CHILD DEVELOPMENT
PAGE 1 OF 5 — HOW KIDS THINK
GROWING MINDS
YOUR BRAIN BUILDS ITSELF!
A newborn and a twelve-year-old do not think the same way. Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget spent decades watching children play, solve puzzles, and answer questions. He learned that thinking grows in clear steps, like climbing a ladder. Each step adds new skills. Babies explore with hands and mouths. Toddlers use words and pretend play. School-age kids handle logic about real objects. Teenagers can reason about ideas they cannot see or touch. Piaget called these steps stages of cognitive development. They help parents and teachers know what a child is ready to learn next.
⚡ DID YOU KNOW?
Piaget was a biologist who first studied mollusks, then became fascinated by his own children's thinking. His stage theory shaped education worldwide.
GROW!
SCHEMAS
📁 Piaget said children build mental plans called schemas to understand the world.
🔄 New experiences either fit a schema or force the brain to update it.
🔄 New experiences either fit a schema or force the brain to update it.
FOUR STEPS
🪜 Every child passes through the same four stages in the same order.
⏱️ The speed varies, but you cannot skip a whole stage.
⏱️ The speed varies, but you cannot skip a whole stage.