Sensorimotor Stage
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Ages: Birth to 2 years
old
Infants discover relationships between their bodies and the environment.
They rely on seeing, touching, and using the senses to learn more about
themselves and the environment. During this stage they develop a concept
of self. |
Proportional
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Ages: 2 to 6 years old
The child's thinking is self-centered. Child has difficulty understanding
life from any perspective but his own. Children believe that everyone
sees things as they do and they believe that they can control things.
The child thinks from one perspective and his/her reality as absolute.
Children in this stage can use symbols but is unable to think in a logical
fashion. Child begins to understand the difference between fantasy and
reality during this stage.
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Concrete Operational
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Ages: 7 to 12 years old
The child begins to reason logically and organize thoughts coherently.
They can only think of physical objects, not abstract reasoning. During
this stage there is a loss of self-centered thinking.
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Formal Operational
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Ages: 11 to adult
This stage is characterized by the ability to formulate hypotheses and
systematically test them to solve problems. This stage is when we are
able to think abstractly and to reason contrary to fact.
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