Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget (August 9, 1896 – 16 September 16, 1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist, famous for his work with children and his theory of cognitive development.

This is an exchange between Jean Piaget and a very young girl; interestingly, the little girls insights into physics, while incorrect, show tremendous insight:

Piaget asked children, "What makes the wind?" A typical Piaget dialogue:

Piaget: What makes the wind?

Girl: The trees.

Piaget: How do you know?

Girl: I saw them waving their arms.

Piaget: How does that make the wind?

Girl (waving her hand in front of his face): Like this. Only they are bigger. And there are lots of trees.

Piaget: What makes the wind on the ocean?

Girl: It blows there from the land. No. It's the waves...

The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered. from Education for Democracy, Proceedings from the Cambridge School Conference on Progressive Education (1988)

Every acquisition of accommodation becomes material for assimilation, but assimilation always resists new accommodations. from The Elaboration of the Universe" in The Construction of Reality in the Child (1955)