Innovation; Educational Objectives IDENTIFIERS High Scope Cognitively Oriented Curriculum

The need for educational reform is argued, based on a growing awareness of the general ineffectiveness of school for most children.. Alternative educational programs based on behavioral analysis are judged inadequate, because they are based upon the same inappropriate goals as traditional education..In order to make educational reform effective, it must be recognized that (1) education must be perceived as a broad sweep of actual service to children, and (2) the task of education is not to directly prepare children to compete successfully in the adult world, but to be competent children. The High-Scope Curriculum, based on Piagetian theory and concerned with creating opportunities for maximal cognitive development, is presented as a viable educational approach. The curriculum incorporates Piaget's positions on action, representation, and language. It is prepared for teachers who are trained to put into action a theoretically-based program with broad developmental goals. A sequence of classification exercises is considered useful in structuring classroom activities and delineating constructive directions for each child..Such a sequence, directly based on Piaget's experiments, is presented.. (DP