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PART C (30%):

The title of this part of the Assignment is: “Assessment of a Preoperational and a Concrete Operational Thinker”
Your Task: Collect data from TWO children and compare their thought processes by recording and interpreting their responses to three types of conservations tasks.
Remember: You are not playing tricks here, or doing magic, or attempting to teach conservation.
You are only observing and recording the child’s answers to the tasks. Photographs: Get someone to take about 2-3 photographs of you conducting the experiment and include them in your report.

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METHOD:

a) Identify two children; one about 5 years age and another about 7 to 8 years of age.
b) Using Piaget’s conservation tasks, administer THREE conservation tasks to each child and compare his or her responses with each other and attempt to interpret their responses in view of Piaget’s theory.
c) You can use any language during the experiment (English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Tamil, Iban, Kadazan-Dusun or others)
d) Find a quiet place for the observation and set up your materials.
e) DO NOT SAY, “This is a Test”

TASK 1: CONSERVATION OF QUANTITY

Make two sets of 10 identical items with each set having a different colour.
The items could be plastic chips, 50 sen coins (painted with 2 colours), big buttons, checkers and others.
Place one row of 10 same-coloured items in front of the child.
Ask the child to make an identical row with the other set.
Ask the child if the two rows have the same amount of items or if one row has more.
Do not go on until the rows are identical in number and arrangement and the child agrees that the two rows are the same.
Now spread one row out and push the other row together so that the display looks as follows:

TASK 1: CONSERVATION OF QUANTITY (CONT’)

Ask the child if the rows are the same or if one row has more.
Ask the child why it is the same or why one has more and which one, if either, has more.
[The key word is “more”]
If the child says one row has more, ask the child where the “more” came from.
Record all responses.

TASK 2: CONSERVATION OF LIQUID

Pour an identical amount of liquid into two identical glasses (same size & shape).
Ensure that the colour of each liquid in each glass is different.
Ask the child if the two glasses have the same amount and adjust the volume in each glass until the child agrees the same.

Now pour the liquid from one glass into a taller, thinner clear glass. Ask the child if the amount of liquid is the same in both glasses or if one has more. If the child thinks one has more, ask which one.
Have the child justify the judgment of the glasses having the same or different amount

TASK 3: CONSERVATION OF SOLID

Get a piece of clay or plasticine and break it into two equal piece. See picture 1 below:
Ask the child if the two pieces clay are the same size or same amount of clay.

Next, roll one of the pieces of clay or plasticine and make it long (see picture 2).
Ask the child if the two pieces of clay or plasticine are the same size or have the same amount or if one has more. If the child thinks one has more, ask which one.
Have the child to justify the judgment of the two pieces of clay or plasticine having the same or different amount

FORMAT OF THE REPORT

B) RESEARCH QUESTIONS: [1 PAGE]

i. State the question you are seeking to answer (refer to Chapter 1 – scientific method of inquiry).
E.g. “I wonder if there is a difference in how...............
ii. State at least 2 research questions
Age? Gender? Education level of parents?

C) DATA COLLECTION: [10 PAGES INCLUDING 6 PHOTOGRAPHS – 2 FOR EACH TASK]

Set up, materials used, place, Record the conversation between you and the child

Be sure to make note of the reasoning of the child, the “why” part of the child’s answer.
Include a photograph of you and the child for each of the conservation tasks during the experiment.

D) CONCLUSION: [4 PAGES]

Sample of questions you may use:
Are there differences between the performances of the younger and older child on these tasks? Why do you think?
What do you now understand about a child's thought processes that you were unaware of before?
What was the child successful at? Why was the child successful at these behaviours?
What activities gave the child problems? What frustrated the child?
Based on the answers, is your research question answered.
Does you study support Piaget’s theory?

D) CONCLUSION: EXAMPLE

Are there differences between the performances of the younger and older child on these tasks? Why do you think?
Yes, there were noticeable differences between the performances of the younger child (5 years old) and the older child (7–8 years old). The younger child tended to focus on the most obvious visual changes in the conservation tasks. For example, when liquid was poured into a taller and thinner container, the younger child believed that the taller container held more liquid. In contrast, the older child understood that the quantity remained the same despite changes in appearance.
These differences may be explained by Piaget's stages of cognitive development. The 5-year-old child is typically in the preoperational stage, where thinking is often dominated by perception and centration (focusing on one aspect of a situation). The 7–8-year-old child is generally in the concrete operational stage, where logical reasoning develops and conservation concepts are better understood.

REQUIREMENTS:

GENERAL GUIDELINE