38th Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society

Adolescent Development: Challenges & Opportunities

6-8 June 2008, Québec City, Canada

Photo © Lauren Greenfield   www.laurengreenfield.com

POSTER Presenters: There will be two poster sessions. Both will be held in the central foyer. Poster Session 1 will be held on Friday June 6 from 6:00-7:00 pm. Poster Session 2 will be held on Saturday June 7 from 6:00-7:00 pm. Posters will be mounted on presentation boards measuring approx. 40 inches tall by 90 inches wide (101 cm x 228 cm). We will provide tacks / poster pins.

Your poster can be mounted during the morning of your poster session. This will allow people to view the poster throughout the day. You are only required to attend your poster during the scheduled session (6-7 pm).

The 38th Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society will take place in Québec City, Canada, at the Loews Le Concorde Hotel, 6-8 June 2008.

Organizers: Eric Amsel and Judi Smetana

Conference Theme

Our understanding of adolescent biological, cognitive, moral, and social development has been significantly revised over the past decade. The view of adolescence as the culmination of progressive, qualitative, and developmental changes has given way to the view that adolescence is a period of vulnerability and instability entailing developmental continuity from childhood and to adulthood. However, the current views may obscure what makes adolescence a unique period in the life cycle. One of the major goals of the JPS meeting in 2008 is to explore the distinctiveness of adolescence
from a constructivist and developmental perspective.

The JPS meeting will address adolescence as a unique time of opportunity and vulnerability, as adolescents actively coordinate capacities, skills, and understandings within and across domains. The symposium will examine these issues from neurological, cognitive, self-system, moral, and social perspectives. Interrelationships across these areas will be considered, and associations between these developmental processes and adolescents’ vulnerabilities to psychosocial problems and difficulties will be examined.

Plenary speakers include: Robert Crosnoe (University of Texas, Austin), Jay Giedd (National Institutes of Health), Judi Smetana (University of Rochester), Larry Steinberg (Temple University) and Avril Thorne (University of California, Santa Cruz).

Invited symposia on topics such as: intersections between peer and romantic relationships, risk and resilience, and constancy and change during adolescence will complement the perspectives offered by the plenary speakers.

Marking the 50th anniversary of its English publication, Inhelder & Piaget’s The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence will be discussed at a special session.

About Québec City

The cradle of French civilization in North America, Québec City is proudly preparing to celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2008. Quebec’s Old Town (Vieux-Québec), the only North American fortified city north of Mexico whose walls still exist, was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1985.

For more information on Québec City, visit: www.ville.quebec.qc.ca

Université Laval is serving as institutional host for the Jean Piaget  Society in Quebec City

Scholars interested in the development of knowledge are invited to participate whatever their discipline. Submissions need not address the program theme—all submissions are welcome.

Visit the JPS 2008 Conference Page for more information