Articles

How Preschoolers Think

by Laura

Preschoolers can come up with some pretty wacky ideas, but according to the experts that's all part of growing up. It's important as a parent to know what a child is capable of understanding, so that you can form reasonable expectations. Every child  grows at his own rate, but  there are physical changes that make mental leaps possible.

Jean Piaget, the psychologist credited with forming the theory of cognitive development in the late 1920s, created a list of what kids at each stage are capable of, and what they are not quite ready to do yet. Here's what he found for preschoolers:

• A preschooler can speak in complex sentences. But his thought process won't always seem logical to outsiders. For example he may say, “If an apple is red, then a green fruit is not an apple.”

• Once a preschooler has come to a conclusion, it is difficult to reverse his thinking. Preschoolers are not yet capable of easily going backwards through each step to see if it makes sense. They do not yet completely  understand cause and effect.

• Preschoolers are egocentric, they believe everyone sees the world as they sees it.

• Preschoolers often pay attention to one aspect of an event and ignore other details. For example, if a child goes to a birthday party he might give a detailed description of the cake, but not any of the party games.

• Preschoolers believe inanimate objects are alive. It's perfectly common for a preschooler to believe a stuffed bear has feelings.

• It's challenging for a preschooler to gage amounts. She won't know that if you put the same amount of pennies in a big jar or in a small jar,the amount of pennies are still equal.

So, what are preschoolers capable of learning? For that, we turn to 1950s psychologist Benjamin Bloom. He led a team of researchers to create a cognitive learning guide which points to how different ages process new information. The guide shows at what stage your child understands a concept. Each level is based on the one in front of it, similar to a staircase. The levels of learning are: