Theories of Childhood, Second Edition (Carol Garhart Mooney) / quote 60 of 70
Formal operations and hypothetical thinking
The final stage Piaget outlined is formal operations. This stage begins around age eleven or twelve and is marked by the ability to think logically and in hypothetical terms. According to Piaget, once this stage is reached, young people can wrestle with such questions as “Is it wrong to steal food for your starving children?” or “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”