Correlation Between Age And Changes In Logical Reasoning

Tweens undergo various mental changes, one of which is a growth in their capacity for logical thought. Three primary ways in which children between the ages of 7 and 12 develop more concrete reasoning and problem-solving skills are conservation, classification, and reversibility, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). To a large extent, the cognitive processes of older tweens change from child-like reasoning to an increasingly complicated and abstract manner of thinking. Learn more about the correlation between age and changes in logical reasoning in this article.

External Appearances Less Important for Conservation

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According to renowned psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980), youngsters don’t understand how two items with distinct looks might be identical until they’re six.

In a well-known experiment, Piaget had participants watch while he poured liquid from a tall, thin glass into a thick, short glass. Younger youngsters felt the amount of liquid had shrunk because of the change in the liquid’s external appearance. According to the prevailing belief, a shorter piece of work means lower quality. The volume of liquid does not alter as children acquire their cognitive abilities.

They prefer to focus on one aspect of a problem at a time while they are younger.

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Children’s perceptions of liquid volume may be skewed if they focus solely on the height or width of the glass rather than both. Because of this, youngsters can grasp that a smaller height is compensated for by thicker glass, resulting in the same amount of total area. Tweens can conjure up a wide range of hypothetical situations involving various types of containers.

A person’s capacity for multitasking isn’t limited to the physical world alone. In other words, as a tween’s reasoning abilities get more abstract, they can better comprehend social situations with various advantages and disadvantages. It’s also possible for them to recognize how one person or group’s actions might counteract another’s.

Categorization: Identifying Similarities in Qualities

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Logician reasoning continues to develop as children become adept at categorizing people and objects. They are also aware of organizations with different levels of authority. “Animals,” for example, can be broken down into groupings such as “mammals” and “reptiles.” This group can be further subdivided into “dogs” and “leopards,” for example.

When it comes to broad categories like “animal,” children can see that there is always a higher number of objects in that category than there are in a specialized category (such as “dog”).

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As youngsters grow older, they can use the information they’ve gleaned from these classifications to draw conclusions and generalizations. For example, a “chair” can float or burn because of its “wood” composition.

Children’s cognitive growth depends on their grasp of concepts that appear clear to adults. Without the ability to reason logically, it’s far more difficult to grasp the concepts of math and science.

Reversibility: The Ability To Restore Something To Its Original State

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Understanding reversibility is an important part of a child’s logical thinking development. Reversibility refers to the ability of something to be reversed and returned to its original form.

An easy-to-understand illustration for kids is that you can roll a ball of clay into a snake (conservation) and then roll it back into a ball (reversibility).

Reversibility and irreversibility will become more challenging for children as they grow older. On the other hand, water may be frozen and thawed, but not eggs.

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From infancy to puberty, children’s knowledge of reversibility’s implications grows. Solving simple math problems, for example, teaches young children about reversibility. 5 + 3 = 8 and 8 – 5 = 3 are taught. More difficult division and multiplication problems like 12 x 5 = 60 and 60 / 5 = 12 follow.

Because of the emphasis placed on reversibility throughout their schooling, tweens can tackle more complex math and science problems than their younger peers. Algebraic equations are an example of how kids learn to solve for “x.”

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