Abstract The purpose of this thematic article is to compare and contrast two different articles, one written by LE Berk in 2010 that explores development across the lifespan. The other article was written by the staff and research team at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford in 2012 and discusses what cognitive development is and the progress of cognitive development in adolescence. Cognitive development begins at birth and continues throughout life. However, this student notes that cognitive abilities are more complex during adolescence. Therefore, the issue addressed in this article is cognitive development in adolescence. While both articles agree that as a child moves from childhood to adolescence, their cognitive development progresses from real object thinking and/or reasoning to more abstract thinking and/or reasoning and systematic. Berk (2010) supports his arguments and information with older cited works such as Piaget's Theory: The Formal Operational Stage (1958) and other more recent studies on how information processing affects development cognitive. However, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford does not use the cited studies, but according to the website's disclaimer, the staff and research team provide this information for educational purposes only. Although there are similarities with both articles, they address different perspectives of cognitive development in adolescence. For example, Berk (2010) discusses Piaget's theory. Information processing of cognitive development in adolescence. Whereas, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford addresses the different levels of cognitive development during adolescence and ways to encourage healthy cognitive development during adolescence. Discussion...... middle of paper ...... the student left the room to let him think about what she had said. Ten minutes later, he brought her a knife and showed her where he had cut his wrist (but not deeply) because he didn't want to hurt himself again and leave those who truly love him. He made a logical and considered decision to live and no longer let this girl control his life. This student believes this is a good example of applying the information learned and steps provided by Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford (2012) to create healthy cognitive development in adolescence. Works Cited Berk, LE (2010). Exploring the Development of Lifespan (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN: 9780205748594Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford (2012), Cognitive Development. Accessed February 3, 2012 from http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/adolescent/cogdev.html