Either We're Too Early and They Can't Learn It or We're Too Late and They Know It Already: The Dilemma of "Applying Piaget"

Abstract

This essay is a response to the history of American reactions to Piaget's work—skepticism about his findings, followed by a desire to accelerate development. Influenced by the mass of psychological research devoted to these issues, educators have adopted them as their concerns as well. Eleanor Duckworth sketches this history, reviews recent Genevan learning research, and in so doing, suggests that the dilemma is both false and beside the point. She turns to a consideration of issues of greater educational concern,bringing Piaget's work to bear on them.