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The concrete operational stage is the third of four stages of cognitive development in Piaget's theory. This stage, which follows the Preoperational stage and occurs from the ages of 7 to 12, is characterized by the appropriate use of logic. Important processes during this stage are:
Decentering - where the child takes into account multiple aspects of a problem to solve it.
Reversibility - where the child understands that numbers or objects can be changed, then returned to their original state.
Conservation - understanding that quantity, length or number of items is unrelated to the arrangement or appearance of the object or items.
Serialation - the ability to arrange objects in an order according to size, shape or any other characterstic.
Classification - the ability to name and identify sets of object according to appearance, size or other characteristic, including the idea that one set of objects can include another.
The fourth and final stage in Piaget's model is the Formal Operational stage.
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