Piaget’s Tasks For 1

Running Head: Piaget’s Task For Pre-Schoolers

Piaget’s Task For Pre-Schoolers

Sümeyra TAYFUR

Fatih University, 2009

 Piaget’s Tasks For 2

Abstract

During middle childhood years, children’s cognitive abilities become more complicated and
sophisticated.( Cardon & others, 1992 ) In Piagetian view a child who is ready for a formal
education is in concrete operational stage.( Piaget, 1896 ) Before this stage, children can not
think in a logical way.According to Piaget, the stage transition from pre-operational to concrete
operational reasoning is a shift from reliance on perception to reliance on logic.( Butterworth
G. , Harris M ,1994 ).In this study instructors applied some tasks on pre-schoolers. This paper
will present how the problems about logical thinking give difficulties to children who are
between 4 and 6 ages.

Key Words
Piaget
Conservation Of (mass, number, liquid, length )
Pre- Operational Stage
Concrete Operational Stage
Seriation
Classification
Animism
Egocentrism
Piagetian Tasks
 Piaget’s Tasks For 3
Introduction
Children in pre-operational stage relate to their world through symbolic reasoning magical
though and continued sensorimotor activity. During pre-operational stage, children become capable of
using language and mentally imagery. For the first time, the child is able to think about past and
future event.( Kuther T. ,2001 ) Despite these abilities, Piaget noted the pre-operational child’s
thought is characterized by several limitations. Such as; egocentrism, animism and lack conservation
skills.
In Piagetian view ;
Egocentrism means “ the child’s inability to distinguish between one's own perspective and
someone else's perspective" (Santrock, 204). Animism is the child's belief that things are alive or have
human characteristics because they move or grow. (Santrock, 204). Classification means the process
in which concrete operational children can group objects with some similarities within a large
category and in Seriation process concrete operational children can arrange objects by increasing or
decreasing size.Centration is the tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation and neglect others.(
Piaget , 1896–1980 )
Conservation tasks require children to observe a transformation in physical quantities that
are initially equivalent to reason about the impact of the transformation.( Kuther T., 2001 )
During pre-operational stage defined by Piaget, a child performs in a characteristic way on
tests called conservation experiments. To conserve in Piaget’s terminology is to preserve internally or
represent. The conservation experiments all require a child to demonstrate possession of some
concepts, usually a concept that develops around the age of 5 to 7.( Dewey R. , 2007 )
This paper includes 9 different tasks about conservation, seriation, animism, centration,
egocentrism and classification. Instructors applied these tasks to pre-schoolers and recorded the
results.
Problem In General
The problem which is mentioned by this paper is the lack of pre-schoolers on logical
thinking.
Problems Specific To Tasks
a) Task 1: Does conservation of number develop between ages 4-6?
b) Task 2: Does conservation of mass develop between ages 4-6?
 Piaget’s Tasks For 4
c) Task 3: Does conservation of liquid develop between ages 4-6?
d) Task 4: Does conservation of length develop between ages 4-6?
e) Task 5: Does seriation develop between ages 4-6?
f) Task 6: Does classification-inclusion develop between ages 4-6?
g) Task 7: Does classification-less/more develop between ages 4-6?
h) Task 8: Does classification-centration develop between ages 4-6?
i) Task 9: Do animism and egocentrism go on between ages 4-6?

Method
Participants
There were 18 kindergarten students. Participants were selected from the students
who are 4, 5 and 6 years old. 3 girls and 3 boys were chosen from each age group.
Task 1: Conservation Of Number
Materials
For this task 14 piece of round shaped green carton were used.( r =1)
Procedure
The rounds were put on the desk in an order. They were matched in two lines.
Participants were asked : “ Are there equal number of rounds on each line? ”

Children were made sure about there were equal number of rounds. Than instructors
rearranged and spread the rounds on a more wide area and they asked “Do the rounds in this
line remain same or they become less/more?”
 Piaget’s Tasks For 5
Results

Table 1: Responses for the task “conservation of number” in relation to “age and gender” (N, %)

