Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves.
Jean PiagetRead
I engage my subjects in conversation, patterned after psychiatric questioning, with the aim of discovering something about the reasoning underlying their right but especially their wrong answers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of understanding the thought processes behind people's answers, both right and wrong.
Jean Piaget highlights the value of engaging individuals in dialogue to uncover the underlying reasoning of their responses. By doing so, one can not only validate correct answers but also understand the misconceptions that lead to incorrect ones, thereby fostering a deeper learning experience and encouraging critical thinking.
Themes
EducationUnderstandingReasoningQuestionsDialogue
In practice
Example use cases
In a classroom setting, teachers can use this quote to inspire dialogue about critical thinking.
More from Jean Piaget
All quotes βLogical activity is not the whole of intelligence. One can be intelligent without being particularly logical.
Jean PiagetRead
Children's games constitute the most admirable social institutions. The game of marbles, for instance, as played by boys, contains an extremely complex system of rules - that is to say, a code of laws, a jurisprudence of its own.
Jean PiagetRead
Everyone knows that at the age of 11-12, children have a marked impulse to form themselves into groups and that the respect paid to the rules and regulations of their play constitutes an important feature of this social life.
Jean PiagetRead
Play is the work of childhood.
Jean PiagetRead
The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things.
Jean PiagetRead
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