Children at three age levels (4-6, 7-9, and 10-14 years) performed a reaction-time version of Piaget and Inhelder's rotating squares imagery task and a pivot and shape conservation recognition task. (JMB)

Two experiments were conducted to study developmental changes in the integration of stimulus dimensions in an area judgment task. Following functional measurement methodology, absolute judgments on a linear graphic rating scale were obtained. (Author/SS)

Presents a demonstration that illustrates charge conservation. Involves enclosing both the Teflon and the fur in metal tubes and measuring the voltage. (JRH)

Developmentalists have overlooked the problem of the real impermanence of things. Though the metaphor of impermanence is central to Piagetian and neo-nativist accounts of representation, the development of the understanding of impermanence is unstudied. This article proposes that the development of the concept of impermanence is distinct from the…

The results of four studies involving three to seven year olds revealed that, by age three, some children (1) appreciated conservation of matter despite visual disappearance and the existence of invisible particles; and (2) made use of the particle concept to explain how a particle can continue to exist and maintain its properties despite visual…

Three studies of preadolescents and college students found that many children and adults failed to give logically correct answers when presented with misleading weight conservation questions. The results show the importance of suggestibility and context. (MDM)

Compares the notion of the conservation or inconservation of information with the laws of conservation of matter and energy. The theory of entropy in physics and its significance in information theory is discussed, and the essential nature of information is considered. (LRW)

Demonstrates that conservation of amount does not always precede conservation of weight. Subjects were 60 six-year-old children. (BD)

The strength of the tendency of children (aged 4 1/2 to 7 1/2 years) to give phenomenist reading of neutral questions about object properties was investigated. Phenomenist answers decreased with age, and social dominance and conversational context affected answers. (SKC)

Hypothesizes that children may misunderstand the task required by Piaget's test and that researchers may therefore underestimate the children's cognitive capacities. Tests the hypothesis by dividing 48 children of both sexes into two groups, those taking the standard tests and those taking a test restructured to limit ambiguity. (BE)

It is suggested that the classical conservation justifications (reversibility, compensation, identity, identity action) are both formally and empirically inadequate justifications for the conservation deduction, particularly from a pedagogical perspective. A test for the distinction between true and empirical reversibility, that subjects know of…

Studied the development of the concepts of energy conservation and entropy in 5- to 15-year-old children. Energy conservation was not well understood until about age 15. Entropy was understood by 9- to 15-year-olds when the concept was illustrated by the gradual mixing of differently colored, rolling marbles. (Author/DB)

Attempted to determine to what extent the conservation concepts of young children change in the period between kindergarten and first grade. (DD)

Results of this study involving 120 kindergarten and first-grade boys and girls suggest that some understanding of the invariance of number appears to emerge earlier than the ability to pass the standard verbal test. (BH)

Suggests some difficulties and challenges in understanding and teaching Piaget's new theory. Outlines some differences between Piaget's new and standard theories, such as the diminished status of the emergent skills that mark the onset of concrete operational thinking and the perception of achievements in concrete operations as empirical…