psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Which would you rather have?

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Today’s sessionYou are learning about... You are learning to...• Piaget’s preoperational

stage (intuitive period)• Tests of conservation

• Compare and criticise ways of investigating children’s cognition

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Tests of conservation

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

• Why do younger children get conservation questions wrong?

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Pre-operational stage (intuitive)

• A child’s thinking is dominated by how the world looks, not how the world is.– It doesn’t understand that redistribution of

material does not affect mass, volume or number.– Conservation is the ability to understand that

things remain the same even if appearance changes

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Tests of Conservation

• Liquid quantity

• Number

• Mass

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Tests of conservation

• According to Piaget, the ability to conserve does not appear until the stage of concrete operations (about 7 years) when the child develops mental rules of:– Compensation– Reversibility

• These rules are called operations

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Tests of conservation

• Based on the problems we’ve already encountered with Piaget’s methods, can you identify any difficulties with these tests of conservation?

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Tests of conservation

• Asking the same question twice• The meaning of ‘more’• Lack of ‘human sense’

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

• Redesign one of Piaget’s tests of conservation to increase its validity– You can use any of the materials in the room– You can alter the task content, task structure

and/or the instructions/questions– All of your changes must be justified

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Alternative tests of conservation

• Asking only one question (Rose & Blank, 1974; Samuels & Bryant, 1984):– 5-6 year old children perform better with one

question than two• Giving the transformation a meaningful

context (McGarrigle & Donaldson, 1974; Light et al, 1979)– Significant increase in 5-6 year olds’ correct

responses

psyc

hlot

ron.

org.

uk

Homework

• Answer the questions on the VLE using the discussion forum provided

• These are designed to make you think about how the principle of conservation is acquired and used in ‘real-life’

• You are only required to post one answer but you may wish to respond to other people’s ideas too!