ABSTRACT
I have traced the theme of the learner’s control in relation to the external human and material resources of the classroom. But we can also see learning as being the attempt to control the internal life of thought and imagination. In respect of this inward life, control consists in a sense of awareness. What our evidence suggested was that even at the age of 9 or 10, given the external conditions of control, children are able to demonstrate an awareness not only of the subject matter they investigate, but of the very form of their investigation. A level of abstract thinking was apparent in which they were able to stand back from the immediacy of their experience (be it a scientific enquiry, a practical task or a ‘philosophical’ debate). They appeared able to operate not only upon the materials with which they worked, but also upon these operations themselves. Such thinking foreshadows what Piaget described as formal operations. It appeared to be important, for this level of thinking to be expressed, that the children make their own abstractions within a language context which is theirs. These are important elements of the children’s control over their investigations.
