Key Principle's of Piaget

Formal Operational Stage (12 years and over):

In the formal operational stage, more complex thought processes become evident and thinking becomes increasingly sophisticated. As individuals move through this stage, they are able to develop plans to solve problems, identify a range of possible solutions to problems, develop hypotheses and systematically test solutions. Conservation refers to the idea that an object does not change its weight, mass, volume or area when the object changes its shape or appearance.

Pre-Operational Stage (two to seven years):

As children progress through the pre-operational stage, they become increasingly able to represent events.

An important development that occurs during this stage is symbolic thinking- the increasing ability to use symbols such as words and pictures to represent objects, places or events. Another key cognitive accomplishment in the latter part of the pre-operational stage is called transformation- understanding that something can change from one state to another.

Piaget’s Four-Stage Theory of Cognitive Development:

Sensorimotor Stage (birth to two years):

In the sensorimotor stage infants construct their understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with motor abilities. She has assimilated the schema (pulling at the top of a bottle to open it) and can now apply that schema to all bottles. The thinking of concrete operational children revolves around what they know and what they can experience through their senses; that is, what is concrete.

Another key cognitive accomplishment is the ability to organise information into categories based on common features that sets them apart from other classes or groups. Stephanie will realise that his earlier schema does not work every time and that it applies only to certain types of bottles.