ao3 piaget stages

• Support for Piaget's assumptions about conservation:

  Piaget performed a conservation task with children in the preoccupation stage

  ,2 equally spaced rows of counters were laid out in front of the children and they agreed that both had the same number.

  one of the lines was brought closer together and the children stated that the longer line had more counters.

  Preoccupational children lack conservation as they were unable to understand that despite changes in the outer appearance of one , the quantity of counters are the same.

  increases validity
• supporting evidence is too complicated to understand well.

  Donaldson - young children can conserve if asked in a way they find engaging and understand better.

  McGarrigle and Donaldson -repeated this study and found that children agree the 2 lines had the same number of counters .

  Used a puppet to act out a 'naughty teddy' pushing one of the rows closer together, most of the children were able to conserve - 62 % compared to 16%- and said that both the rows still had the same number of counters.

  preocc kids can do conservation and P underestimated their ability due to problems with his method
•  S of Piaget's assumptions is that the concept of readiness has practical application to education.

  children are not bio ready to be taught certain concepts till they reach a certain age  e.g. it is difficult to teach pre operational stage abstract maths.

  For real learning, activities should be pitched to the right level in age.

  If they are not the right age, superficial learning will take place and not true understanding .

  Plowden report sought changes to English education system so that teachers can target content to the right age group .

  Therefore increases utility, improving education
• Supporting evidence for hypotheticodeductive reasoning in the formal operational stage.

  Piaget and Inhelder- To work out how to make yellow coloured liquids using different coloured liquids in beakers.

  Pre operational stage tried random combinations ,

  formal operational staged applied logical strategies and reasoning to come to a method of making the liquid.

  Demonstrates in older children in the formal operational stage engage in logic-driven systematic hypotheticodeductive reasoning, younger children use much simpler trial and error reasoning.
• Alternative explanation ,

  Piagetian theories may lay emphasis on biological and cognitive maturation- there are alternate explanations of intellectual development , the basis is social interactions according to Vygotsky. cognitive development takes place through experts helping the child to cross the zone of proximal development( the gap between what they can understand by themselves and with the help of an expert )rather than passing through different stages.

  P theory does not take into account the role of social interaction and cognitive development →incomplete