Genetic Epistemology
"The principal goal of education is to create individuals who are capable of
doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done" Jean Piaget
“Play is the answer to how anything new comes
about” Jean Piaget
Genetic epistemology is a study of the origins of knowledge or
the developmental theory of knowledge.
The discipline was established by the Swiss developmental
psychologist and philosopher Jean Piaget (1896-1980). Piaget was known for his epistemological studies with
children and his theories of cognitive development.
The goal of genetic epistemology is to link the validity of
knowledge to the model of its construction. It shows that how the knowledge was gained affects how valid it is. For
example, our experience of gravity makes our knowledge of it more valid than our theory about black
holes.
Genetic epistemology also explains the process of how people
develop cognitively from birth throughout their lives in four primary stages:
1)
Sensorimotor Age: Birth to 2
Attribute: Sensation, perception, images.
2)
Preoperational
Age: 2 to 7
Attribute: Symbols (2-4yrs), Concepts (4-7yrs).
3) Concrete Operational
Awareness (Conop)
Age: 7 to ~14yrs
Attribute: Concrete rules. Reason. Social
scripts.
4) Formal Operational
Awareness (Formop)
Age: 11yrs to ~15+ yrs
Attribute: Thinking about thinking.
Piaget developed novel experiments to evaluate at what stage a
child was at.
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