Piaget, writing instruction and the middle school

Author(s): JUDY CHEATHAM

Source: Middle School Journal , MARCH 1989, Vol. 20, No. 4 (MARCH 1989), pp. 14-17
Published by: Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE)

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23023547

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 MIDDLE SCHOOL
Journal

Piaget, writing instructio

the middle school
Piaget's theory has been widely accepted but affects practice little
JUDY CHEATHAM

Especially germane to writing curriculum, other researchers have corrob

research
Piaget's four stages of cogni for middle school childrenorated arehis thelaterstages
belief.
Most educators have studied Jean
tive development. Piaget's the of concrete and formal operations Administering
and the Piagetian task tests to
ory has been widely acclaimed in educa child's movement from one to the other. large groups of students, researchers have
tional circles for the last two decades. In The two chief differences between the found that by age fourteen, 24% (Shayer
reviewing these stages, however, andstages, according to Looft (1971), are and Arlin 1982) to 34.6% (Sayre and Ball
examining their implications for curricuthese. First, in the concrete stage, the child 1975) of the students had reached the stage
lum and instruction, one is struck with howis not able to "think about his own of formal operations; by age sixteen, 30%
little Piaget's theory has affected practicethinking," not able, as he is in the(Shayer formal and Arlin) to 52% (Martorano
although considerable research has repli stage, to deal with the complex problems 1977) had reached their fourth stage. In
cated his work and pointed the direction involved in reasoning. Second, other in the words, recent research indicates that
to changes. An examination of writingearlier stage, the child has not "acquired," only one-third (if that) of the eighth grade
theory and practice at the middle school as he has in the later stage, the ability population
to has reached the level of formal
level will illustrate. imagine many possible outcomes to an
operations.
event. At the stage of concrete operations,Studies of the physiology of the brain,
Piaget's Stages of the child cannot move beyond his moreover,
reliance especially those of biophysicist
Cognitive Development upon the concrete; his thinking isHerman tied to Epstein (1978), seem to corrobo
The key concepts of Piaget's theory real objects, real events, real people. rateInPiaget's
the theory of cognitive develop
(1954, 1971, 1972) are process, interac ment. Epstein's controversial findings
tion, participation, modification, assimila
tion, evaluation, reevaluation, internaliza
u provide the biological evidence to support
the Piagetian theory, identifying five
tion, and stage. Only through the process distinct brain growth spurts, the last two
of interacting with the environment, Piaget Much present in occurring between ages 10 and 12 and ages
asserts, can a child come to know, to 14 and 16. The periods between these
understand, his world. In other words, struction shows spurts, what Epstein calls plateaus, are
intellectual development derives only from times of slower brain growth; the plateau
between the last two spurts, the lowest of
the continual and dynamic interplay
between the child and his surroundings; the
little regard for an all the brain growth hiatus stages, occurs
child can not know unless he participates. individual's level junior
while the majority of children are attending
high or middle school.
In participating, he takes the
environment, modifies it, assimilates it into Epstein's theory, it must be remem
what he already knows, reevaluates prior of learning. bered, is just that—a theory for now. How
knowledge in light of new knowledge, and ever, Hester and Hester (1983) cite numer
through such a process internalizes the new ous studies in brain research and conclude
result. Some things, however, a childstage of formal operations, on the other that the "evidence is now being gathered
simply cannot understand until he reacheshand, the child acquires the capacity to by the most noted scientific researchers
a certain stage of cognitive development.think in logical and abstract terms. and educators in tune with brain laterality,
Piaget identifies four such stages with Although his early research suggested and its implications are mounting in favor
approximated age intervals for each. that the period of formal operations has its of rather sweeping changes in the entire
onset during the period of early education process—changes in curriculum
Sensorimotor Stage birth to 18/24 mo. adolescence, 12 to 15 years of age, Piaget design, learning materials, teacher educa
Preoperational Thought 2 to 7 years thought later (1972) that his sample in tion, and teaching strategies" (p. 5).
Concrete Operations
Stage 7-8 to 11-12 years Switzerland perhaps showed earlier The research of Toepfer (1981) indicates
Formal Operations development than other populations. And, that it is not merely unproductive but may
Stage 11-12 years on significantly for the middle school be actually counterproductive to teach a
14 / MARCH 1989