Less More Same

Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

Girl Boy
Age s (N) s (N) N % N % N % N % N % N %
4 3 3 2 99 - 0 1 33 3 100 - 0 - 0

5 3 3 1 33 - 0 2 99 3 100 - 0 - 0
6 3 3 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0

Children can not decide in a right way about conservation of number. Clearly they thought
the rounds get more.
Discussion
Piaget’s test for conservation of number is described as two rows with same number of
things (examples: coins, fruits, and candies that are equally spaced. Initially, young children knew
these two rows had same number. Piaget said young children did not realize these two rows are still
the same number because they confused and did not see what adults see that help them to understand
the task. Piaget said the ability to understand this task is “ in the face of a perceptual change,” and the
“young child tends to be fooled by the misleading perceptual appearance” (Flavell, Miller, 1993).
Task 2: Conservation Of Mass
Materials
For this task two identical plasticene balls were used.
Procedure
Children were told that two plasticene balls were equal. Than instructor rolled one of the
balls and asked the child “ Is the rolled one still equal to the other one or it become less/more?”
 Piaget’s Tasks For 6
Result
Table 2: Responses for the task “conservation of mass” in relation to “age and gender” (N, %)

Less More Same

Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

Age Girls Boys N % N % N % N % N % N %

(N) (N)

4 3 3 1 33 1 33 2 66 2 66 - 0 - 0

5 3 3 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0

6 3 3 - 0 1 33 3 100 2 66 - 0 - 0

None of the children could not notice that there is no change in the quantity of the shape.
Discussion
A child who is uncertain of his/her judgements (common in young children) is more likely to
be affected by variables in the experiment, therefore there are inconsistencies in the results. The
Children can not imagine that the rolled plasticene can be back into a ball and they can not conclude
that the amount of plasticene is not effected by the change in appearance.
Task 3: Conservation Of Liquid
Materials
One short and wide, two long glasses with same capacity.
Procedure
First, same amount of water were put the long glasses. The child was told the two glasses
had same amount of water. After the child accept the statement, instructor transferred one of them to
the short glass.

Than instructor asked “Now, is there same amount of water in each glass or the water in
short glass is less/more?”

Piaget’s Tasks For 7

 Results
Table 3: Responses for the task “conservation of liquid” in relation to “age and gender” (N, %)
Less More Same

Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

Age Girls Boys N % N % N % N % N % N %

(N) (N)

4 3 3 2 66 3 100 1 33 - 0 - 0 -

5 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

6 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Children can not differentiate that the amount of water in glasses was equal and in the
short glass, there was same amount of water added transferred from long glass.
Discussion
According to Piaget’s explanation, children’s thinking is “perception bound” in
preoperational stage and also they could not focus their attention on two aspects of the new glass, they
were attentive only to one aspect which is that one glass is taller than the other two; they did not
realize the taller glass had the same amount of liquid.( term-paper.us , 2005 )
Task 4: Conservation Of Length
Materials
2 pieces of 5 cm sticks.
Procedure
The sticks were put on the desk like one under the other and instructors told the child
that the sticks had same length. After the child accept the statement, the stick which is nearer to the
child is moved to 2 cm away to the right by instructor.

Instructors asked, “ This stick has equal length with the other, or it became
less/more?”

Piaget’s Tasks For 8

 Result

Table 4: Responses for the task “conservation of lengt” in relation to “age and gender” (N, %)

Less More Same

Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

Age Girls Boys N % N % N % N % N % N %

(N) (N)

4 3 3 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0

5 3 3 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0

6 3 3 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0

None of the children notice that the length of sticks did not change.
Discussion
Children in pre-operational stage, can not find the result to conserve length in easier way.
Task 5: Seriation
Materials
10 pieces of sticks were used. The shortest one was 5 cm and they get longer by 1 cm
for each. The longest was 14 cm.
Procedure
The mixed sticks were put on the desk. Instructor told the child to order the stiks like
stairway. And instructor asked child to pick the shortest for each of them and to choose the longer one
for the previous one.

