Which would you rather have?

1. Which would you rather have?

2. Today’s session

3. Tests of conservation

4. Why do younger children get conservation questions wrong?

5. 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

6. Tests of Conservation • Liquid quantity • Number • Mass

7. 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

8. 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?

9. Tests of conservation • Asking the same question twice • The meaning of ‘more’ • Lack of ‘human sense’

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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!