Thinking Goes to School – Piagetʼs Theory in Practice

Does vision therapy for visual information processing improve academic performance? A randomised clinical trial

“…While our data were collected around 20 years ago, we believe the VIP programme remains contemporary. Specifically, there is a lack of high‐quality studies (see Introduction) to justify a change in VIP training and assessment, and the texts that informed the design of our VIP training remain seminal today among VIP practitioners 27,59 . As such—at least from a VIP perspective—our study design would remain largely unchanged if performed on a cohort today.…”

“…The experimental programme was devised to test an intervention programme that was as typical as possible, in both form and content, of what was being employed in Australian paediatric optometry practices at the time of recruitment. Form and content were based on discussion with practitioners who regularly used this intervention form and by reference to two texts considered seminal by involved practitioners 27,59 …”

“…Form and content were based on discussion with practitioners who regularly used this intervention form and by reference to two texts considered seminal by involved practitioners. 27,59 Experimental programme components were designed to target the development of laterality and directionality (with increasing emphasis on application to alphanumeric characters), visual analysis and discrimination, sensory integration, visual coding, eye-hand co-ordination, visual span, processing speed, VSM and reading-related saccadic eye movement control. Parents were instructed on how to set experimental programme activities at an appropriate initial level for their child and on how to 'load' activities appropriately (gradually increase the difficulty level as skills improve) to encourage further development and automaticity of the skills being taught.…”

“…The design of the control programme and its components was based on four key criteria: 60 (1) Required same time and attention as the experimental programme; (2) Appeared educationally, visually and developmentally relevant; (3) Minimised the chance of directly impacting VIP and educational skills 27,59 and (4) Maintained blinding. We aimed to create a control programme that was at least as enjoyable but less challenging than the experimental programme by targeting skills already competently demonstrated by the participants, then maintaining the training below the demonstrated competency levels; for example, targeting convergence skills in a child without any diagnosable vergence problem, using loose prisms within the child's convergence range.…”

Has Psychology Anything to offer the Teacher?

“…Ten years later it is still obscure, as we can see by examining two recent books on the proposed application to education of Piaget's theory. The first is called "Thinking Goes to School" and is subtitled "Piaget's Theory in Practice" (Furth and Wachs, 1974). The second is "Piaget in the Classroom" (Schwebel and Raph, 1974).…”