What is Formal Operations Stage (Eleven Years of Age and Beyond)

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist whose cognitive-developmental theory left a lasting impression on how child development is viewed. He felt that children are not simply empty vessels into which adults pour knowledge (Piaget, 1952). Piaget based much of his theory on his masterful observations of children, and demonstrated many experiments that study how children adapt and react to their world (Vidal, 2000). One of the main points of his theory was that of adaptation (Piaget, 1971). The child’s mind adapts from infancy to childhood to adulthood to achieve a better fit with external reality. Piaget sensed that children construct knowledge actively as they manipulate and interact with their environments. Many of his thoughts and ideas were influenced by his background in biology. This document will provide insight into Piaget’s Stages of Development as well as look at technology that meets the needs of children at specific times during their life.