer in child development....or he uses different
definitions not available in a dictionary. Also, this book uses examples from children's literature to illustrate points. Excellent resource.

This was a quick read and still waste of my time. The book explains the progressive development of children's thought process and speach, based on Piaget's observations. If you want to read about latest scientific studies in child development and parenting tips from an experienced child psycologist, I recommend Your Child's Growing Mind by Jane Healy.