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child at a level above that of his cognitive merely put middle school students "on classrooms across the country, and it
development. Identifying what he calls a hold" for two years because their brain seems to have little to do with learning. In
"turn-off syndrome" in transescent growth is latent or because the vast his Contexts for Learning to Write,
learners, learners who are trying to make majority are pre-formal thinkers. We must Applebee reports on his examination of
the transition from the concrete to theteach them—but not the way we would some 200 randomly selected schools and
formal operations stage, Toepfer findsteach
a adults. We must find ways not to 1200 teachers (200 for each of six subject
accelerate but to assist a child's develop
burnout resulting possibly from children areas) across the country. His results are
ment from one stage of cognitive develop
being constantly expected to perform tasks disturbing:
ment to the next. There is a big difference
that are too difficult for them cognitively. 1. The majority of assignments are
between influencing development and ac dominated by exercises (fill-in-the-blank,
In essence, the cognitive circuits of these
children are being overloaded. celerating it. short answer, etc.) in which children
To aid, influence, or provide opportu provide information without formulating a
text.
Implications for Curriculum nities for development, several researchers
and Instruction have come up with strategies. Orstein 2. Only 3% of all writing done across
(1977) recommends six strategies for use the six subject areas is paragraph length or
Much present instruction, however,
with middle schoolers: allow the child longer, with English classes assigning only
seems to little regard the individual's level
of learning. A great number of texts writ opportunities for holistic impressions (in 10% of their work at least paragraph
ten for middle schoolers, for example, areart and music, for example); encourage in
length.
quiry, ask divergent questions, encourage 3. Even when the task is to do ex
inappropriately abstract. Much of the
recent reform in education, moreover, rejection of simplistic solutions; broaden tended writing, the typical assignment is
category widths; use listening for other a first/final draft to be completed in class,
seems indifferent to stages of cognitive de
velopment. In many instances the new purposes (for imagination, for instance);one page long or less, the purpose of which
curricula try merely to "miniaturize" highencourage hypothesizing. His answers are is to come up with a right answer rather
school learning by demanding middle that we teach people how to think forthan to convince, inform, entertain, or
themselves by providing an environmentexplore.
schools to "toughen up," a practice
for learning partly by their activities and 4. The teacher is audience 90% of the
Strahan and Toepfer (1984) call "danger
ous and naively irresponsible" (p. 8).partly by ours but that the learningtime, with peer audience accounting for the
situations and tasks must be at a level at other 10%. One-third of teachers use

— u
Two-thirds of
eighth graders are
unable to do the
abstract thinking
tain logical and analogical, verbal and
often required
nonverbal enrichment, and a systematic
of them.
According to Hester and Hester, the
general tendency of middle school reform
is "to offer more and more complex think
ing processes" (p. 3); they cite as evidence
the secondary schools' requesting higher
levels of math and science be taught at the
middle school and the many gifted pro
grams which stress acceleration rather than
enrichment, creativity, practice, applica
tion, and problem solving. But if Piaget is
right, then, at least two-thirds of all eighth
graders are unable to do the logical and
abstract thinking being increasingly re
quired of them.
So when do we teach, what do we teach,
and how do we teach? We cannot, of
course, as Brazee (1983) points out,
which the children can operate cognitively.writing to engage in dialogue with the
Hester and Hester (1983) recommendstudent from time to time.
that the student be "provided with greater 5. In most cases, no time is spent on
opportunity to consolidate, refine, and maany prewriting activities (i.e., formulating
ture their thinking skills initiated duringtopic, brainstorming, outlining, responding
their previous brain growth periods" (p.informally to topic, drafting). When there
7). Strahan and Toepfer (1984) suggest a is time spent beforehand, it is generally
wide range of activities which providespent on form (e.g., how many pages the
opportunities for pre-formal, transescent,assignment should be, whether it should be
and formal thinkers. They further suggestwritten in pencil or ink). Only 3.7% of any
that guided instruction have two essentialprewriting time is devoted to how to man
elements: varied experiences, which con age a writing task.
progression from concrete to abstract (pp.
9-10).
What these strategies have in common
is that they provide a variety of learning
activities and opportunities for the student
of either formal or pre-formal thought. The
learning situations progress from the con
crete to the abstract. These strategies also
reflect an awareness that the transition is
gradual and difficult. In short, these strat
egies are aimed at helping every child to
learn to think.
Implications For Writing Instruction.
These general suggestions are certainly
excellent, but applying them to subject
areas is quite another matter. Such is the
case with writing instruction. Thanks to
Applebee (1984) educators do know what Grueni gJuniorHigh,EagleRiver,Alask
is going on with writing instruction in Writing is usually a lonely task
MARCH 1989 / 15

