Piaget's Final Stage of Development and The Economic Way of Thinking

From The Dictionary of Cognitive Science comes this statement of Piaget's final stage of development:

Formal Operations (11/12 to adult)
Children who attain the formal operation stage are capable of thinking logically and abstractly. They can also reason theoretically. Piaget considered this the ultimate stage of development, and stated that although the children would still have to revise their knowledge base, their way of thinking was as powerful as it would get.

In university-level introductory economics classes, "the economic way of thinking" is usually stressed. That emphasis fits right in with Piaget's Formal Operations stage of development. The problem is that not every child reaches this final stage of development. At least, that's what psychologists think today. The challenge in teaching economics is to help learners achieve that final stage in cognitive development, if they're not already there.

How can that be done? Several thoughts occur to me:

• Limit the quantity of content and emphasize topics that involve theoretical reasoning.
• Explicitly show the steps in logical arguments.
• Provide practice exercises that involve theorizing and abstraction.
• Build new knowledge around what learners already know.

The economic way of thinking seems obvious to instructors, but often is not obvious to students. Perhaps that's the first step to wisdom in the teaching of economics.