ASSIGNMENT

JANUARY 2013 SEMESTER

COURSE CODE ECG 222

COURSE TITLE CHILD GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAMME BACHELOR OF EDUCATION

STUDENT’S NAME CHEONG WEI VIAN

MATRIC NO. E30103120035

ACADEMIC FACILITATOR PUAN PARIMALAGANTHI

LEARNING CENTRE KUANTAN IMPERIA

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CHEONG WEI VIANE30103120035

INTRODUCTION

CHILD’S BACKGROUND

The first child who was tested was a 5 year-old girl. Her father was a businessman whose highest academic achievement was SPM. Her mother was an assistant nurse in a local government clinic. Her highest academic qualification was diploma level.

The second child tested was an 8 year-old boy. This boy was diagnosed with dyslexia. His father works as a construction worker and his mother is a housewife. They both have SPM level qualifications.

PIAGET’S THEORY

Pre-operational Stage (2 to 6 years)

The pre-operational stage occurs between the ages of two to six. Children in this stage can mentally represent events and objects, engage in symbolic play and develop language skills quickly. Their thoughts and communications is egocentric, meaning they see the situation from their own point of view and unable to see it from another person’s point of view. Piaget’s famous technique in studying egocentrism is the Three Mountains Task. (McLeod. S, 2010)

Concrete Stage (6 to 11 years)

The concrete stage marks the children’s beginning of logical or operational thought. The children is now mature enough to use logical thought when they couldn’t before but it can only apply to physical objects (hence concrete stage). Children are also better at conservation tasks. The child understands that although the appearance of something changes, the thing itself does not. The child also becomes less egocentric. (McLeod. S, 2010)

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this research assignment is to verify the differences in children’s thinking ability on the pre-operational level and concrete level using Piaget’s Conservation Task. Conservation is the conceptualization that amount or quantity of a matter stays the same regardless of any changes in irrelevant dimension. The development of non-conservation to conservation is gradual. Three of Piaget’s Seven Conservation Task which are; Number, Liquid and Mass, have been tested on two children of years 5 and 8.

i) Conservation of Number : Number is not changed despite the arrangement of objects.

ii) Conservation of Liquid Amount : The amount of liquid does not change by the shape of its container.

iii) Conservation of Mass : The amount of mass does not change by changing its shape or subdividing it.

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The tasks used in this assignment are to prove Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Thinking of pre-operational and concrete levels occurring in children ages 5 and 8. The purpose is also to see the cognitive thinking processes working in a child at firsthand and to see its difference.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Conservation of Number

This conservation task took place in my school’s pre-school classroom. 2 children were invited to participate in the three tasks. For the first task, 14 colourful game counters were arranged into two rows of equal amounts on a table in front of the girl.Then, the counters were arranged slightly apart from each other. I have chosen to call this girl, Child A and the second boy, Child B. The aim of this task was to observe the differences of responses between both children. Below is the translated transcript from Malay to English interview with the first child, Child A:

INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at these objects. Can Puts 14 colourful game counters in you see them? front of the child and arranges them

into 2 rows, each 7.

CHILD A : Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Now, which one of these rows have more Points to the two different rows. counters?

CHILD A: This one. Points to the nearest row to her.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure?

CHILD A: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at the counters again. Rearranges the counters into 2 rows, Tell me which one has more counters. one row arranged slightly apart.

CHILD A: *thinks* This one. Points to the same row.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure this row is more?

CHILD A: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me why?

CHILD A: *shakes head*

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Image 1: Child A with First Numbers Image 2: Child A with Second NumbersConservation Task Conservation Task

The next Numbers conservation task was carried out with Child B. Below is the translated transcript from Malay to English interview with the second child, Child B:

INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at these objects. Can Puts 14 colourful game counters in you see them? front of the child and arranges them

into 2 rows, each 7.

CHILD B : Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Now, which one of these rows have more Points to the two different rows. counters?

CHILD B: They’re both the same. Looks at the counters.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure?

CHILD B: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at the counters again. Rearranges the counters into 2 rows, Tell me which one has more counters. one row arranged slightly apart.

CHILD B: *thinks* This one. Points to the row with slightly apart counters.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure this row has more?

CHILD B: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me why?

CHILD B: This one is longer.

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Image 3: Child B with First Numbers Image 4: Child B with Second Numbers Conservation Task Conservation Task

Conservation of Liquid Amount

For the conservation of liquid amount, both children have to answer some questions and tell the interviewer the amount of liquid that they see in two beakers and a measuring cylinder. Below is the translated transcript from Malay to English interview with the first child, Child A:

INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at the water. Can Pours water into two beakers at you see them? equal amounts and level, puts them

next to each other.

CHILD A : Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Are the water inside have the same Points to both beakers. amount?

CHILD A: *nods* They’re both the same. Looks at the beakers.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure?

CHILD A: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at the water again. Pours out the water in one of the Tell me which one has more water. beakers into a measuring cylinder.

CHILD A: *points* This one. Points to the measuring cylinder.

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INTERVIEWER: Are you sure this one has more water?

CHILD A: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me why?

CHILD A: I don’t know *shakes head*

Image 5: Child A with first Liquid Amount Image 6: Child A with second Liquid AmountConservation Task Conservation Task

Below is the translated transcript from Malay to English interview with the second child, Child B:

INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at the water. Can Pours water into two beakers at you see them? equal amounts and level, puts them

next to each other.

