When preparing for the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET), one of the most critical topics in Professional Education is Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. Under the subject Child and Adolescent Development, Board Licensure Examination for Professional Teachers (BLEPT) questions frequently revolve around how children acquire, construct, and use knowledge.
This comprehensive reviewer breaks down Piaget’s core concepts and the four stages of cognitive development to help you ace your LET.
Who is Jean Piaget?
Jean Piaget (1896–1980) was a Swiss psychologist and the pioneer of genetic epistemology—the study of the origins of knowledge. Unlike behaviorists who believed children are passive recipients of environmental stimuli, Piaget argued that children are active scientists (active learners) who construct their own understanding of the world through exploration and experimentation.
Core Concepts in Piaget’s Theory
Before we look at the actual stages, it’s important to understand how children process new information. LET questions love using real-life classroom scenarios to test you on these core concepts:
1. Schema (The Building Blocks of Knowledge)
A schema (plural: schemata) is a mental framework or cognitive structure that helps an individual organize and interpret information. Think of it as a mental filing cabinet. For example, a toddler might have a schema that “all four-legged animals with fur are dogs.”
2. Adaptation Processes
Children move from one stage to the next by adapting to the world around them. This involves three vital processes:
Assimilation
Assimilation occurs when a child fits new information into an existing schema.
For example, his existing schema is a dog having four legs and fur. When he sees a cat (new information) for the first time, he uses his prior knowledge about a dog and tries to fit it into a cat. Another example is when a child sees a bird flying and then sees a chicken fly; he applies his existing knowledge about birds to the chicken.
Therefore, assimilation happens when a child takes new information and fits it into their prior knowledge.
Accommodation
Accommodation happens when a child modifies an existing schema or creates a new one because new information does not fit.
For example, the child knew that dogs have four legs and bark. When he sees a cat, he assimilates the cat as a dog. However, when he hears the cat meow instead of bark, he modifies his existing schema about dogs and creates new information because he knows that not all four-legged animals are dogs.
Therefore, accommodation occurs when a child realizes that existing schemas don’t fit new information and must modify them or create new ones to adapt.
Equilibration
Equilibration is a cognitive balance between assimilation and accommodation. This happens when a child can use them in a specific situation. In this process, the child experiences disequilibrium (cognitive conflict) when new information disrupts their learning or understanding.
For example, a child has prior knowledge that birds do fly. However, when he sees an airplane flying, he knows it is not a bird. He did not conclude that it is a bird (equilibrium), but he is confused about why a metal object is flying. Here, disequilibrium or cognitive conflict disrupts the child’s prior knowledge. This conflict motivates the child to learn and adapt, realizing that not all flying animals are birds, until the child reaches equilibrium again.
Now that we understand how children process and adapt to new information, we can look at the actual timeline of their cognitive development. Piaget believed this adaptation does not happen all at once. Instead, every child progresses through a fixed sequence of stages as they grow older.
Let’s examine the Four Stages of Cognitive Development and see how these thinking patterns change from infancy all the way to adulthood:
The 4 Stages of Cognitive Development
Piaget proposed that all children progress through four distinct, invariant (unchanging) stages in the same order, though the age ranges are approximate.
1. Sensorimotor Stage (Birth to 2 years)
Piaget believes that during this stage (birth to 2 years), infants learn about the world through their senses (sensory experiences) and motor activities (manipulating objects). They learn about and communicate with the environment through their senses and motor activities.
For example, when you give an object to a child at this stage, they will suck it. Through oral exploration, they learn if that object is hard, soft, hot, or cold. That’s how they communicate with the world.
In this early stage, a child operates on the principle of “out of sight, out of mind.” However, Piaget believes that before a child moves to the next stage (Preoperational stage), he must master object permanence. It is the child’s ability to understand that objects and people continue to exist even when they can no longer be seen, heard, or touched.
| Substages of the Sensorimotor Stage | New Skill Development |
|---|---|
| Reflexes (0-1 month) | Sucking reflex Rooting reflex Palmar grasp |
| Primary Circular Reactions (1-4 months) | Thumb sucking Blowing bubbles with saliva Repetitive movements focusing on their own body |
| Secondary Circular Reactions (4-8 months) | Swatting at a hanging mobile to make it spin Shaking a rattle to make a sound |
| Coordination of Reactions (8-12 months) | Moving an obstacle (like a pillow) out of the way to reach a toy Emergence of Object Permanence |
| Tertiary Circular Reactions (12-18 months) | Dropping objects in various ways to observe the outcome “Little Scientist” behavior |
| Early Representational Thought (18-24 months) | Thinking using mental images without the actual object present Simple pretend play or imitation |
Reference: The Sensorimotor Stage of Cognitive Development
2. Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years)
During this stage, children begin to learn to use symbols, words, and images to represent objects. Unlike the sensorimotor stage, where they rely on senses and motor activities, here they use symbols, words, and imagination to understand the world. However, their thinking remains illogical and non-systematic.
Moreover, at this period, the child is egocentric and focuses on themselves. Egocentrism is the inability to see a situation from another’s perspective. This means the child assumes what others see, hear, and feel are exactly what they do.
Example: When talking to their grandmother on the phone, a child might nod or point at something and ask, “Grandma, what is this?” assuming his grandmother can see it just because he is looking at it.