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 6. Teachers are generally of little help Writing is
in giving manageable assignments, helping a means of
the student explore topics, and then eval
uating his work in ways that would allow learning rather
him to correct problems. Teacher interven than an end
tion for the most part focuses on grammar in itself.
and word choice.
7. Since so much emphasis is put on
first-as-final draft and since teachers tend
to emphasize superficial aspects of the
student text, a student's revisions of his
text are also usually superficial, if, indeed,
he revises at all. Some students' idea of
revision is merely to recopy the rough draft
in ink.
8. Most teachers and students see writ
ing only as an end in itself, rather than as
a means of learning.
9. Very few creative writing assign
ments are given, except to slower learners.
10. Most students can write a fluent nar
rative by the time they reach high school.
Most high school tasks, however, call for
analysis, which few students can do well.
What often happens is that the student who
does not tackle the analytical task but
instead reverts to a narrative is usually
given a good grade because of the fluency
of his text. On the other hand, when a
student struggles to attempt analysis, he is Gruening Junior High, Eagle River, Alaska
given a lower score because, even though
he takes on the task, his paper is not fluent. self-expression, still if it is used as a
early stages of the process (prewriting,
11. Many teachers expound the theory drafting) rather than merely acting as
process of interaction, it can be a means
that writing should be taught as a process, of exploration and discovery, crucial judge,
to the teacher could aid in the child's
but very few teach it that way. Piaget's theory, especially as one moveswriting development.
12. Most students see writing as some from one stage of cognitive developmentBrazee (1983) proposes some related
thing to do for a grade. They are only to the next. However, rather than being ways to deal with the teaching of writing.
"trivially" engaged in the writing process, encouraged to explore a topic through Most teachers assume that a student can
seeing little point or relevance to their writing, a student is actually discouragedstudy an example of a good essay, do
writing assignments. various
since attempts at analysis usually result in exercises with a few essays, and
lower grades and since a one-class-period
then produce a "good" essay on the first
Flaws in the Present System time constraint makes him concentrate all
try. What Brazee advocates, though, is that
The flaws in the present system are glar his efforts on producing a final draftwe asallow the middle level student to do
ing. First, if, as Piaget says, a child learns quickly as possible. some "messing around," or exploring,
with writing. This process, which Piaget
by doing, then he should be learning writ Fifth, to help the student make the tran
calls self-regulation, involves wrestling
ing by writing, not by filling in blanks. sition from simple narrative to analytical
with problems the student is not certain
Second, the nature of the task is important. writing, he needs a framework which will
If we know that a pre-formal middle guide him until it can gradually behow re to solve. The student tries different
schooler cannot handle an analytical as moved. According to Applebee's finding,
solutions or strategies and articulates either
signment without help, then we should though, rarely is such a framework pro verbally or on paper why he thinks these
either not give him the assignment or, vided, although research shows that the solutions or strategies work or don't work.
preferably, give him help. Furthermore, student does not automatically make the At this stage, he also formulates questions
if he is supposed to interact with his topic leap into analysis. for which he does not yet have answers.
but is given no choice in that topic, no Finally, if learning is a process of inter
This idea of messing around with writing
wonder he is only trivially invovled. action between child and environment is andactually not new, and it can be done in
several ways. Without using the informal
Third, if a child learns about his environ if, within this process, there are various
ment through exploring it in terms of stages which Piaget and others indicate term, the Janet Emig (1971) emphasized the
symbols, as Piaget suggests, then writing child must encounter one at a time, then importance of the exploratory stage at any
(a whole system of symbols) can be an writing should also be a process of inter level of writing instruction, especially if
effective way of learning. action—between child and text, child one andaccepts her premise that writing, in
Fourth, while writing can be an end topic, and child and reader. If the teacher fact, is a process, and that the work before
within itself, a mode of communication and would serve in a cooperative effort in the the drafting begins is crucial.
16 / MARCH 1989

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 For example, she and others assert that provides the entire conversation as theprevalent knowing that by doing so we ask
a student should be involved in topic baby cries or grunts or gurgles: "Babythe impossible and thus insure failure,
selection. This does not mean that the want a bottle," she asks, and then she demanding that a child perform tasks for
student can choose to write not about answers her own question, "Yes, baby which he is not ready. With such instruc
World War II as the rest of the class is but wants a bottle." As the baby learns to talk, tion, however, the child will almost cer
about Madonna's latest rock video. It does she points and says something that vaguely tainly learn at least one thing: to hate
mean, though, that the student can choose resembles "cookie." The mother says, writing. Is there really any choice?
from a series of topics about World War "Do you want a cookie?" and baby re
II or that the class can each write down sponds "Yes" or "Me want cookie." By References

