Piaget's theory of cognitive development changed the way psychologists and educators view children's intellectual development. However, with the widespread acceptance of Piaget's intuition and theory has also come research that has modified and refined his contribution. According to Piaget there are four main stages of development (Day, Mary). Today I will talk about one of the four phases known as the Concrete Operational Phase. There is no better tool for demonstrating the school-age child's ability to distinguish between appearance and reality than Piaget's classic conservation tasks. By age 6, most children have begun to show some signs of the concrete operational stage, which is Piaget's third stage of cognitive development, during which children build schemas that allow them to think logically about objects and events in the real world. And children quickly understand that a piece of clay has the same mass, no matter how its appearance changes. Therefore, this phase is dedicated to building schemas that allow children to think logically about objects and events in the world. How much understanding does a school-aged child really have about his or her own personality? The answer depends on whether we look at the child at the beginning of this period or towards the end. Over the years from age 6 to 12, children's understanding of themselves improves greatly. By the end of the middle childhood period, children's self-concept includes new components, a psychological self, and an enhanced self. The psychological self is a person's understanding of their own enduring psychological characteristics. It first appears during the transition from early childhood to middle childhood and becomes increasingly complex… middle of paper… children's understanding of friendship. She has found that if you ask preschoolers and school-age children how people make friends, the answer is usually playing together or spending time physically close to each other. to one where the key concept seems to be mutual trust. Gender segregation is also at its peak during this time and appears in every culture. Friendship becomes more common and long-lasting with specificity between boys and girls. Works Cited Day, Mary. “Thinking about Piaget's formal operation stage.” ascd. Np, nd Web. February 26, 2014.Gifford Smith, Maria. “Journal of School Psychology.” Childhood peer relationships, social acceptance, friendships, and peewee networks. Np, nd Web. 25 February. 2014. .