Piaget’s Tasks For 9

 Results
Table 5 : Responses for the task “seriation” in relation to “age and gender” (N, %)

All true Partially True

Girls Boys Girls Boys
Ag Girls Boy
e (N) s (N) N % N % N % N %

4 3 3 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100

5 3 3 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100

6 3 3 1 33 2 66 2 66 1 33

Children could not succeed the seriation. Especially children from 4 years old did not
differentiate short and long.
Discussion
The children showed the ability to determine the shorter or longer. But in some cases some
of the children ( some of older ones ) solve the problem. They totally determined which is longer for
each stick.
Task 6: Classification-Inclusion
Materials
Pictures of 3 strawberries and 8 apples were used.
Procedure
Instructor asked “Are there more apples or more fruits?” and “Are there more strawberries
or more fruits?”
Result
Table 6: Responses for the task “classification and inclusion” in relation to “age and gender” (N, %)
Question 1 Question 2

Apples Fruits Strawberries Fruits

Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys
Girls Boy in in in in
Age (N) s (N) N % N % N % N % Nr % Nr % Nr % Nr %

4 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100

5 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100

6 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100

Piaget’s Tasks For 10

 The children did not understand the relation between apple and strawberry. All children said
more apples in first part but they said more fruits in second part.
Discussion
Sorting objects according to two characteristics simultaneously is more and this ability may
not appear until middle childhood. Piaget found that until the concrete operational period, children do
not understand category and class relationships thoroughly.( Sternberg R. J., 2006 )
In one other test of children’s understanding about classification and hierarchical relations,
Piaget showed children a picture containing seven tulips and four daisies and asked, “ Are there more
tulips or more flowers?” A pre-operational 5-year-old would characteristically say “More tulips.” A
child in the concrete operational stage would correctly reason that the class flowers contains the two
subclasses tulips and daisies. Young children apparently have difficult time with this kind of problem
because they are not used to thinking about objects in two different ways-say, as tulips and also as
flowers( Wilkinson, 1976 ). Nevertheless, classifying objects conceptually seems to improve
significantly in the concrete operational stage, not in pre-operational stage.
Task 7: Classification-Less/More
Materials
A 50 kuruş and five 10 kuruş coins.
Procedure
Instructor kept 10 kuruş coins and gave the 50 kuruş to the child and asked “ Is your
money much more than mine?” or “Is my money much more than yours?”
Results

Table 7: Responses for the task “Classification according to size, unit and value ” in relation to “age and gender” (N,
%)
Mine Your
Girls Boys Girls Boys
Ag Girls Boy
e (N) s (N) N % N % N % N %
4 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0
5 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0
6 3 3 3 100 2 66 - 0 1 33

All of the children responded the questions with “ mine ”.

 Piaget’s Tasks For 11
Discussion
The children can not take account the value of coins in pre-operational stage. They think
the big one is much more than the others.
Task 8: Classification-Centrism
Materials
8 pieces of blue round carton and 5 pieces of red round carton were used.( r =1 )
Procedure
Instructor put the cartons on the desk. Than instructor asked “Are the red round more or
the carton rounds more?” and “Are the blue rounds more or the carton rounds more?”
Results
Table 8 : Responses for the task “centration” in relation to “age and gender” (N, %)

Question 1 Question 2

Red Carton Blue Carton

Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys
Girls Boy
Age (N) s (N) N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N %

4 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100

5 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100

6 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 1 33 1 33 2 66 2 66

The children could not understand the whole/part relationship.

Discussion
Children in pre-operational stage, have a limitation about centration. Piaget illustrated
this by showing children a necklace of 10 wooden beads, of which 7 were brown and 3 white. When
asked if there were more brown beads or more wooden beads, pre-operational children would usually
answer that there are more brown beads, reflecting their inability to think simultaneously about a
whole class ( wooden beads ) and a subclass ( brown beads ). Concrete operations children, on the
other hand, can see the relationship between partr and whole: they are able to free themselves from
some perceptual characteristics ( such as the colour brown ) and understand that two different
characteristics are involved, one of which is subordinate to the other.( Zanden V. James , 1997 )
Piaget’s Tasks For 12
Task 9: Animism And Egocentrism
 Procedure
Instructor take the child to the garden. And asked “ Where is the sun?”, “ Is it alive?”, “
What is sun doing?” and “Why?”
Results
Table 9 : Responses given by children to the question which are mentioned above

Where is Is it What it is Why ?

The Sun? alive? doing?

Above to me Yes Shining It is so shiny

Above to me Yes Staying Don’t go

Above to me Yes Walking

Above to me Yes Walking

Above to me Yes Shining Has a lot light

Far away Yes Keeps us warm To heat air

Far away Yes Spreadind-g Cause its daytime

light

Above the Yes Heats me Weather isn’t cold

house

In air Yes Heats me Cause it is sun

Above Yes Heats us Not to be cold

Above Yes Heats air Not to cold us

Above Yes Heats air Weather is nice

At sky Yes Heats us To heat air

At sky No Heats us To keep us warm

Above us No Heats us Sun is hot

Among No Heats world To heat us

clouds

Above us No Heats Very hot

Above us No Heats us To heat us

Piaget’s Tasks For 13

Table 10 : This table prepared according to the responses which are mentioned in Table 9 for the task “animism and
egocentrism” in relation to “age and gender” (N, %)

Animism Egocentrism

The Sun is The Sun is Not

Alive Not alive Egocentric Egocentric
Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys
Girls Boy
Age (N) s (N) N % N % N % N % N % N % N % N %

4 3 3 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0

5 3 3 2 66 3 100 1 33 - 0 3 100 3 100 - 0 - 0

6 3 3 1 33 - 0 2 66 3 100 - 0 - 0 3 100 3 100

Children were highly egocentric and in their statements animism was observed very often.
Discussion
According to Piaget( 1926 ), the pre-operational child’s thought is egocentric in nature.
Before the age of 6 or 7 children have great difficulties with tasks about egocentrism.
In Piaget’s view, animistic thinking is a consequence of the child’s tendency to think
egocentrically. Animistic thinking declines during the pre-operational stage as children acquire a
better understanding of the world.( Keenan T. ,Evans S. , 2009 )

General Discussion

In Piaget’s theory, the period from 2,5 to 6 is known as the pre-operational stage, followed
between 6 and 12 years by the concrete operational stage. The pre-operational period is a time during
which children gradually acquire systematic, logical thinking.
According to Piaget, the developmental task during the pre-operational period consists in
organizing thinking into a system of mental operations. ( Butterworth G. , Harris M., 1994 ) Piaget
argues that the child is dominated by the immediate appearance of things and, as a consequence,
thought is pre-logical.

Piaget’s Tasks For 14

Conservation of number of discontinuous quantity can be assessed by presenting two sets
of objects in one-to-one correspondence, so the equality of the sets is apparent, then transforming one
set by extending or compressing it.( Halford G. S. & Andrews G. , 2006) The child was misled by
transformation, which made it appear that quantity or number had changed ( Bruner, Olver, &
Greenfield, 1996 ) the child misinterpreted the words used in the test believing that “more” referred to
height of the liquid or length of the row, rather than to quantity ( Donaldson & McGarrigle, 1974 ).
Why this experiment so significant? It is in fact one in a series of demonstrations by
Piaget, illustrating that conservation applies to a whole range of object qualities such as length,
number, mass and volume. All show that the child’s thinking about the world has now moved from a
reliance on perception to a reliance on logic. ( Ellis H. Carlton , Hunt R. Reed, 1993 )
All result shows that children in pre-operational stage can not think in a logical way.
Children before age 7 can not as yet simultaneously take into account two features and will therefore
be unable to understand that a change in the one is compensated for by a change in the other.
Pre-operational child does not understand transformation. He simply compares the initial
state and the final state without being concerned with transformation.
Operational thinking develops only after the preschool stage and enables children to work
out problems logically.

Piaget’s Tasks For 15

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