Piaget: Conservational Tasks By: Andrea Sanchez & Cecilia Tenreiro
Piaget: Stages of Cognitive Development
Four periods of development
1. Sensorimotor Intelligence (Birth- 2 yrs)
2. Preoperational thought (2-7 yrs)
3. Concrete operational (7-11 yrs)
4. Formal operational (11 yrs- Adulthood)
Piagetian Terminology
Scheme: any action pattern for dealing with the environment, action-structures
Egocentrism: the inability to distinguish one’s own perspective from that of others.
Object permanence :the idea that an object continues to exist even when it cannot be observed (seen, touched, heard, smelled in any way).
Primary Circular Reactions: a baby chances upon a new experience tries to repeat it
Secondary Circular Reactions: a baby discovers and reproduces an interesting event outside of itself
Tertiary Circular Reactions: a baby experiments with different actions to observe the different outcomes
Statistical Terminology
P-value: a numerical value which either rejects or accepts the null hypothesis
Null-hypothesis: a general statement that there is no relationship between two measured phenomena
Alternative hypothesis: the claim that the researcher believes.
Dependent: determined, influenced, or controlled by something else.
Independent: something that is not determined, influenced, or controlled by something else.
Sensorimotor Stage
1. Reflexes Birth-1 month.
2. Primary Circular Reactions1-4 months: a baby tries to repeat an experience that occurred by accident
3. Secondary Circular Reactions4-8 months: Master the ability to repeat an experience
4. Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions8-12 months: can combine two schemas for an intended result.
5. Tertiary Circular Reactions12-18 months: explore new actions for new results
6. Beginning of Thoughtcan internalize thought before acting
Preoperational thought Stage
2-7 years
Child can use symbolic representations in the world around them
Child is interested and curious about why things are the way they are
Child begins to understand conservation
Concrete Operational thought
7-11 years
Children become aware of logical and systematic ways of understandings of the world.
Child further masters conservation tasks.
Formal Operational Thought
Pre-adolescence or 11yrs - adulthood
He is able to think further than systematic and logical ways– in a “purely abstract and hypothetical plane.”
Hypotheses
A child’s ability to conserve number, mass, and liquid is independent of age or grade level.
Will any children exhibit patterns that defy the order suggested by Piaget?
Are there any patterns that differ between boys and girls in their ability to conserve number, liquid, and mass?
We found that Grade level did not effect a child’s ability to conserve number.
With a p value of .347 we retain the idea that the ability to conserve number is independent of grade level.
WE found that grade level did effect a child’s ability to conserve liquid.
With a p value of .001 we reject the idea that grade level and conservation of liquid are independent.
WE found that grade level did effect a child’s ability to conserve mass.
With a p value of .000 we reject the idea that grade level and conservation of mass are independent.
WE found that Gender did NOT effect a child’s ability to conserve number.
With a p value of .303 we accept the idea that gender and conservation of number are independent.
WE found that Gender did NOT effect a child’s ability to conserve liquid.
With a p value of .629 we accept the idea that gender and conservation of liquid are independent.
WE found that Gender did NOT effect a child’s ability to conserve mass.
With a p value of 1 we accept the idea that gender and conservation of mass are independent.
Comparisons
CONSERVATION TASK
WE FOUND PIAGET
Grade v. Number Independent Dependent
Grade v. Liquid Dependent Dependent
Grade v. Mass Dependent Dependent
Gender v. Number Independent Independent
Gender v. Liquid Independent Independent
Gender v. Mass Independent Independent
CONCLUSIONs OF Hypotheses
A child’s ability to conserve number, mass, and liquid is independent of age or grade level. TRUE.
Will any children exhibit patterns that defy the order suggested by Piaget? YES, ONLY ONE. [NOT SIGNIFICANT]
Are there any patterns that differ between boys and girls in their ability to conserve number, mass, and liquid? NO.
limitations
Small sample size.
Group setting could have influenced the children’s answers.
After gathered our data and further researched Piaget’s claims we realized that we misunderstood the conservation tasks of liquid and volume.