Final answer:
Children develop an understanding of symbolism during Jean Piaget's preoperational stage of cognitive development, which occurs from about 2 to 7 years old. Option b
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, children begin to understand the concept of symbolism during the preoperational stage.
This stage spans roughly from 2 to 7 years old. During the preoperational stage, children use symbols to represent objects and ideas, which is evident in behaviors such as pretend play. For example, a child may use a stick as a sword or pretend their arms are airplane wings.
It is at this stage that language development is significant, but children are not yet capable of operational thinking, which involves the logical manipulation of information.
They lack an understanding of the concept of conservation, which means recognizing that the quantity of something remains the same even when its shape changes. Piaget described children at this stage as pre-operational, meaning they are not yet capable of certain mental operations that involve adult logic or understanding transformations. Option b