Piaget Meets Montessori:Conservation in Context

By Sarah Valdovinos

Jean Piaget•Born August 9, 1896•Died September 16, 1980•After college, he assisted in the scoring of Binet's intelligence tests, which led him to believe that young children's cognitive processes are inherently different from those of adults, and inspired him to propose his global theory of cognitive developmental stages.•In 1964, Piaget was invited to serve as chief consultant at two conferences at Cornell University (March 11–13, 1964) and University of California, Berkeley (March 16–18, 1964). 

Piagetian Terms•Conservation: “the ability to keep in mind what stays the same and what changes in an object after it has changed aesthetically”•Piaget’s age norms for conservation:•Substance: 7-8•Weight: 9-10•Volume (I tested): 11-12•Number (I tested): 8

Piagetian Terms•Assimilation: “the use of previous schema to deal with a new object or situation”•Accommodation: “when the use of previous schema doesn’t fit and you must adjust your definition to deal with the new object or situation”

PiagetFacts

Piagetian Terms, cont’d.•Object Permanence: “the ability to grasp the concept that an object (or person) continues to exist, even when it is out of sight” •Based on their behavior in the comic below, would you say that Calvin and/or Hobbes have object permanence? Why or why not?

Maria Montessori•Born August 31, 1870•Died May 6, 1952•At age 14, she began attending an all-boys school, where she excelled in math and science.•She went on to college and became Italy’s first woman physician. •Observing her young patients showed her that intrinsic intelligence was present in all children, regardless of SES.•Her experience led her to propose her educational and developmental theories.

Sensitive Periods•Sensitive periods: “periods of time during which children are particularly receptive to certain types of stimuli”•During a sensitive period, the skill associated with that period can be mastered without effort from the child•After a sensitive period has passed, acquiring the skill associated with that period takes a conscious effort from the child

The Age Question•Montessori’s sensitive periods have at least a 1½ year norm age range, sometimes up to a 3½ year range, which aid in their accuracy•Piaget’s age norms for conservation would be more likely to be a more accurate reflection of younger children’s’ abilities if he had used broader age brackets. His age brackets are no more than a year (e.g., 7-8, 8, 11-12, etc.)

Questions•Is there a Montessorian “sensitive period” for Piagetian conservation? •Did Piaget underestimate younger children?•Was Piaget wrong to assign norm ages to his stages?•Were the ages he assigned too high? Or have they changed with the times?•Would his norm ages have been more accurate if he had made broader age brackets, like Montessori did with her sensitive periods norm ages?

Experiment•I tested the children on 2 Piagetian conservation tasks (number and volume)•“There are many specific varieties of conservation following this pattern (The Psychology of the Child, 99).”•In his book, The Psychology of the Child ,Piaget said that the age norm for the mastery of conservation of number is 8 years old.•And he said that the age norm for the mastery of conservation of volume is 11-12 years old.

•But did he underestimate younger children? •I suspect that he did.

Hypotheses•A majority of the children observed will show mastery of conservation tasks at earlier ages than Piaget’s norms•For all tasks and ages, girls will perform better than boys•Some of the first graders will perform better than the third graders, regardless of gender•There will not be a dramatic increase in conservation ability from first to third grades, because, according to Montessori and Piaget, age does not lead development

Limitations•Visited a traditional school only (was unable to visit a Montessori school also)•Small number of participants (37 total)•Time limit•Distractions•Possible bias (one of the children was my 7-year-old sister, who is in first grade)•I used different wording from the script (The script asked, “Which one has more pennies/water?” But I asked, “Which one has a greater amount of pennies/water?”)

If I could do the study again…

•More participants•More ages•Observe children at a Montessori school also•Use the word “more” instead of “greater amount” to see if that would change the results•Talk to the teachers to get more information about each child’s academic performance and behavioral maturity

Whom did I observe?•First graders: 5 boys, 10 girls, ages 6-8 (3 6-yr-olds; 11 7-yr-olds; 1 8-yr-old)

•Third graders: 10 boys, 12 girls, ages 8-9 (11 8-yr-olds; 11 9-yr-olds)

First Grade Boys Number

All First Graders

100% can conserve0% cannot conserve

First Grade Girls

100% can conserve0% cannot conserve

First Grade Boys

100% can conserve0% cannot conserve

First Grade Boys Volume

All First Graders

40% can conserve60% cannot conserve

First Grade Girls

40% can conserve60% cannot conserve

First Grade Boys

40% can conserve60% cannot conserve

First Grade Boys Number

All Third Graders

95% can conserve5% cannot conserve

Third Grade Girls

100% can conserve0% cannot conserve

Third Grade Boys

90% can conserve10% cannot conserve

First Grade Boys Volume

All Third Graders

45% can conserve55% cannot conserve

Third Grade Girls

58% can conserve42% cannot conserve

Third Grade Boys

30% can conserve70% cannot conserve

An Interesting Find•Only one third grader (an 8-year-old boy) could not conserve number or volume•The only 8-year-old in the first grade classroom was able to conserve number and volume•The child who could conserve was 4 months younger than the child who could not •Such children would be better served in a Montessori school where the child who could conserve (the first-grader) would be placed in a more advanced classroom than the child who could not (the third-grader)•Montessori would agree with Piaget that the rate of cognitive development varies from child to child, so people should NOT use the child’s age as in indication of what stage the child is in

Conclusion:Age is just a number!!!!

Conclusion:•Age does not lead development•The rate of cognitive development varies from child to child, so people should NOT use the child’s age (or grade) as in indication of what stage the child is in

Conclusion:•Piaget did underestimate younger children! •Since a good amount of younger children could conserve, the norm ages Piaget assigned to his stages are either too high, or they’ve changed with the times•In general, these children would be better served in a Montessori school where children who could conserve (e.g. the first-grader) would be placed in a more advanced classroom than the children who could not (e.g. the third-grader)

SourcesBoyle, Chris. "Review Of 'Montessori: The Science Behind The Genius (Rev. Ed.)'." Educational Psychology In Practice 24.2 (2008): 159-160. PsycINFO. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Chattin-McNichols, John. The Montessori Controversy. New York: Delmar Publishers, 1998. Print.

Crain, William. Theories of Development. 3rd Ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1992. Print.

Kayılı, Gökhan, and Ramazan Ari. "Examination Of The Effects Of The Montessori Method On Preschool Children's Readiness To Primary Education." Kuram Ve Uygulamada Eğitim Bilimleri 11.4 (2011): 2104-2109. PsycINFO. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Lillard, Angeline Stole. Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Montessori, Maria. The Montessori Method. New York: Random House, 1964. Print.

Moody, Michelle J., and Ginny Riga. "Montessori: Education For Life." Yes we can!: Improving urban schools through innovative education reform. 127-143. Charlotte, NC US: IAP Information Age Publishing, 2011. PsycINFO. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Piaget, Jean and Barbel Inhelder. The Psychology of the Child. New York: Basic Books, 1969. Print.

Seefeldt, Carol. "Social And Emotional Adjustment Of First Grade Children With And Without Montessori Preschool Experience." Child Study Journal 11.4 (1981): 231-246. PsycINFO. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Questions?