Piaget, Jean (theory of cognitive development)

Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist known for his theory of cognitive development, which outlines how children learn and think as they grow. He proposed that children progress through four stages: the Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 years) where they learn through senses and actions; the Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years) marked by imaginative play and egocentrism; the Concrete Operational stage (7 to 11 years) where logical thinking develops about concrete objects; and the Formal Operational stage (12 and up) characterized by abstract thought and problem-solving. Piaget emphasized that children actively construct their understanding of the world.