A Piagetian Perspective on Thinking and Language

In applying Piaget's theory of intellectual development, educators have to revise several common assumptions. Three ideas seem especially important: Knowledge must be seen as self constructed; development should be viewed as a self-regulated process; and sensation and action should be accepted as forms of knowing rather than incomplete bits which wait for language for their completion. Studies of deaf children, without a socialized symbol system during their early years, indicate the autonomy of intellectual development. While most teachers agree that schooling should challenge thinking, they fall back on language instruction in classroom situations. Piaget's theory provides a new definition of thinking in which the child can be trusted to develop with language given a legitimate but not dominant role.