What Parents can do...

Piaget- What Parents can do:

Piaget believed that children's thinking processes are fundamentally different from those of adults. He used open-ended questions (such as "What do you think will happen?") To test the intelligence level of children, thus permitting the children to answer in their natural manner.

When testing the intelligence level of a child keep in mind that the thinking processes are fundamentally different than those of adults. So the language or wording must be age appropritate or advancing the level according to the intelligence level of the child. When deciding this: using the suggestion according to Piaget "Asking open ended questions" as it relates to what you think the child should know to possibly advance to a higher grade level in a particular book.

Piaget's teachings have practical, educational implications that parents can implement. They include these four tips:

1. Focus on the thinking process, not just the answers and results. Parents should not just focus on whether the child's answer was right or wrong, they should zero in on how the child came up with the answers. For example when you were in math class and the teacher requires that you show "your work" not just the answers.

2. Discovery learning. Instead of presenting "canned knowledge", discovery learning is preferred, whereby the child learns spontaneously through interacting with the environment and activities.

3, Avoid trying to make children into "little adults." Do not present information to children that is developmentally inappropriate or too advanced for their level of cognitive functioning. Otherwise the children may know how to 'parrot' back the information but they will not truly understand it.

4. Make peace with children's differences in development speed. Piaget notes that every child develops at a different rate, so instead of holding each child to a set of uniform standards, judge your child's progress on an individual basis based on their own history.