DIARY PROJECT:

By: Gaby Olea
Psychology 4th block
Mrs. Taylor

1971

      Today I woke up and did the usual things. At 4 in the morning, I was up and writing. I always do this before I leave to teach at the University or leave for a meeting. After lunch, I walked and pondered on my interests. "I always like to think about a  problem before reading about it". Before I went to bed, I read a book. This are things I find myself doing on a regular basis.
   I feel that I am getting close to the end of my career.I have lived a great life. I was able to answer the question that so intrigued me. Looking back I realize that I have written  over 60 books and many, many articles. I still can't believe that I started out writing on an albino sparrow! It really is hard to believe that was the start of my career. Now I find myself finishing my studies on  genetic epistemology.
   This summer I plan to go to the Alpine Mountains in Europe. Of course, this is where I always go for my vacations.Its very different from Geneva, Switzerland. Also, it's such a great place to write. I think this will be my last post. I hope that my discoveries in cognitive development helps people throughout the world. I hope that after people learn from my discoveries, they will see children like I do.

FOUR STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

1956

            From having studied children, I have realized a lot of things. For example, a child is always creating and re-creating his own model of reality. Yes, I agree children do not always get questions most adults or young adults would usually get right, but that is because the children have a limited life experience. The child has not been exposed to the world long enough, therefore the child has not been able to process enough information about the social and natural world. I think that a child's reasoning power in no way flawed, and I think that it is as good as many adult scientists!
        I have traced four staged in the mental development of children. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage. This is the stage where children 0 to 2 years old lack concept of object permanence. The second stage, preoperational stage, is where children 2 to 7 years old exhibit egocentric thinking, lack concept of conservation, and use symbols to solve simple problems or to talk about things not present. The third stage, concrete operations, is where children 7 to 11 years old begin to understand the concept of conservation, but still have trouble with abstract ideas. Also, their classification ability improve. The last stage is the formal operations stage. In this stage, children 11 years and on understand abstract ideas and hypothetical situations. They are capable of deductive and logical reasoning. This is what I have concluded from my studies. 

1955

           This year I have established  the International Centre of Genetic Epistemology at Geneva. I also became its director. I actually have accomplished many things in a short amount of time. In 1940 I became the chair of they psychology laboratory and also the director of the psychology laboratory. I also became the president of the Swiss Society of Psychology. Two years later, I gave a series of lectures at the College de France. This lecture was given during the Nazi occupation of France. These lectures became known as the Psychology of Intelligence. At the end of the war, I became a President the Swiss Commission of UNESCO. A year later, in 1951,  Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood was published. 
      I also still can't believe the many awards I've won! honorary degrees I was given! In 1946, the University of Sorbonne gave me one. Three years later the University of  Brussels and the University of Brazil, also, gave me one. Did I mention I became a professor at Sorbonne? I did in 1952. Hopefully, in 1956, I am planning on creating the School of Sciences at the University of Geneva. Although, I have accomplished all these things, I am far from finishing my studies. I am still working on a general theory of structures. 

59 years old.

     

1933

       Its been a while.Right now,I am exhausted.My wife gave birth to a boy a few years back in 1931. We named him Laurent Piaget.I don't think I've mentioned my daughters? In 1925, my first daughter, Jacqueline was born. In 1927, my second daughter Lucienne was born. I can't believe Valentine and I have such a big family now. I met my wife, Valentine Châtenay, at the institute I worked in. She was a student at that time. We married in 1923. Ever since then, she's been my constant co-worker.
     I was glad when she gave birth to my children. I have been studying and observing their behaviors. Their intellectual development from infancy to language has also been studied. I plan to write a book on Laurent's development. I already wrote two books; one from studying Lucienne and the other from studying Jacqueline. My first 5 books on child psychology were written when my students and I researched the reasoning of elementary school children at the Institut J. J. Rousseau in Geneva.
     A lot has changed since my last post. From 1925 to 1929 I have occupied chairs in psychology, sociology, and history of science at Neuchâtel and history of thinking at Geneva. Also in 1929,I became the director of the International Bureau of Education. From everything I've learned, I think that the mind of a child evolves through a series of set stages through adulthood. My research is not finished yet, but right now, that is what I believe.

Family Potrait

1921

          A few weeks ago, my first article on the psychology of intelligence was published  in the Journal de Psychologie. Also, at the request of Sir Ed. Claparède and P. Bovet, I accepted the position as director of studies at the J.-J. Rousseau Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. Today I watched children play. I asked them questions and wrote down their answers. I talked to a little girl named Julia today. I asked 5 year old Julia, "What makes the wind?".
The conversation went as follows:

Me: What makes the wind?
Julia: The trees.
Me: How do you know?
Julia: I saw them waving their arms.
Me: How does that make the wind?
Julia (waving her hand in front of her face): Like this. Only they are bigger. And there are lots of trees.
Me: What makes the wind on the ocean?
Julia:  It blows there from the land. No. It’s the waves…

   From this response, I concluded that while the child was not correct by any adult criterion  she wasn't incorrect either. Classifying her belief would only show a lack of respect for her. If a child is told that he or she is wrong then that may cause the child to stop making theories.      
 “Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them something too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves.”

           

1919

       After  I received my doctorate from the University of Neuchâtel,  I realized that I was becoming more and more interested in psychology, thanks to my godfather. He  introduced me to philosophy and biology. I worked at the psychology labs in Zurich and at Bleuler's psychiatric clinic. It was here where I was introduced to the works of Jung, Freud, and others.I studied psychoanalysis at Zurich under the tutorial of Carl Jung and Eugen Bleuler.  It was here where I realized I had developed an interest in psychoanalysis. After a semester in the University of Zurich, I left Switzerland for France.

   I taught psychology and philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris. Currently, I am working at the Ecole de la rue de la Grange-aux-Belles a boys' institution founded by Alfred Binet. Right now it is being directed by De Simon. Both Binet and Simon developed a test to measure intelligence. They have asked me to help them. As I work with them, I have realized that I don't care for the right or wrong style of this test. I am more interested in the mistakes the children we test make. I plan to present them with a variety of questions to find out how their minds reason. Now I realize what I want to study. I want to work in the field of inductive and experimental psychology. I want to understand how the minds of children work!