Achieving Conservation

Slide 1 of 10: Synopsis

Human Development Video Activity
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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.
preoperational thought
Piaget's term for a stage of development between ages 2 and 6 when children still demonstrate egocentric thinking and are likely to fail the conservation experiment because they tend to equate change in appearance with change in identity. While they may not be able to apply logic, they begin to engage in role-playing and symbolic play.
concrete operational thought
Piaget's term for the ability to solve problems using logic but not abstract or hypothetical concepts. Concrete operational thinkers can use inductive logic, which is the ability to make general assumptions based on specific experience, and reversibility.
mental operations
According to Piaget, mental operations are the mental abilities to imagine the process and potential outcome of something happening without it actually having to happen in the physical world (i.e. doing math in one’s head). Piaget uses the nature of a child’s mental operations to define the different stages of mental development.
identity
In terms of an object, the concept that an object remains the same even if certain characteristics about it change. In terms of a person, the consistent collection of physical and mental characteristics that define an individual as unique.
reversibility
A mental operation defined by the understanding that numbers or objects can be changed and then sometimes changed back to their original state by reversing the steps of the initial change process. Reversibility also works in the relationship between mental categories (i.e. My cat is a pet. My pet is a cat.)
reciprocity
The idea that two objects, quantities, or actions can be mutually related such that a change in one can be compensated for by a corresponding or opposite change in another.
conservation
A mental operation defined by the understanding of what changes and what remains the same after a person or an object undergoes a change in appearance.
centration
The preoperational tendency to focus on one aspect of an object, situation, or problem and to the exclusion of other potentially important aspects.
decentration
A mental operation defined by the ability to pay attention to and to process different aspects of an object, situation, or problem.

Author

A preoperational age girl studying two evenly filled glasses of milk

Thomas E. Ludwig, Hope College

Synopsis

This activity focuses on the changes in thinking that make it possible for older children to pass the Piagetian conservation of liquid task. You will watch video clips of older and younger children performing this conservation task and explaining their reasoning.

References

Aredolo, C. (1982). Conservation-nonconservation: Alternative explanations. In C. J. Brainerd (Ed.), Children’s logical and mathematical cognition: Progress in cognitive development research. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1–31.

Anderson, D. R., & Clark, A. T. (1979). Recognition of correct justifications for conservation by conservers and partial conservers. Psychological Reports, 44, 1098.

Bruner, J. S. (1968). On the conservation of liquids. In J. S. Bruner, R. S. Olver, & P. M. Greenfield (Eds.), Studies in cognitive growth. New York: Wiley, 183–207.

Miller, P. H. (1973). Attention to stimulus dimensions in the conservation of liquid quantities. Child Development, 44, 129–136.

Piaget, J. (1971). The theory of stages in cognitive development. In D. Green, M. Ford, & G. Flamer (Eds.), Measurement and Piaget. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1–11.

Piaget, J. (2000). Piaget’s theory. In K. Lee (Ed.), Childhood cognitive development: The essential readings. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 33–47.

Siegler, R. S., & Liebert, R. M. (1972). Effects of presenting relevant rules and complete feedback on the conservation of liquid quantity task. Developmental Psychology, 7, 133–138.

Wadsworth, B. J. (1996). Piaget’s theory of cognitive and affective development (5th ed.). New York: Longman.