The Four Stages of Cognitive Development
How Piaget said children think and learn: schemas, assimilation and accommodation, and the four stages from sensorimotor to formal operational, including conservation and egocentricity.
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How children think 🧠
Piaget studied how children think and learn. He said children build mental frameworks called schemas, and update them by assimilation and accommodation. He also said children pass through four stages of cognitive development, each with its own way of thinking.
Words for the theory 🔑
Learn these four terms before you study the stages.
Two of the stages 🆚
Children think in different ways as they grow.
Grade 9 thinking 💡
To reach the top grades, link each stage to what a child can and cannot yet do, such as a pre-operational child failing a conservation task, rather than just naming the stages.
Match the stage to the child 🔗
- sensorimotor
- pre-operational
- concrete operational
- formal operational
- learns through the senses and movement
- uses language but is egocentric and cannot conserve
- thinks logically about concrete objects and can conserve
- thinks in abstract and hypothetical ways
Match the term to its meaning 🧩
- schema
- assimilation
- accommodation
- egocentricity
- a mental framework for organising knowledge
- fitting new information into an existing schema
- changing a schema to fit new information
- seeing the world only from your own viewpoint
What is conservation? ❓
What is conservation in this theory?
- Knowing that quantity stays the same even if its appearance changes.
- Protecting the natural environment.
- Remembering information for a long time.
Key processes ✅
Select the TWO key processes in the theory.
- Assimilation.
- Accommodation.
- Rehearsal.
- Attachment.
Order the stages 🪜
An interactive activity.
Summarise the theory 📝
Piaget said children build mental frameworks called _____. They add new information by _____ or change a framework by _____. In the pre-operational stage a child is _____ and cannot conserve. By the concrete operational stage the child can _____.
Name the age 🔢
An interactive activity.
Spot the pre-operational features 🖍️
An interactive activity.
Which stage? 🧭
An interactive activity.
Explain a stage ✍️
An interactive activity.