This dissertation focused upon non-formal and informal learning practices and knowledge production amongst [adult] participants involved in local sea turtle conservation practices along the US Atlantic coast. In the United States, adult learning and adult education has historically occurred within non-formal settings (e.g., through community-based…

This study replicated a study by Mehler and Bever (1967) which had reported conservation observed in very young children between 2 years 4 months and 2 years 7 months old. Both Piaget (1968) and Bielen (1968) criticized the Mehler-Bever finding, claiming that true conservation had not been demonstrated. The investigator in the present study sought…

A concept-by-concept approach to Jean Piaget's ideas and findings about the intellectual growth of children is presented in simplified form for the lay reader. It first reviews the theoretical rationale behind Piaget's work and sets forth his basic principles of development. Then comes an overview of developmental stages of intellectual growth…

This study demonstrates that, given the assumption that the child does have some understanding of both height and amount, many nonconservers do give correct reversal judgments for both. Also, reversibility data from this study do not support the theory that a new stage appears when water conservation judgments appear. (Author/ED)

A pretheoretical model of cognitive development is proposed which is based on the empirical establishment of Gagne's cumulative learning sequences. (Author)

The purpose was to determine whether different levels of education, race, and sex affect the degree of conservation of mass, weight, and volume attained by minimally educated adults. Subjects were 30 white and 30 black females and 30 white and 30 black males enrolled in Adult Basic Education classes, with 40 subjects each at grade levels 0-3, 4-6,…

Preoperational and concrete operational kindergarten children received stimulus differentiation training, either with or without feedback, and then a series of discrimination learning problems in which a blank trial probe was used to detect a child's hypothesis after each feedback trial. Piagetian stage theory requires elaboration to account…

Results of this study help to account for some of the disparity between Genevan and non-Genevan data and suggest the need for caution in inferring processes leading to conservation from the types of reason given. (Author/CB)

The effects of numerical and visual cues, equality or inequality of initial volumes, size of measurement unit, and order of cue presentation on conservation of liquid volumes by first- and second-graders were investigated. Some findings extend, and others contradict, those of Piaget. (SD)

Studies the effects of modeling and reversibility cues in teaching 4-year-olds to conserve length. Results are discussed in terms of a social learning viewpoint of cognitive development. (ED)

The purpose was to investigate the influence of variations in conservation form and perceptual modality on the expressed level of understanding of the conservation of weight concept, and to determine if these variations result in significantly different observed rates of concept development. Sampling included 225 children, five to twelve years…

Explores a methodology for determining if young children's responses to a specific training procedure could be identified as "learning" or "development." Twelve nonconserving kindergartners were administered a standard conservation of substance task, and three variations of the same task. (CM)