The relative effectiveness of four different training conditions on the attainment of conservation of quantity was examined in a 5-Group design. Subjects were 75 nonconserving preschoolers, ranging in age from 3.10 to 5.0 years. Treatment consisted of five conditions: (1) pretense play training, (2) direct conservation training, (3) a combination…

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…

To analyze the relationship of logical development and comprehension of syntax, 60 children aged 5-8 years were individually tested. Measures included class inclusion, conservation of substance and weight, a sorting test, and a test of comprehension of active and passive sentences. Class inclusion was not strongly related to syntactical…

This study examined the resistance to conservation of quantity extinction in 180 subjects across the life span. The results indicated that both resistance judgments and explanations were found to develop in a curvilinear fashion, increasing with age until young adulthood and declining thereafter. (JMB)

Two studies were conducted to examine whether the elderly maintain the competence to solve Piagetian conservation problems. The results are discussed in terms of a distinction between competence and performance. (JMB)

Attempts to clarify the meaning of differentiation in the Piagetian concept of object permanence. (BD)

This study used a rating scale, a betting game, and a feedback phase to examine the certainty with which 60 second graders and 36 fifth graders made judgments on tasks involving various forms of conservation and transitivity. (Author/JMB)

This study examined the relation between symbolic play training and conservation in 30 middle-class nonconserving 4-year-old children. Results showed that 13 experimental subjects manifested some change in solving conservation problems after symbolic play training while only one control subject showed any change toward conservation on the…

University students' understanding of the laws of matter conservation, weight conservation, gravity and the functioning of levers were examined before, during, and after a traditional weight conservation task in which a surreptitious deception caused the pan balance scale not to balance. (Author/JMB)

A shortened version of a learning-set training procedure was given to 80 children four and five years of age. These children and 16 untrained controls were then tested for quantity conservation. Results relate task performance on the conservation tasks to the type of training received. (Author/JMB)

Two experiments investigated which of two factors is responsible for decalage between Piaget's equivalence and identity conservation tasks. Performance of 78 primary school students between 57 and 79 months of age was compared on equivalence and identity tasks and a third task, equivalence I, which retains transitivity requirement of Piaget's task…

Displays that by themselves always elicited chance judgment of number were shown to three- to four-year-olds and six- to seven-year-olds. The first display was transformed into the second, and so on. Results indicated that three- to four-year-olds do not understand conservation of number because judgements of successive displays were independent…

Purpose of study was to investigate the applicability of Piaget's theory and methods to the study of conservation in nonhumans. Two out of four subject monkeys achieved stringent and statistically significant performance criteria in sameness-difference judgment tests and showed significant generalization in the fewest possible trials. (Author/SB)

First graders, pretested on conservation tasks, were assigned to groups consisting of one conserver and one nonconserver. Groups then had to give a joint response. Nonconservers yielded more often to conservers. Subsequent tests indicated nonconservers improved on the tasks. (ST)