The last of Piagets stages is called Formal Operational. This is the largest stage of development as it is very broad and spans from children aged 11 to adulthood. “The formal operational individual possesses a unified logical system with which to explore systematically hypothetical situations and abstract relations independent of content” (McInerney & McInerney, 2002, p35). In this stage of development individuals use all the cognitive knowledge that they have acquired in the previous 3 stages to actively problem solve by assessing a problem and creating a variety of outcomes with out even attempting the problem. Unlike in the other developmental levels, individuals are able to deal with a variety of factors and think ‘outside the box’. Individuals in the formal operational stage also have a large and expanding vocabulary. Complex vocabulary such as metaphors, proverbs and sarcasm can be used and understood by people at this cognitive stage (Snowman, et al., 2009).
Piaget believes the ultimate logical structure that individuals develop, and “which is the base of logical thinking, is called the structure of grouping” (McInerney & McInerney, 2002, p.37). The structure of groupings involves all of the previously learnt cognitive characteristics working together during an individual’s logical thinking. This structure develops over time whilst in the final stage of development. It is important to note, however, that full cognitive development may take many years. A child at the very beginnings of this stage (age 11 or 12) will solve problems very differently to that of someone aged 30 or even again at the age of 50. Piaget believes this is because we constantly construct cognitive knowledge through active interactions over time (Puckett & Black, 2001). Therefore the older we get the more experience we have with solving problems and the better equipped we are with using appropriate cognitive knowledge.
Piaget believes the ultimate logical structure that individuals develop, and “which is the base of logical thinking, is called the structure of grouping” (McInerney & McInerney, 2002, p.37). The structure of groupings involves all of the previously learnt cognitive characteristics working together during an individual’s logical thinking. This structure develops over time whilst in the final stage of development. It is important to note, however, that full cognitive development may take many years. A child at the very beginnings of this stage (age 11 or 12) will solve problems very differently to that of someone aged 30 or even again at the age of 50. Piaget believes this is because we constantly construct cognitive knowledge through active interactions over time (Puckett & Black, 2001). Therefore the older we get the more experience we have with solving problems and the better equipped we are with using appropriate cognitive knowledge.
