Investigates the effect of the Verbal Rule Instruction Technique in facilitating the acquisition of conservation concepts. Data were collected from 247 Nigerian schoolchildren divided into three groups: verbal, nonverbal, and no-training. (Author/RH)

Kindergarten children were pretested on attention and conservation tasks. Natural conservers performed better than nonconservers on attention tasks during the pretest. Training in attention led experimental groups to perform better than a control group on both attention and conservation tasks. Younger children seemed to benefit from attention…

This study investigated students' understanding of two mathematical relations as measured by conservation tasks. Thirty students were interviewed, half each at the middle and high school levels. The results suggest that the ability to conserve equation or function varies among pupils of different ages, sexes, and mathematical backgrounds. (MP)

Class inclusion problems differing in size of the array and in superordinate class were given to 84 boys and girls in grades 1 through 4 in a first experiment, and 41 boys and girls in grades 3 and 4 in a second experiment. The experiments sought to determine performance variables explaining the developmentally late appearance of class-inclusion…

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)

Tests of intelligence, music audiation, auditory conservation, and visual conservation were administered to two first-grade classes. Data revealed that auditory conservation isn't significantly related to visual conservation but is significantly related to music aptitude, to IQ, and to the interaction of music aptitude and IQ. Instructional…

Investigated the degree to which early conservation is predicted of later arithmetic achievement by examining the relationship between performance on a conservation task at the beginning of kindergarten and arithmetic achievement towards the end of the second grade. (Author/DB)

A replication study was conducted to determine whether conservation-of-number performance would be improved by questioning the subject only after the transformation is performed, rather than before and after the transformation, as is done in the standard conservation test. Subjects were preschoolers, aged 0-4 to 5-7. (Author/MP)

Tests Piaget's assertions regarding compensation, identity, and conservation using a modified replication of Piaget and Taponier's classic study of liquid conservation. A total of 96 children in kindergarten and first grade were presented with a sequence of anticipation-of-liquid-conservation, anticipation-of-water-levels, and standard…

This study investigated the relationship between giftedness and conservation of weight based on Piaget's theory of intelligence. A total of 56 gifted and 72 nongifted children (ages 114-150 months) were tested on a series of tasks designed to measure conservation of weight. (MS)

Twenty-three high school biology students using the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) Blue Textbook were administered a weight conservation and two volume conservation tasks. A majority performed below formal-operational level, indicating that these students would be likely to encounter difficuluty with BSCS Blue Version materials. (MLH)