Children's minds

Originally issued in 1978, this book examines how young children think and reason. Margaret Donaldson looks closely at the way children's minds develop and asks what their thinking really is, rather than simply measuring what they cannot yet do.

Donaldson takes issue with the influential theories of Jean Piaget, which described young children as limited by stages of logical thought. Drawing on experiments showing that children often perform far better when a task makes human sense to them, she argues that the difference lies in how problems are framed. The book is written for readers interested in psychology and education, including teachers and parents.