THE CHILD'S CONCEPTION OF Physical CAUSALITY.
Title:
THE CHILD'S CONCEPTION OF Physical CAUSALITY.
Author:
Piaget, Jean,.
ISBN:
9781136316388
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (321 pages)
Contents:
THE CHILD'S CONCEPTION OF PHYSICAL CAUSALITY -- Copyright -- Contents -- Section I: Explanation of Movement -- Chapter I. Experiments Concerning the Nature of air -- 1. Pressure of the hands -- 2. The air of the punctured ball, of the tube, and of the pump -- 3. The making of air and the movement of projectiles -- 4. Centrifugal force -- Chapter II. The Origin of Wind and of Breath -- 1. The formation of wind -- 2. Breathing -- Chapter III. Movement of the Clouds and the Heavenly Bodies -- 1. The movement of clouds, -- 2. The movement of the heavenly bodies -- Chapter IV. Water Currents and Movements due to Weight -- 1. The waves of the lake -- 2. The current of rivers -- 3. The suspension of the sun and moon, and the fall of heavy bodies to the ground -- Chapter V. The Child's idea of Force -- 1. How the child explains movement -- 2. Definition of the idea of force -- 3. Origin of the idea of force -- Section II: Prediction and Explanation -- Chapter VI. The Floating of Boats -- 1. First and second stages: boats float for moral or dynamic reasons -- 2. Third stage: boats float owing to their own or to acquired movement and because they are light in relation to the total mass of water -- 3. Boats float for static reasons -- Chapter VII. The Level of Water -- 1. First stage: the water rises because of the weight of the submerged body -- 2. Second and third stages: the rôle of volume is understood and made explicit -- 3. Conclusions -- 4. Prediction and explanation of the phenomenon of communicating vessels in children from 8 to 12 years old -- Chapter VIII. The Problem of Shadows -- 1. First stage: shadow is a substance emanating from the object and participating with night -- 2. Second stage: shadow is a substance emanating from the object alone.
3. Third stage: shadow is a substance which flees from light -- 4. Conclusions -- Section III: Explanation of Machines -- Chapter IX. The Mechanism of Bicycles -- 1. First stage: the cause of the movement is synthetic -- 2. Second stage: the various parts are necessary but unrelated -- 3. Third and fourth stages: the search for contacts and mechanical explanation -- Chapter X. The Steam-Engine -- 1. First stage: the wheel turns because of the fire -- 2. Second stage: the wheel turns because of the water -- 3. Third stage: the wheel turns because of the steam -- Chapter XI. Trains, Motor-Cars, and Aeroplanes -- 1. Steam-engines and motor-boats -- 2. Motorcars and aeroplanes -- 3. Conclusions -- Section IV: The Child's Conception of Reality and Causality -- Summary and Conclusion -- 1. The child's reality -- 2. Causality and the child -- 3. The child's idea of law -- 4. Assimilation and imitation -- 5. Child logic -- 6. Logic and reality -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects.
Abstract:
Our encounters with the physical world are filled with miraculous puzzles-wind appears from somewhere, heavy objects (like oil tankers) float on oceans, yet smaller objects go to the bottom of our water-filled buckets. As adults, instead of confronting a whole world, we are reduced to driving from one parking garage to another. The Child's Conception of Physical Causality, part of the very beginning of the ground-breaking work of the Swiss naturalist Jean Piaget, is filled with creative experimental ideas for probing the most sophisticated ways of thinking in children. The strength of Piaget's research is evident in this collection of empirical data, systematically organized by tasks that illuminate how things work. Piaget's data are remarkably rich. In his new introduction, Jaan Valsiner observes that Piaget had no grand theoretical aims, yet the book's simple power cannot be ignored. Piaget's great contribution to developmental psychology was his "clinical method"-a tactic that integrated relevant aspects of naturalistic experiment, interview, and observation. Through this systematic inquiry, we gain insight into children's thinking. Reading Piaget will encourage the contemporary reader to think about the unity of psychological phenomena and their theoretical underpinnings. His wealth of creative experimental ideas probes into the most sophisticated ways of thinking in children. Technologies change, yet the creative curiosity of children remains basically unhindered by the consumer society. Piaget's data preserve the reality of the original phenomena. As such, this work will provide a wealth of information for developmental psychologists and those involved in the field of experimental science. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) is known for investigations of thought processes. He was professor at Geneva University (1929-1954) and director of the
International Center for Epistemology (1955-1980). He is the author of The Language and Thought of the Child, Judgment and Reasoning in the Child, The Origin of Intelligence in Children, and The Early Growth of Logic in the Child. Jaan Valsiner is professor of psychology at Clark University, and a recognized authority on the life and work of Piaget.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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