CHILD B : Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Are the water inside have the same Points to both beakers. amount?

CHILD B: *nods* They’re both the same. Looks at the beakers.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure?

CHILD B: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at the water again. Pours out the water in one of the Tell me which one has more water. beakers into a measuring cylinder.

CHILD B: *points* This one. Points to the measuring cylinder.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure this one has more water?6

CHILD B: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me why?

CHILD B: The water is higher.

Image 7: Child B with first Liquid Amount Image 8: Child B with second Liquid AmountConservation Task Conservation Task

Conservation of Mass

I have carried out Conservation Task of Mass using plasticine. The plasticine has been rolled up to resemble balls. Both children have to observe the differences in mass and answer some questions. Below is the translated transcript from Malay to English interview with the first child, Child A:

INTERVIEWER: This time, I want you to look at these Points to two rolled up plasticine two plasticine balls. Can you see balls. them.

CHILD A : Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Are the sizes the same? Points again.

CHILD A: They’re not the same. Looks at the plasticine.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure?

CHILD A: Yes.

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INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at the plasticine again. Smashes one of the plasticine Tell me which one is more. balls so that it is flat.

CHILD A: *points* This one. Points to the still-round plasticine balls.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure this one is more?

CHILD A: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me why?

CHILD A: It’s bigger.

Image 9: Child A with first Mass Conservation Image 10: Child A with second MassTask Conservation Task

Below is the translated transcript from Malay to English interview with the second child, Child B:

INTERVIEWER: This time, I want you to look at these Points to two rolled up plasticine two plasticine balls. Can you see balls. them.

CHILD B : Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Are the sizes the same? Points again.

CHILD B: They’re the same. Looks at the plasticine.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure?

CHILD B: *nods* Yes.

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INTERVIEWER: I want you to look at the plasticine again. Smashes one of the plasticine Tell me which one is more. balls so that it is flat.

CHILD B: *points* This one. Points to the still-round plasticine balls.

INTERVIEWER: Are you sure this one is more?

CHILD B: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell me why?

CHILD B: It’s bigger. This one is smaller. Points to the rolled-up ball and flatball.

Image 11: Child B with first Mass Conservation Image 12: Child B with second MassTask Conservation Task

INTERPRETATION OF OBSERVATION

Based from my observations of all tasks which was carried out with Child A and Child B, I can see both children have some different answers and also the same answers to the questions that were asked. For the first conservation task which was the Numbers; Child A answered same answers to both tasks. When the counters were arranged exactly the same, Child A answered that the row of counters nearest to her was the longest. Next, when the counters were arranged differently and slightly apart, she still says that the counters nearest to her were the longest. From this, I can surmise that Child A is egocentric and unable to see from another point of view. She is also still unable to differentiate between lengths yet. As for Child B, he was able to point out that the length of each row was the same when the counters were arranged exactly the same. But

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when the counters were shifted slightly apart, he answered that the next row were now longer. This shows that his seriation skills are still developing and has not yet reached a mature stage.

The next Liquid Amount conservation task was carried out with Child A firstly then followed by Child B. Child A was able to observe that the liquids in both beakers were in the same amount. When the liquid in Beaker 2 was transferred into a measuring cylinder, she now answers that the liquid in measuring cylinder has the most amount of liquid. When asked the reason the liquid was more, she was unable to answer the interviewer’s question. As for Child B, his answers to both questions were the same with Child A. But when he was asked the reason the liquid in the measuring cylinder was more, he said that it was higher thus more. Both children are unable to understand that no matter what objects held the liquids, the liquids were still in the same amount even though the objects were not of the same sizes.

The last conservation task was the Mass task. Child A stated that the plasticine balls were not of the same sizes for the first interviewer’s question. Then, when one of the balls was flattened, she said that the rolled up ball was bigger than the flattened one. Child B pointed out that both balls were of the same sizes when asked the first question. Then for the second question, he answered that the rolled up ball was bigger than the flattened ball. Child A’s answer for the first question was different than Child A which was rather surprising. I can surmise this to the shape of the balls which were probably not rolled up properly.

Both children displayed same answers for most of the interviewer’s questions. This can be concluded that both children have not understood the concept of conservation tasks yet. Due to Child B’s dyslexic disabilities, he has not yet fully developed his cognitive thinking skills according to other children in his same age range. As for Child A, her cognitive abilities are not fully developed as she is still in the pre-operational stage. The tasks were not that difficult to the children as they did not show any hesitation in answering the questions. But the answers both children exhibited revealed that their cognitive skills are still not yet matured.

CONCLUSION

From the experiments carried out, I can conclude that the three conservation tasks that were carried out are able to support Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development. It showed that children in the pre-operational stage are egocentric and unable to see from another point of view. He also showed that the way a child thinks is central to cognitive development process. With his theory, he also proposed that constructivism approach to teaching techniques should be carried out in classroom to benefit the children. Piaget has made many contributions to education and child psychology with his theory and research.

The only criticisms to Piaget’s Theory are that he did not place importance on the sociocultural environment and impact on a child’s cognitive growth. It also showed that although age was a contributing factor to a child’s cognitive level, it only encompasses normal children and not children with special needs like dyslexia.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Macleod S.A. (2010). Concrete Operational Stage. Retrieved 2013, March 1, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/concrete-operational.html

Macleod S.A. (2010). Preoperational Stage. Retrieved 2013, March 1, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/preoperational.html

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