What type of thinking is expected in a 9-year-old child according to Piaget?

In Piaget's theory of cognitive development, a 9-year-old child typically falls within the Concrete Operational Stage, which spans from approximately 7 to 11 years of age. During this stage, children's thinking becomes more organized and logical, but it is still heavily grounded in concrete experiences and tangible objects. They begin to understand concepts of conservation, reversibility, and categorization, but they are not yet able to think abstractly or hypothetically, which characterizes the next stage of development.

Concrete thinking in this context refers to the ability to think logically about concrete events that are directly observable. Children can solve problems and understand the relationships between objects and events, but they struggle with abstract concepts that require hypothetical reasoning. Thus, for a 9-year-old, concrete thinking is the predominant form of cognition, as they are still developing the capability to engage in more complex, abstract thought processes that emerge in later stages of cognitive development.