Outline the major stages of Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Identify the age ranges noted in each stage of cognitive development and the key characteristics of each stage of development

What will be an ideal response?

A good answer would include the following key points:
• Piaget proposed that all people pass through a series of universal stages of cognitive development.
• He proposed that the quality of knowledge changed as children progress through the series of stages and was interested in the change in cognition from one stage to the next.
• Piaget outlined four stages of cognitive development.
• Sensorimotor Stage: Birth–2 years. Children learn about the world through direct motor skills with little or no capacity for symbolic representation.
• Preoperational Stage: 2–7 years. Children develop the capacity for language and symbolic thinking; thought is no longer grounded in motor activity.
• Concrete Operational Stage: 7–12 years. Development of logical thinking. Understanding of concepts such as reversibility and conservation.
• Formal Operational Stage: 12–adulthood. Development of abstract thinking.