Stages of Development
Age
Infancy
Toddlerhood
Pre-School
0-2
2-4
4-6
Thought
(Piaget)
Morality
(Kohlberg)
Personhood
(Erikson)
Experience the world
through the senses.
Pain and pleasure.
Trust
(vs. Mistrust)
What feels good.
Language and symbols;
able to experience and
learn without direct
contact.
Autonomy
(vs. Doubt and Shame)
Faith
(Fowler)
Implications
For Learning:
“God is like mommy and daddy.”
Simple, single-focus stories.
Confuse fact and fantasy.
Listen carefully to detect confusion.
Avoid abstracts; confusions will need to be unlearned later.
Initiative
(vs. Guilt)
Respect abilities and limits.
Don’t over-teach.
Spontaneous prayer.
Be an example.
PreAdolescence
7-11
Concrete Operations:
Able to perceive causal
connections, still difficult
to grasp abstracts (“truth”,
etc.).
Industriousness
(vs. Inferiority)
“What’s fair is fair.”
Introduce abstract concepts, but carefully.
Peer influence – need to belong.
Choose stories with clear messages.
Responsibilities and consequences.
Highlight people/stories with positive examples to follow.
Literal understanding.
Involve them with other people in the parish.
Good are blessed, bad are punished.
Provide opportunities for prayer, worship, devotion.
Law over gospel.
Growing awareness of the purpose of Jesus’
life.
Gender Differences in
Moral Development:
(Gillian)
Females: Personal
relationships and how
actions will affect others.
Males: Abstract principles
of right and wrong.
Age
Early
Adolescence
12-15
Thought
(Piaget)
Morality
(Kohlberg)
Personhood
(Erikson)
Faith
(Fowler)
Implications
For Learning:
Formal Operations: Able
to think abstractly and
critically.
What pleases parents.
What fits cultural norms.
Identity
(vs. Confusion)
“I believe what the Church believes.”
Encourage their developing ability to question and to think
for themselves.
Desire religious knowledge.
Prefer to explore concepts on their own.
Sensitive to what others think about them.
More impressed by example than by words.
Provide increasingly complex ideas.
Help them feel good about what they know. Use factual
information and encourage expressions of opinion.
Use group-oriented teaching styles.
Express your own faith.
Late
Adolescence
15-18
”As I see it, God is…”
Recognize that “traditional” values/ideas may be rejected.
Establish personal identity; seeking
independence and individuality.
Encourage personal reflective thinking.
Like to debate, argue.
Listen to their questions and challenges and “unique” ideas
as they search for a personal expression of faith.
Engage in objective reflection.
Affirm, accept, support.
Use group processes which encourage personal reflection:
conversation, debate, questions, compare/contrast, share.
Help them sort through the various messages they receive.
Present a wide range of topics and issues; encourage
dialogue.
Express your own Christian witness in open and
nonjudgmental ways.
Intimacy
(vs. Isolation)
“More than just words.”
Search for deeper meanings.
Be prepared for questions which explore paradoxes and
tensions.
Middle
Adulthood
Contribution
(vs. Self-Absorption)
Seek exchange of ideas.
Encourage reflective sharing.
Have confidence.
Encourage leadership.
Old Age
Integrity
(vs. Despair)
Are nonjudgmental.
Encourage critical questions about inherited traditions,
symbols, etc.
Search for meanings and revelations in
symbols, rituals, and life experiences.
Provide opportunities for self-directed learning.
Young
Adulthood
18+
Abstract ethical principles.
Use these principles to
judge others.
Can compare and contrast experiences.
Gender Differences in
Moral Development:
(Gillian)
Females: Personal
relationships and how
actions will affect others.
Males: Abstract principles
of right and wrong.