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High School Cognitive Development

Most high school students have achieved the formal operational stage, as described by Piaget. These students can think abstractly and need fewer concrete examples to understand complex thought patterns. Generally speaking, most students share the following characteristics and the way we enhance their cognitive development is by realizing that they :

• need to understand the purpose and relevance of instructional activities
• are both internally and externally motivated
• have self-imposed cognitive barriers due to years of academic failure and lack self-confidence
• may have "shut down" in certain cognitive areas and will need to learn how to learn and overcome these barriers to learning
• want to establish immediate and long-term personal goals
• want to assume individual responsibility for learning and progress toward goals