Swiss biologist, Jean Piaget is renowned for constructing a highly influential model of child development and learning. His theory is based on the idea that the developing child builds cognitive structures for understanding and responding to physical experiences within his environment. Piaget's theory identifies four developmental stages: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operations, and formal operations. <Tab/>During the first stage, sensorimotor (birth-2 years old), a child's cognitive system is limited …showed first 75 words of 696 total…

…showed last 75 words of 696 total…used the pendulum task to study this type of thinking. Combinatorial reasoning is the ability to think about multiple causes. Piaget used a chemistry experiment to study this type of thinking. Children had to combine liquid from different bottles to create a yellow solution. <Tab/>Piaget's research methods were based primarily on case studies. While some of his ideas have been supported through more correlations and experimental methodologies, others have not.