NBCSN Nationally Certified School Nurse Practice Exam 2025 - Free School Nurse Certification Practice Questions and Study Guide

In Piaget's theory of cognitive development, children aged 7 to 11 enter the concrete operational stage. This stage is characterized by the development of logical reasoning abilities, where kids begin to think logically about concrete events. They develop skills such as classification, seriation, and the understanding of conservation, which allows them to solve problems in a more organized manner.

During this stage, children can manipulate and transform information mentally but are still tied to concrete experiences rather than abstract thinking. For instance, they can understand that a specific quantity of liquid remains the same even when poured into a differently shaped container, demonstrating their logical reasoning capabilities.

In contrast, abstract thought represents the thinking found in later stages of development, while symbolic play and egocentric reasoning are more characteristic of earlier stages. Symbolic play is prominent in the preoperational stage (around 2 to 7 years), and egocentric reasoning is typical of children before the age of 7, where they find it challenging to see perspectives other than their own. Thus, logical reasoning distinctly characterizes the cognitive abilities of children in the 7 to 11 age range according to Piaget.