Question

Why can pre-school children not conserve according to Piaget?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Jean Piaget’s Stages of Development: Piaget’s stages of cognitive development –

Sensorimotor (0-2 years) Infant develops learning based on what is absorbed through the senses.

Preoperational (2-6 years) Child uses images to understand objects but does not understand them logically.

Concrete operational (7-12) Child can think logically about concrete objects. They can add, subtract and observe.

Formal operational (12 and up) The child understands abstract terms and is able to hypothesize.

Conservation is an individual’s ability to understand that certain physical characteristics remain the same despite changes in shape or size. In an experiment, Piaget showed pre-schoolers 2 cups of water, they were the equal amount. Later he poured the contents of cup A into a short glass and cup B into a tall glass. He asked them, which was more, most kids pointed to the taller glass. This is because the preoperational phase allows them to understand objects but not understand them logically.