ABSTRACT
Margaret Donaldson is a developmental psychologist whose theories about the nature and development of the human mind have far-reaching implications for education. She was born in the Scottish town of Paisley, near Glasgow, on 16 June 1926, the eldest of three children. When she was six her family moved from Paisley to a village in Perthshire, where she attended the local primary school and later went to secondary school in Callander. At the time when Donaldson was embarking on her career in developmental psychology, British psychology was very much dominated by behaviourist theories. During the 1960s Donaldson became particularly interested in the thinking and language of pre-school children. She set up a nursery within the Psychology Department at Edinburgh which was attended by local children aged between three and five years. These children were studied intensively by Donaldson, her colleagues and her students.
