John Piaget, a famous and influential researcher in psychology, is responsible for developing what is today known as Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget developed this theory of cognitive development to explain how children acquire the ability to think, learn, reason, and communicate. To explain this process of acquisition, Piaget simplified the process of cognitive development in to four stages. The four stages of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development are: the sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational period. It is because of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, that we can explain the differences in the thinking patterns of a 3-year-old preschooler and a 9-year-old student. …show more content…
We can justify this classification of a 3-year-old preschooler in many ways. For example, a 3-year-old preschooler is still unable to perform certain operations and think logically. The thinking of a 3-year-old is also greatly limited by animism, egocentrism, and centration. The 3-year-old also has the inability to converse, or conduct irreversible thinking. Clearly, there are many thought and communication skills and patterns that a 3-year-old preschooler has yet to develop, but they also still have some basic thinking and communication abilities. For example, 3-year-old preschoolers have basic enough thinking and communication abilities to use symbols to represent the world, ask questions to gather new information, and make believe play. Lastly, a 3-year-old preschooler’s age also falls within the general age category of someone who would be considered to be in the preoperational stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive …show more content…
We can justify this classification in many ways. For example, a 9-year-old student is unable to think abstractly, which is a characteristic of the concrete operational stage. The 9-year-old student would also be capable of being able to understand and apply time, space, and quantity, but they would be unable to do apply them as independent concepts. The 9-year-old student would also be considered in the concrete operations stage, for unlike a 3-year-old preschooler, they display less egocentrism, centration does not occur, they can hold conversations, and they are able to think reversibly. Lastly, a 9-year-old student’s age also falls within the general age category of someone who would be considered to be in the concrete operations stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive