PIAGETIAN INVESTIGATIONS
After reviewing your book and the videos (provided in this document), you have learned about Piaget’s Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development. For this assignment, you will investigate the experiments that Piaget once performed with children in order to demonstrate the mental (cognitive) changes they undergo through preschool, elementary, and middle school. It is quite amazing to see children’s thinking style gradually become more logical and organized as they enter the next stage. Sometimes we see young children capable of certain skills but wonder why they are unable to grasp certain issues or behave in certain ways. Watching these experiments will help you understand that children are often incapable of thinking in certain ways, not because they are not smart, but because their brains have not developed quite yet in certain ways. Piaget noted that children in pre-operational stage are incapable of focusing on two aspects at one time. You will see this in your investigations!
That’s right! Now, you will be performing the following investigations! In this assignment, you will observe two children within the ages of 3 to 7 years old. Child #1 needs to be in the 3-5 age range and child #2 needs to be in the 6 to 7 age range. This will allow you to truly see the differences in development. This is going to be one of the most fun assignments you have ever done in school! In the packet you have been provided videos of other researchers doing these experiments to help you understand these investigations of cognitive thinking. Be sure to watch the videos so that you can accurately perform the experiments.
**Please do not use the child’s name, but refer to them as Child #1 and child #2. DIRECTIONS:
All the steps for this project will be written in red. Be sure to follow them.
STEP 1: Read through this entire document – all the way through – so that you get an idea of what you will be doing for this project. The student who doesn’t do this usually fails to turn in the proper work. Trust me. Read through the entire document now.
STEP 2: Read the definitions and watch the videos provided for you, in this document for each of the experimental tasks. This will take about 30 minutes but will be hugely beneficial. Most of these videos are EXACTLY what you will be doing in this assignment.
Conservation
Definition: The principle that the amount of a substance remains the same (i.e. is conserved) even when its appearance changes. Source: Berger, K. 2012. The Developing Person: Through Childhood and Adolescence. NY: Worth Publishers. p. 259.
You Tube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnArvcWaH6I (exactly what you will be doing! Watch and learn!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o (Great example of children with different thinking)
Classification Definition: The logical principle that things can be organized into groups (or categories or classes) according to some characteristic they have in common. Source: Berger, K. 2012. The Developing Person: Through Childhood and Adolescence. NY: Worth Publishers. p. 352.
You Tube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHR0-FIl8Yg (watch part w/ Legos, similar to what you will be doing) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0hcaik-x_w (almost exactly what we will be doing, ours is better!)
Seriation
Definition: the knowledge that things can be arranged in a logical series. Source: Berger, K. 2012. The Developing Person: Through Childhood and Adolescence. NY: Worth Publishers. p. 352.
You Tube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOorUw_XX2o (great example)
Morality
Definition: principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. Source: “morality.” In oxforddictionaries.com. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/mo rality.
STEP 3: The Investigation. You will now observe two children (between the ages of 3 and 7 years old). Read the following techniques before you begin your investigation with these children. You will need to make a copy of the Piagetian Investigation Form (attached to the assignment in Blackboard). Be sure to have all of the materials needed before you begin you work with the children. It is best to have a quiet space where it is just you and the child and nothing can interrupt the experiments.
There are certain techniques which must be followed in order to obtain optimal efficiency.
1. Do not continue the investigations over a long period of time; ten or fifteen minutes at the most are long enough for to have a child do these activities. When you see signs of restlessness, discontinue your investigation.
2. Let the child think for him/herself. Give the child plenty of time, do not rush. Let him/her work out his/her own solutions to the problems.
3. Let him/her perform for him/herself whatever actions are called for (pouring, sorting, etc). 4. Ask precise, direct questions that do not influence the child’s answers. Even your tone can give a clue in some cases, so try to be as noncommittal as possible.
Section I. Conservation Investigation
For the conservation investigation, you will be doing three experiments: (A. Glasses, B. Chopsticks, and C. Graham Crackers)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtLEWVu815o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHR0-FIl8Yg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0hcaik-x_w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOorUw_XX2o
Materials Needed: A. Glasses Experiment:
1. 2 glasses filled with the same amount of colored water (example: one red, one yellow) 2. Tall narrow jar
B. Chopsticks Experiment 1. Two chopsticks
C. Graham Crackers Experiment 1. Graham crackers
Procedure for Experiments:
A. Glasses Experiment:
1. Put the two glasses filled with colored water in front of the child. Make sure they have the same amount of liquid in each glass.
2. Ask child if both glasses have the same amount of water or if one has more or the other has more. If child agrees they are the same….
3. Pour the water from one of those glass into a differently shaped tall glass 4. Ask whether the two glasses now contain the same amount of water or does this one have
more or does this one have more (pointing to each) 5. Wait for child to respond. When they give you their answer, ask the child, “how come?” or
“why do you think this one has more?” 6. Document all answers down on paper 7. Remember to tell the child they are doing great
B. Chopstick Experiment: 1. Place the chopsticks in front of the child parallel to one another like this:
2. Ask child if both chopsticks are the same size or if one is longer or the other is longer. If child agrees they are the same….
3. Move one chopstick to the right so that they look like this:
4. Ask the child if the chopsticks are now the same or is this one longer or is this one longer? 5. Wait for child to respond. When they give you their answer, ask the child, “how come?” or
“why do you think this one has more?” 6. Document all answers down on paper 7. Remember to tell the child they are doing great
C. Graham Cracker Experiment 1. Break one graham cracker in half (in front of the child) and place the two squares in front
of you. Have an existing half ready for the child and place it in front of him/her. So at this point, you have two halves and she/he has one half.
2. Ask child if you both have the same amount of graham crackers in front of each other. If child agrees they are the same ask him or her to count the cracker in front of him and in front of you? Once the child says, they are not the same….
3. Break the half in front of the child into two quarters. 4. Ask the child now, do we have the same, or do you have more or do I have more? 5. Wait for child to respond. When they give you their answer, ask the child, “how come?” or
“why do you think this one has more?” 6. Document all answers down on paper 7. Remember to tell the child they are doing great
Section II. Classification Investigation
Materials Make sure the following shapes are as large as the palm of your hand – clearly cut and visible
8 circles (two each of red, green, blue and yellow) 5 triangles (two of red, one green, one blue and one yellow) C. 5 squares (two red, one blue, one yellow, one green)
Procedure:
1. Spread the shapes on a table in no particular order, but all should be plainly visible. 2. Place a blue circle and a blue square on one side of the table, “These two go together because
they’re the same in some way.”
3. Ask the child to “Put together things that are the same on one side of the table, put all different things on the other side of the table.” Additional instructions may be given such as: “Put them here if they’re the same, over there if they’re different from this one but the same as each other.”
4. If the child has classified in one way, ask if he can put them together in another way so that all the things are the same.
Possibly the younger child will not be able to classify, but whatever he does, ask for an explanation as to why the things put together are alike. What is his rationale for forming classes? Remember to tell the child that he or she is doing a great job! If they can’t do the classification, move to making sure they feel good about the task and maybe ask what shape it is or what color the shape is, just for the sure fact of making them feel good about their time with you.
Section III: Seriation
Materials: 1 set of colored shapes (same color) of different sizes (squares or triangles are best) Remember that these shapes are the same color, just different sizes. You should have at least 5 of them
Procedure:
1. Spread the cards on the table 2. Arrange five in the correct order from small to large 3. Ask child: “Can you make a row exactly like mine?” 4. Ask child to explain what they have done. 5. Remember to compliment the child on their work with you
Section IV: Morality For this section, there will be two stories.
Procedure:
Say, “I am going to tell you a story about two boys.” Story A:
A boy wanted a cookie even though his mother said he mustn’t have any so close to dinner time. The boy went and snuck a cookie anyway. When he did, he knocked over one of his mother’s best cups and broke it. (Pause) A boy wanted to help his mother by clearing the dishes off of the table. So he took a tray and loaded lots and lots of cups on it. When he tried to carry the big load of cups to the kitchen sink, he dropped them. Every last one of them broke. Ask: “Which boy was naughtier? (badder) “Why?”
Procedure: Say, “This next story is about being honest. Would you like to hear it?”
Story B: A girl came home from school and told her mother that a great pink kitty cat as big as an elephant had chased her home from school. A girl made a tear in one of her mother’s magazines. When the mother asked her if she’d torn the magazine, the girl said she hadn’t.
Ask: “Which girl told the worse lie?” “Why was it worse?”
Section V: Reflection
Create a one page reflection describing your experience observing these children. Your report should be prepared using a 12 point font (Times New Roman, Ariel or Calibri). You may use the following questions as a guide for your reflection. What did you learn from this assignment? What have you learned about observing the differences in children’s development? In what ways were the children different in their problem solving? Did the children perform as Piaget would have predicted? What questions do you have about observing children or how their development reflects their biological or environmental influences? What can you conclude about young children’s thinking? In what ways were you impressed with these children’s problem solving? In what ways was their thinking limited?
Section VI. Evidence of Observation Include evidence of your work through pictures of your materials. Either upload the actual picture or insert screenshots at the end of the report.
STEP 4: The Report.
Type your Name, Course Name, and Date in the heading of the form.
Complete the Piagetian Investigation Form (found under assignments on Blackboard).
Be sure to write down everything that was said, both by you and by the child. Please write down
EVERYTHING the child said in response to your questions. Please do not use the child’s name, but
refer to them as Child #1 and child #2.
Complete the Reflection portion on the form.
Include pictures of all materials at the end of the form.
View the grading rubric before completing your assignment.
Upload the final product through the appropriate assignment portal in blackboard.
This assignment was originally developed by Professor Valdez and modified by Professor Naman. Modified: April 24, 2016
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INVESTIGATIONS BY PIAGET
You learned about Piaget’s Preoperational Stage of Cognitive Development after reading the book and watching the videos (which are included in this PDF). For this project, you will research Piaget’s experiments with children in order to demonstrate the mental (cognitive) changes that children go through as they progress through preschool, elementary, and middle school. It’s fascinating to watch children’s thinking styles evolve from irrational to logical and ordered as they progress through the stages. We often meet young children who are capable of certain skills but are perplexed as to why they are unable to grasp certain concepts or act in particular ways. These studies will show you that children are often incapable of thinking in particular ways, not because they are stupid, but because their brains are not developed enough.