In addition, the child in this stage lacks the concept of Conservation. It is the understanding that altering an object’s appearance does not change its basic properties (such as mass, volume, or number). Because of centration (focusing on only one aspect, like height) and irreversibility (inability to mentally reverse steps), they fail to realize that the quantity remains the same when its shape or container changes.
Example: If you pour the same amount of liquid from a wide, short glass into a tall, narrow glass, the child will insist that the tall glass has “more juice” simply because the liquid reaches a higher level.
To understand, Piaget divided the Preoperational Stage into two distinct substages. These substages show how a child moves from simple symbolic play to a more intuitive way of thinking before using actual logic.
| Substages of the Preoperational Stage | Skill Development |
|---|---|
| Symbolic function (ages 2 to 4) The ability to represent objects mentally (e.g., using a banana as a telephone during pretend play). | At this stage, their world revolves around mental representation, imagination, egocentrism, and animism (a belief that inanimate objects (like toys, the sun, or clouds) have lifelike qualities, feelings, and intentions). |
| Intuitive thought (ages 4 to 7) The ability to make judgments without conscious reasoning or logical explanation. | The child begins to rely on logic over perception. They can sense or see the answer but struggle to explain how they got it. At this stage, centration (focusing on only one aspect while neglecting others) and irreversibility (inability to mentally reverse a sequence of events or steps) are still present. |
3. Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years)
Jean Piaget defines this stage as the beginning of children’s logical or operational thought. Unlike the preoperational stage, where reasoning relies on perception, children in this stage begin to rely on cognitive logic and internal rules rather than outward appearances.
For example, if you pour water from a wide glass into a taller, thinner glass, a child in this stage will immediately know the volume of water has not changed. Even though the water level looks higher, they use internal logic to understand that the amount remains the same despite the change in appearance.
However, during this period, their reasoning is very limited to concrete, physical objects or situations they can experience. This means their logic only applies to things or situations they have personally experienced. But they struggle when a situation or scenario involves theoretical concepts that have no physical interaction.
For instance, if the glasses of water are right in front of them, they can easily solve the problem. However, if you remove the physical glasses and ask them a purely theoretical question like: “Imagine Glass A has more water than Glass B, and Glass B has more water than Glass C. Which glass has the most water?” they will likely struggle to answer. Because they cannot see or touch the glasses, they struggle to process the logical relationship between the objects.
Therefore, during this stage, their logical thinking works best when they can actually see, touch, and experience the objects firsthand.
Moreover, Piaget believes children must achieve these essential milestones before moving forward.
Conservation: The child is expected to understand that the quantity, mass, or volume remains the same despite changes in its physical appearance or arrangement. So, when a glass of juice is transferred to a thin container like a cylinder, they know the volume remains the same.
Decentering: The ability to focus on multiple features of an object or situation at the same time. When looking at a set of blocks, a child at this stage doesn’t just see their colors; they can also organize them by both color and shape simultaneously. They no longer get hyper-focused on just one single detail.
Reversibility: This happens when a child realizes that objects or numbers can be changed and then brought back to their original state. They understand that if they melt an ice cube into water, they can freeze it again to turn it back into ice. In math, they also know that if (1 + 5 = 6), then (6 – 5 = 1).
Seriation: The ability to arrange objects in a logical order based on a specific trait like size, weight, or length. When a child can look at a pile of sticks and line them up from shortest to longest.
Classification: The ability to group items based on common features, such as sorting shapes or animals into separate categories. When a child can collect sports cards and easily organize them by team, player position, or rarity all at the same time.
4. Formal Operational Stage (11 years to Adulthood)
According to Jean Piaget, this stage is a period when adolescents move beyond concrete experiences and begin to think abstractly, logically, and systematically. In other words, teenagers no longer need real-world objects to solve a problem. They can answer “what if” scenarios, imagine future possibilities, and analyze deep concepts like justice or morality.
For example, if you ask a 14-year-old teenager what they want to be when they grow up, they can think abstractly. They answer like, “I want a job that gives me financial stability, allows me to help others, and fits my interest in science.” They can easily process big, unseen concepts like “future,” “stability,” and “career goals” without needing to see or touch them.
At this stage, adolescents are expected to achieve these milestones:
Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning: The ability to create hypotheses, test them systematically, and find the best solution to a problem.
- Example: If a teenager’s phone suddenly won’t turn on, they don’t just panic or blindly press buttons. Instead, they think like a scientist: they suspect a dead battery and test it by plugging it in. If that fails, they consider a software glitch and try a hard reset until they find the fix.
Abstract Thinking: The capacity to understand deep concepts that you cannot see or touch, such as justice, love, morality, and complex mathematical equations.
- Example: When watching a movie, a teenager can easily understand the deeper message or the “moral of the story,” such as betrayal, loyalty, or true love. They can discuss these unseen concepts and judge whether a character’s hidden motives are right or wrong, even though those ideas aren’t physically shown on screen.
Adolescent Egocentrism: This happens when teenagers focus heavily on themselves. It includes the imaginary audience (feeling like everyone is constantly watching and judging them) and the personal fable (believing their experiences are unique and that they are safe from harm).
- Example: A teenager gets a tiny pimple and refuses to go to school because they think everyone in class will stare only at it (imaginary audience). At the same time, they think they are safe from any danger online, believing they can post anything or talk to strangers without anything bad happening to them (personal fable).
Final Thought
Mastering Child and Adolescent Development is a huge step toward conquering the Professional Education part of the BLEPT. We hope this guide made Piaget’s theories much clearer—best of luck on your review journey, future teacher!