Chapter 1. Piaget's Conservation-of-Number Test

1.1 Piaget's Conservation-of-Number Test

Piaget's Conservation-of-Number Test

Short Description

The following clip shows a 4 1/2 -year-old failing...

Long Description

The following clip shows a 4 1/2 -year-old failing on a test of conservation-of-number, followed by a 5 1/2-year-old succeeding.

After you've watched the video, click the link below to answer questions about what you've learned.

Begin the Video Assessment Quiz!

Video Assessment Quiz

Questions

Question

1. The first child, 4 ½ year old Christian initially believes that the two lines of animal crackers are the same. Then, the experimenter changes her line of animal crackers in a manner that leads Christian to think she had more animal crackers. How did the experimenter cause Christian to think she had more animal crackers?

She added two animal crackers to her line.

She stretched out her line of animal crackers but maintained Christian’s line.

She bunched up her line of animal crackers but maintained Christian’s line.

She removed one animal cracker from Christian’s line.

Question

2. How do the two children shown differ in their performance on this task?

The younger child can't count high enough to tell how many crackers there are, and the older child can count.

The younger child is confident that his row of crackers has more pieces, and the older child isn't so sure.

The older child has difficulty telling if the two rows of crackers have the same number of pieces, and the younger child is confident that each has the same number of crackers.

The younger child has difficulty telling if the two rows of crackers have the same number of pieces, and the older child is confident that each has the same number of crackers.