Piaget identified the stage where children begin to use abstract thinking as the Formal Operational Stage, which typically begins around age 11 or 12 and continues into adulthood. In this stage, individuals can reason abstractly, think hypothetically, and engage in complex deductive and probabilistic reasoning beyond concrete, hands-on experiences. Key points:
- Stage name: Formal Operational Stage
- Approximate age range: starting around 11–12 years and lasting into adulthood
- Core abilities: abstract thinking, hypothetical reasoning, systematic planning, and testing ideas deductively
If you’d like, I can tailor this to a specific curriculum level or compare how abstract thinking manifests at different ages with examples.
