According to Piaget, cognitive development can be realized with maturation and environmental experience, but he attached some significance to training as a means of facilitating cognitive development. This paper gives brief summaries of eight studies carried out in Africa clearly showing that cognitive development can be facilitated by training.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BaldwinA. L.Theories of child development. (2nd ed.) New York: Wiley, 1980.
2.
BeilinH.Learning and operational convergence in logical thought development. Experimental Child Psychology, 1965, 3, 317–339.
3.
BovetM.Cross-cultural study of conservation concepts: Continuous quantities and length. In InhelderB.SinclairH.BovetM. (Eds.), Learning and the development of cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univer. Press, 1974.
4.
DasenP. R.HeronA.Cross-cultural tests of Piaget's theory. In TriandisH. C.HeronA. (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Developmental psychology. Vol. 4. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1981. Pp. 295–341.
5.
DasenP. R.LavalleeM.RetschitzkiR. J.Training conservation of quantity (liquids) in West African (Baoule) children. International Journal of Psychology, 1979, 14, 57–68.
6.
DasenP. R.NginiL.LavalleeM.Cross-cultural training studies of concrete operations. In EckensbergerL.PoortingaY.LonnerW. (Eds.), Cross-cultural contributions to psychology. Amsterdam: Swets/Zeitlinger, 1979. Pp. 94–104.
7.
GruenG. E.Experience affecting the development of numbers conservation in children. Child Development, 1965, 36, 963–979.
8.
KariukiP. W.Training and transfer of class inclusion in young children. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Univer. of Alberta, Canada, 1980.
9.
LavalleeM.DasenP. R.L'apprentissage de la notion d'inclusion de classes chez de jeunes enfants Baoules (Côte d'Ivoire). International Journal of Psychology, 1980, 15, 27–41.
10.
OkonjiM. D.The effects of special training on the classificatory behaviour of some Nigerian Ibo children. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 1970, 40, 21–26.
11.
PiagetJ.Main trends in psychology. New York: Harper & Row, 1970.
12.
PinardA.MorinC.LefebvreM.Apprentissage de la conservation des quantites liquides chez enfants Rwandais et Canadiens-Français. International Journal of Psychology, 1973, 8, 15–23.
13.
PolhemusS.MbakisoD.MooradF.Group training of conservation skills with children from a nontechnological culture. International Journal of Psychology, 1985, 20, 1–11.
