Running head: UNDERSTANDING CONSERVATION
Understanding Conservation A Playful Process
Article Critique 3
Laura Esquivel
The University of Texas at Brownsville
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UNDERSTANDING CONSERVATION
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Introduction
The article that I chose for my last critique is about understanding conservation. This
article discusses about the theory of cognitive development by Piaget. Piaget’s theory states that
preoperational children are not yet intellectually mature to understand conservation principles.
This article highlighted the importance of giving young children specific access to explore
conservation in measurement (Kefaloukos & Bobis, 2011).
Conservation was a term that was constructed by Jean Piaget that describes a child’s
understanding that the quantity of an object is unchanged even if it is rearranged. Piaget
suggested that there was an appropriate time to incorporate the principle of conservation into
mathematical learning but not until the child turns seven years old. In Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development a typical child between the ages of two and seven think centrally, that is,
the child is unable to comprehend a perception that goes deeper than the superficial appearance
(Kefaloukos & Bobis, 2011).
Introducing conservation early is to help address any misconceptions that might arise.
The interconnectedness that conservation creates in measurement may be a problem. It is crucial
that children are given the opportunity to question the principle of conservation of mass, as the
visual representations children form from these experiences. These early experiences will assist
their problem solving skills and can be used to help overcome misconceptions (Kefaloukos &
Bobis, 2011).
An approach that is suitable to introduce and is necessary is to get the students involved
with the use of “play”. Play is perceived as a limitless ground for a number of mental processes
for the participants. Some of these processes are questioning and predicting. These can lead to a
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change of conceptions as their experience informs their new constructions of knowledge. Play
also provides a memorable experience for children. (Kefaloukos & Bobis, 2011)
There are some activities that teachers can build upon to make other activities
relate to conservation principles. These activities will help introduce children the overarching
principle of conservation. Some of these activities are: more or less sand, play dough play time
and tall towers. (Kefaloukos & Bobis, 2011).
Analysis
The preoperational stage ranges from about ages 2 to 7. Children in this stage can
mentally represent events and objects and engage in symbolic play. Their thoughts and
communications are typically egocentric. According to Piaget, the egocentric child assumes that
other people see, hear, and feel exactly the same as the child does (McLeod, 2010).
Piaget used three mountains as a task to test whether children were egocentric. Children
who are egocentric think that other people will see the same view of the mountains as they do.
According to Piaget, when a child reaches the age of 7 the child is no longer egocentric. The
child can see more than their own point of view. Children at this stage are able to focus on only
one aspect or dimension of problems. Preoperational children can generally count the blocks in
each row and tell you the number contained in each. The ability to solve this and other
conservation problems signals the transition to the next stage. (McLeod, 2010)
Conservation is the ability to understand the redistributing material does not affect its
mass, number or volume. Piaget drew a number of related conclusions. Thinking is centered on
one aspect of the situation. Children notice changes in the level of water or in the length of day
without noticing that other aspects of the situation have changed simultaneously. Thinking is
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focused on states rather than on transformations. Children fail to track what has happened to
materials and simply make an intuitive judgement based on how they appear now. Thinking is
irreversible in that the child cannot appreciate that a reverse transformation would return the
material to its original state. Reversibility is a crucial aspect of the logical thought of later stages.
Evaluation
Encourage children’s exploration of the world through play to assist in learning is
important in childhood. Cognitive activities help in the development of sociocultural
development.
Children engage with activities in play situations while their thinking is guided by
informal teacher questions, they are building their thought processes for the future retaining
visual and tactile memories of the principle of conservation without even releasing it. The early
years are the right time for students to engage with complex mathematical concepts through play
(Kefaloukos & Bobis, 2011).
Children are like little sponges and retain a lot of information at a young age. It is at this
time that children are at the best of learning. Their childhood years are the beginning steps of
their future. I have seen it with my children. They have advanced so much in school because of
what they learned in the early years.
I strongly think that a hand on learning is one thing that should be incorporated in every
classroom as well as with collaborative learning. Children tend to learn better when they work
with children that are the same age as them. When a child is given the opportunity to try and do it
they learn the concept. They are given the opportunity to explore the situation.
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References
Kefaloukos, M., & Bobis, J. (2011). Understanding conservation: A playful process. Australian
Primary Mathematics Classroom, 16(4), 19-23.
McLeod, S. (2010). Preoperational Stage. Retrieved April 25, 2015, from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/preoperational.html