ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a few general methodological aspects of learning studies done expressly to test elements of Jean Piaget's theory. It examines the methods of teaching and the criteria used for testing the quality of the teaching results. Primarily, Piaget-relevant learning studies differ from each other in the number of variables used in the teaching procedure. The newly acquired problem solutions in Piaget-relevant learning studies give rise to much speculation regarding the thought processes that underlie these solutions. Piaget's view of the frequently applied criterion of durability was that when a thought structure had developed spontaneously and had reached a state of equilibrium, it is durable. For Piagetians, countersuggestions are an essential test to find out if a behavior pattern is based on an equilibrated structure or not. Material countersuggestions as used by Smedslund resemble the other kinds of misleading perceptual cues so characteristic of Piagetian problems.
