Piaget's Conservation Study

1993 Words8 Pages
Jean Piaget argued that when children of certain ages watch water being poured from a short, wide container into a tall, thin container, they think that the amount of water has changed. Discuss with reference to research evidence. Jean Piaget put forth the idea that children of a young age will become confused by the amount of water present when the liquid is transferred from a short, wide container into a long, thin container. His argument states that the children are unable to conserve and as a result, they will be under the illusion that the quantity has changed. The following essay will firstly give a brief explanation in regards to constructivism. It will then discuss the origins of Piaget's theory and the basis on which he has conducted his research. Numerous variations of his original conservation study will be examined including a particularly relevant experiment conducted by Light et al. In addition to this, it will discuss the contrasting views surrounding the childs ability to conserve which have been put forth by other researchers and argue that while Piaget's theory formed a strong foundation for this area of research, there are a number of factors which he failed to account for. Piaget, a Swiss-born genetic epistemologist, was concerned with the origins and development of knowledge. The ways in which this knowledge could adapt to its environment arguably showed the ways in which a persons mental operations and representations become more intricate as time passes due to the consequences they face from their previous actions. He firmly believed that these mental representations are consistently developing as a result of interactions with the environment. The ways in which a child becomes more competent as a result of these interactions shows that the cognitive development of an individual is both progressive and constructive.
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