Piaget showed through his studies of cognitive development in children that it is a relatively orderly process that takes place gradually. It is through Piaget's work in cognitive development that we can come to understand the way children learn and interact with the world around them. .
The environment affects a child's cognitive development, as they mature their Interactions with the environment changes. Very young children within Piaget's stage Sensorimotor learn through imitation and use of memory. .
These young children tend to forget about an object once it is removed from their field vision, they learn quickly however that when an object is not in sight that it still exists and as they mature and develop more motor skills will start to actively look for it. .
By the ages of 2-7 years, they are moving into the stage defined by Piaget as Preoperational. A child in this stage of development use symbolism and language, Children will play-act things such as eating and drinking . They can look at or use a picture of an object and use it to represent an object that is not present. .
Children in this stage though have difficulty thinking backwards, this is seen in Piaget's conservation tasks(woolfolk 2001). This period of development also includes a phase termed as egocentric by Piaget in as much as children think that everyone else shares the same feelings or sees the world in the same way as they do. .
The next stage of development signalled by Piaget is concrete operational . It is in this stage that most people function in daily lives. .
These is the point where children aged 7-11 years learn things can be changed but retain their original characteristics.