Piaget's stages of cognitive development

• Sensorimotor 


  0-2: children focus on learning co-ordination of sensory and motor skills - waving their hand. Key characteristics = object performance
• Pre-operational 


  2-7: children lack internal consistency and cannot think logically. Key characteristics = lack of conservation and egocentrism
• Concrete-operational 


  7-11: A child begins to use adult logic but when working with physical objects. Key characteristics = logical thinking
• Formal-operational 


  11+: A child is now fully able to think logically and about abstract ideas
• Evaluation - Positive


  Basic idea correct
• Evaluation - Negative


  Underestimates children's ability
• Evaluation - Negative


  Overestimates children's ability