Piaget and Eagan

Till the moment, we have talked a lot about Vygotsky and Bruner, but it is important to pay special attention to the theories and findings of other remarkable authors when choosing an adequate course book to work with children attending their EPB cycle. One of those specialists is Piaget. He proposed a theory to show the different stages of cognitive development any human being go through in his life. They come to be known as: sensory-motor intelligence, pre-operational knowledge, concrete knowledge and abstract knowledge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget
The Canadian educator Kieran Eagan also describes human development but in terms of the characteristics that determine how the learner gains access to the world. He thinks of educational development as a process of accumulating and exercising layers of capacity for engaging with the world. As individual develop, they add new layers of sophistication. There are four layers: *the Mythic layer (4/5 to 9/10):Emotional categories have primary importance. Children want to know how to feel about whatever they are learning,simple binary opposite, for instance, the understanding of hot and cold precedes the concept of warm, the story form is the most powerful vehicle for instruction.* the Romantic layer (8/9 to 14/15):The key is in the search for the transcendent within reality. There is an outside world distinct and separate from the world within, The separate world is perceived as potentially threatening and alien. Children confront the task of developing a sense of their distinct identity.They seek out the limits of the real world. Material which deals with courage, nobility, genius, energy or creativity is potentially suitable for them.* the Philosophic layer (14/15 to 19/20): Students begin to understand the world as a unit, of which they are part. Focus in this layer is on the general laws by which the world works. * and the Ironic Layer (19/20 through adulthood): A major task is to control the capacities of all previous layers. If one scheme does not serve adequately, it is discarded and another is used instead