three or four topics of interest to the be age of two the baby can usually say, Applebee, A. N. (1984). Contexts for learning to
compiled by the teacher into a list from 'Can I have cookie. Mommy?" The moth write: studies in secondary school instruction.
which to choose, the student then writing er can now remove her scaffold because Norwood, N. J. ABLEX.
Brazee, E. N. (1983). Brain periodization: CHAL
to explain why he chose his particular the baby no longer needs it.
LENGE, not justification. The Middle School
topic. Or each student may write the fiveUsing Bruner's linguistic scaffold as aJournal, 15( 1), 8-9,30.
questions he would most like answered model, Applebee suggests that the writing Bruner, J. (1964). The course of cognitive growth.
about World War II, then write possible teacher employ the same type of apparatus American Psychologist, 19, 1-15.
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in writing instruction. That is, the teacher
New York: Springer-Verlag.
questions or for structuring a paper to should provide scaffolding in each step of
Bruner, J. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds.
answer the questions. The point is that the the writing process (i.e., prewriting, brain
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
student must in some way be involved storming,
in drafting, editing), removing that
Emig, J. (1971). The composing processes of 12th
the process of choosing a topic, of scaffolding as the students internalize thegraders. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of
processes but supplying further scaffolds English.
exploring a topic.
Epstein, H. T„ & Toepfer, C. F. (1978, May). A
Another way to mess around is with for as the writing tasks become more and more
neuroscience basis for reorganizing middle grades
mal writings. After a lesson about anything complex. If, for example, the instructor education.
is Educational Leadership, pp. 656-660.
from computers to amoeba, the instructor working with the thesis statement, theHester, in J., & Hester, P. (1983). Brain research and
can use five to ten minutes of class time structor should define thesis statement andthe middle school curriculum. The Middle School
Journal, 15(1), 4-7.
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for an assignment like "Write a response
Then the instructor should have the Looft, W. R. (1971). Egocentrism and social inter
to what we talked about in class today. You action in adolescence. Adolescence, 6, 485-94.
can write on anything. You can compare student redefine thesis statement in other
Martorano, S. (1977). A development analysis of per
the computer to other machines. You can words and generate several of his own the formance on Piaget's formal operations tasks. De
address the issue of whether computers sis statements, explaining why each is, in velopmental psychology, 13, 666-672.
Orstein, R. (1977, January). The duality of the mind.
will replace people. All I want is a fact, a thesis statement. If there is a pro
Instructor, pp. 54-58.
response to our discussion. What would blem, the teacher intervenes right there Piaget, J. (1954). The construction of reality in the
you like to add but maybe did not get thewith probing and redirecting questions to child. New York: Basic Book's.
chance to?" show the child where his flaw in reasoning Piaget, J. (1971). The science of education and the
psychology of the child. New York: Viking Press.
This type of informal writing forceslies.a It is absolutely not enough to have a
Piaget, J. (1972). Intellectual evolution from adoles
student to explore a subject, rather than child choose a thesis statement from a list
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merely to recite information about it, of by five on a ditto. In a scaffold, the instruc Roberge, J. J., & Flexer, B. K. (1979). Further ex
making him articulate his own feelings, tor could supply three or four thesis state aminations of formal operational reasoning abilities.
ments and have the student write a para Child Development, 50, 478-84.
beliefs, ideas. Such writing is also entirely
graph or essay based on one he chooses. Sayre, S., & Ball, D. W. (1975). Piagetian cognitive
non-threatening in that the instructor does
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not assign a grade to it. Whatever the As the child is more easily able to formu of Research in Science Teaching, 12, 165-74.
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rated into a more formal, structured the teacher can remove the scaffold. Again mind: Teachers can begin to make a difference.
Transescence, 10, 27-34.
assignment aimed at analysis of a problem.the possibilities are endless.
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If the student responds that computers have thinking: Renewed rationale for exploratory
many benefits but also many drawbacks,Conclusion learning. The Middle School Journal, 15(2), 8-11.
his second writing might explain the The problem, it seems, is that middleToepfer, C. (1981). Brain growth periodization
benefits, explain the drawbacks, and then research; Curricular implications for nursery
school, high school, and even college ed
through grade 12 learning. (ERIC Document
make a judgment as to whether one sideucators assume without foundation that Reproduction Service No. ED 204 835 EA 013
outweighs the other. The possibilities arestudents should be able to write more and 727).
endless. more analytically as they grow older.Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language.
Researchers also offer some suggestions There is, however, no automatic transition Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.
on how to teach a child to advance from from concrete to formal operations. It
narrative to analysis, from concrete to requires active experiences and related
Judy Cheatham teaches in the Department
formal operations. For example, in hisinstruction. By teaching the process of of English, College of Arts and Humani
work with infant language acquisition,writing and by providing appropriateties, at Eastern Kentucky University,
Jerome Bruner (1964, 1978, 1986) has scaffolding, we can provide the experience
Richmond.
observed that mothers provide a linguisticstudents of writing need to reach the stage
"scaffold" for their babies and can remove of formal operations.
that scaffold when it is no longer neces On the other hand, we can continue the
sary. For example, the mother at firstsort of traditional writing instruction still
MARCH 1989 / 17

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