Naughty Teddy Study

• Aim

  To see if a deliberate change in a row of counters would help younger children with conservation
• Method

  Children between 4 and 6 were shown 2 rows of counters. A 'naughty teddy' would mess these up. The children were then asked if the rows were the same.
• Results

  When the change to the rows was accidental 68% of the children conserved

  When the change to the rows was deliberate 41% of the children conserved

  They found that older children tended to perform better
• Conclusion

  The study found that Piaget underestimated what children can do

  but that there are still age-related changes
• Weakness


  The sample was made up of children from one school - so the study cannot be used to draw valid comparisons between groups.
• Weakness 


  Children may have appeared to conserve when they were just distracted by the teddy bear and therefore didn't notice the change