Piaget received his baccalaureate at the age of 18 from the University of Neuchatel and also his doctorate in the natural sciences from that same school three years later. It was at this point that his work became more philosophical and Piaget began to study mollusks. The adaptation of the mollusks to one environment to the other intrigued Piaget, so much in fact that he published several professional papers on mollusks and was considered to be one of the world's experts on them.

It was from his early work in biology he came to believe that not only are biological acts adaptations to the environment but also that the mental activity or cognitive development can apply to the same laws that biological activity can. He perceived cognitive acts as adaptations to the environment. This idea does not however imply that mental behavior can be totally accredited

Piaget also believed that if a person was not in the appropriate cognitive stage, they could be caught in a state of disequilibrium when faced with new or inconceivable information. The person may be trying to learn the information but is unable to integrate it into their existing schemes or rather it is difficult for them to reorganize their scheme in adjusting to the new data presented.

The first stage, the sensorimotor period, begins at birth and continues on until about 11/2 or 2 years of age. During this stage Piaget described it as a time for infants to gain knowledge from all the new stimuli and their reactions to it. The development of motor skills is also a part of this stage while the infant is learning to crawl and walk.

The theory is based on three assumptions, the first being that knowledge is a process that is constantly changing and being altered from the interactions between the individual and the environment. This idea can be applied to everyday life in that people learn from their mistakes and therefore change their actions for the next time that situation occurs.

The third stage of concrete operations lasts up until the age of 11 or 12. It is during this time that the child develops logical reasoning and is now able to associate objects with symbols. This level of development enables the child not only to think about objects but to mentally manipulate them as well.

(New York, N.Y.; Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992.)

Wadsworth, Barry J. Piaget's Theory of Cognitive and Affective Development, 4th edition

(New York, N.Y.; Longman Incorporated, 1989.)

The second part of this theory pertains to the assumption that intelligence is acquired through building upon information already gained and producing new structures of data. This idea can be a

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