piagets stages

• Piaget's stages of cognitive development

  • Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)
  • Preoperational stage (2-7 years)
  • Concrete operational stage (7-11 years)
  • Formal operational stage (11+ years)
• 1. Sensorimotor stage (0-2 years)


  • Object permanence at 9 months
• 2. Preoperational stage (2-7 years)

  • Egocentrism (own perspective)
  • Class inclusion (e.g. dogs are animals)
  • Conservation (quantity is the same even when appearance changes)
• Conservation concept development


  1. Questioning by adults

  2. Naughty teddy study

  3. 3 mountains task didn't make sense to them
• 3. Concrete operational stage (7-11 years)


  • Think logically, not abstractly
  • Can conserve, class include
  • No longer egocentric
  • Cannot do algebra
• 4. Formal operational stage (11+ years)


  • Think abstractly
  • Form and test hypotheses
  • Piaget's - stages are universal and happen sequentially, one after another
• weakness


  Children can learn class inclusion if they are properly taught
• weakness


  conservation

  • leading questions by adults
  • naughty teddy study
• weakness


  egocentrism

  • 3 mountains task didn't make sense to them
  • police man - doesn't tell us anything about perspective taking
• strength


  application to teaching

  • Teach class inclusion
  • Develop conservation through experiments
  • Encourage play & perspective taking
• object permanence


  ability to know that an object still exists even if we cannot see it (8 months)
• egocentrism


  view the world from only their perspective
• class inclusion


  a group of objects can form a class but this same group can be a subset of an even larger group
• conservation


  quantity of an object remains the same even when its appearance changes
• weakness

  flawed methodology

  • McGarrigle & Donaldson's naughty teddy study
  • 60% of 6 year olds compared to Piagets 16%
  • no manipulation by adults
  • Piaget underestimated children's cognitive ability
• weakness

  conflicting evidence

  • Hughes had 4 year-olds position a doll where 2 policemen couldn't see 90% of the time
  • pre-conventional children can perspective take when they fully understand the task
  • original methods may have confused the kids