An investigation of the role of an atomistic view of material substance in the development of conservation of continuous quantity in young children. Piagetian tasks using blocks, coarse salt and water were presented to a total of 180 kindergarten, first, and second grade children. Results indicate that tasks using blocks were the easiest. (ED)

Based on author's PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles (1967).

This study tests the hypothesis that components of play such as immagination contribute to cognitive development. Twenty-four middle-class children attending a university-affiliated preschool were observed for 20 one-minute play observations during the Spring Semesters of 1978 and 1979. Play was coded using categories for both social (solitary,…

This paper discusses research on how concepts differ in their internal organization and how these differences interact with and affect cognitive processing in children. Two types of natural concepts are focused on: classes (nouns with class-inclusion organization, such as "trees,""students,""soldiers" and collections…

Two studies examined how nonconservers use the dimensions relevant to quantity in the conservation of substance task. Most nonconservers are very selective in their use of the information provided by these dimensions. Most preschool and kindergarten nonconservers used length to define amount, while ignoring width. This was true regardless of how…

The influence of language and familiarity with clay upon performance of traditional tasks involving conservation of quantity and weight was examined. Children from a village in which all the women are potters did not perform differently from their peers in a neighboring village on any task. (MS)

Conservation in congenitally blind, blindfolded and sighted elementary school students indicated the order of acquisition of various types of conservation was constant. (ST)

Describes instructional techniques derived from the Piagetian tests for determining the stage of cognitive development of a child. Examines the principle of reflection and conservation of quantity. (AL)

Portions of this paper were read at the Eastern Psychological Association meeting, April 1968, Washington, D.C. (DR)

Three- to 7-year-old children were trained through reinforcement to select the more or less numerous of two rows of squares. All children successfully judged relative numerosity when number covaried with length or density, but only concrete operational children were successful when numbers did not covary with other dimensions. (Author/DB)

Piaget's conservation paradigm was used to assess five- to seven-year-old children's understanding of the permanence of various kinship roles. Children's conservation was studied by applying certain transformations on single- and multiple-kinship role combinations. Kinship conservation developed gradually in this age range. Females' performance…