Final answer:
True, Jean Piaget posited that children undergo significant cognitive changes at key developmental points, advancing through distinct stages of cognitive growth. These stages involve the construction and adaptation of schemata through processes of assimilation and accommodation, reflecting a qualitative transformation in understanding and reasoning abilities.
Step-by-step explanation:
True, Jean Piaget believed that children construct knowledge in new ways at key points during development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development unfolds in four main stages: the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages. According to Piaget, as children grow, they develop schemata to help them understand the world, which are mental models used to categorize and interpret information. When exposed to new information, children integrate it either by assimilation, fitting it into existing schemata without altering them, or by accommodation, changing their schemata in light of new information.
Cognitive growth, Piaget asserted, does not progress in a linear fashion but rather through these transformative stages, marked by qualitative changes in thinking. For instance, Piaget described the emergence of theory of mind (ToM) in the preoperational stage, allowing children between ages 3 and 5 to understand that others have different thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Challenges to Piaget's stage theory include findings that suggest children may acquire certain cognitive competencies earlier than his stages predict, indicating a more continuous developmental process.