This edition: Adolescence: Cognitive Development

Episode Details
As adolescents mature, they develop the ability to engage in more complex and sophisticated types of thinking and reasoning. This lesson details the journey that adolescents take from what Jean Piaget called concrete operational thinking to formal operational thought, where they are capable of thinking hypothetically. As teenagers revel in their newfound cognitive powers, they have a natural tendency to express adolescent egocentrism—to focus intently on the physical, mental, and emotional changes they are experiencing. The lesson explains how teens learn in school and how educating adolescents is different from educating younger school-age children.

