Allie Cohill
Annie Kaplan

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1896-1980 Switzerland
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Swiss Developmental Psychologist and
Philosopher
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Natural Sciences Ph. D University of Neuchatel
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Worked at University of Zurich, developed interest for psychoanalysis
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Studied cognitive development
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Became the theory of cognitive development
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Strongly interested in the development of knowledge, specifically with the child

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Schema
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Each child had knowledge, acquired through experiences and interactions, organized through groupings
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Pre-operational Stage
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Typically ages 2-7
The beginning of thinking in symbols, but still unsystematic and illogical. The ability to mentally represent what has been absorbed on the level of action

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Concrete Operational Stage
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Typically ages 7-11
Thinking becomes more organized logically on a mental plane
Conservation occurs at this stage
Conservation
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The ability to transform reality by means of internalized actions which are grouped into coherent, reversible systems.
A psychological indication of the completion of an operatory structure. Requires the ability to see multiple aspects of a problem conservation of substance (age 7-8) conservation of weight (age 9-10) conservation of volume (age 11-12)

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Completed Ph.D in psychology at Clark U
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Yale Medical Degree
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Founded clinic at Yale
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Established Gesell Institute of Child
Development in New Haven, CT 1950
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Set out to provide a standard in which people could recognize typical and not ordinary child patterns in behavior

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Maturation
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The process by which development is governed by intrinsic factors--principally the genes, which determine the sequence, timing, and form of emerging action-patterns
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School readiness
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Point in the biological development of the child in which he or she is behaviorally mature enough to learn in a school environment and accomplish school age tasks.
Occurs usually at age 5 or 6
Complex construct

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Incomplete Man Test
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Children are given a drawing of a stick figure which is incomplete and they are asked to draw the missing parts.
The open ended nature of this task allows the children to demonstrate many different aspects of their personality and development, especially their ability to observe and copy from a picture.

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Small North Texas Catholic School
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7 kindergarteners, 5 boys, 2 girls
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Study was conducted in school library
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Incomplete Man Test was given to the students while sitting at one main table
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Students were taken aside individually to complete conservation task

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Hair
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 inclusion of hair is normative (Age 5.5)
Hair too long (until age 5.5)
Too few hairs (until age 9)
Better stroke developed, majority achieve good length of hair (Age
7)
Most placement of hair accurately (Age 9)
Only 6% of girls, 12% of boys, reproduce the number correctly (Age
10)
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Eyes
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One fourth of children make a pupil (Age 5.5)
Eyes match in size and placement, though horizontal placement may not be as accurate (Age 6)
Pupil normative (Age 9)

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Simple completion of the body line (Age 4.5-5)
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Instead of a simple extension of the body line, as earlier, some now make a slanted combination of neck and body line. Neck area tends to consist of a two-part straight neck and body line.
(Ages 5.5)
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Struggle to make the bow with difficulty (Ages 5.5-6)
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Bow added to the earlier body line (Age 7)
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“The ages of 4 through 6 emphasize the gradual improvement of the neck area: first the extension of the body line to meet the knot in the given bow, then the addition of the neck, and then the struggle with the bow. At this time, when some arm and fingers, leg and foot, hair, ear, and eyes can be pretty well taken for granted, how the child handles the neck area can be an examiner’s best clue as to how far that child has developed.” (Ilg, Ames, etc, 98)

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Arm
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Leg
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Student 7 (Age 6)
Hair
Does not make any
Eyes
Does not make any
Ear
Makes ear
-Placement: correct
-Size: Too small
Shape: Some indent but not correct
Neck Area
Makes neck area
Body line and neck only
Arm Placement: Middle
Direction: Up
Length: Correct
Fingers: Correct
Leg
Makes leg placement: Too far
Direction: Correct
Length: Too short
Foot: Good length

Student 2 (Age 6)
Hair
Makes hair
Number: too few
Eyes
Does not make any
Ear
Makes ear
-Placement: too high
-Size: Too small
Shape: poor
Neck Area
Makes neck area
Body line
Neck
Bow
Arm Placement: Just right
Direction: Up
Length: too long
Fingers: correct
Leg
Makes leg placement: Too near
Direction: Correct
Length: Too short
Foot: up too much

Student 3 (Age 5)
Hair
Makes hair
Number: too few
Eyes
Makes eyes
Placement: too high/uneven
Ear
Makes ear
-Placement: correct
-Size: Too big
Shape: poor
Neck Area
Makes neck area
Body line
Arm Placement: upper third
Direction: Up
Length: correct
Fingers: correct
Leg
Makes leg placement: Too near
Direction: Correct
Length: Too short
Foot: up too much

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According to Piaget
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Before conservation of number, children link numerical evaluation with the spatial arrangement of the elements
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8 pennies
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 pennies close together pennies spread apart
Ask if there is the same amount in each row

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According to Piaget
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Before conservation of volume, the pouring of the water from one cup to another is not conceived as a reversible movement from one state to another, changing the form but leaving the quantity constant

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Hypothesis confirmed
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Most students did not have the behavioral characteristics to be labeled as ready in the incomplete man test
All students except one could not conserve
Behavioral and cognitive development is related
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Student 7
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Able to conserve number
Unable to conserve volume
Incomplete man test was below average

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Could have encouraged children more
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Ask if they were missing any parts of the stick figure
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Shortened the children’s gym class, were very anxious and wanted to finish quickly
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More students
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Find out age per month
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More readiness tests
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Useful is assessing child in various aspects

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Should we look again at the curriculum for the age levels and ask whether it expects students to have the ability to conserve?
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Does the curriculum match cognitive ability?
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Maybe we should do a better job of analyzing cognitive abilities in order to better teach them
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Children may not be prepared for a first grade curriculum

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Would a child learn how to conserve if they had never been asked?
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Would children be able to develop logical skills if they had not been asked?
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Stimulation has to be there
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Piaget criticized about Americans trying to speed things up
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Are we not stimulating children enough at younger ages?
Or are we forcing complex thinking on children when they are not ready?

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Piaget
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The child must be independently doing things and learning
Not all about demonstration
Child works alone until the “aha!” moment with conservation
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Child must be cognitively developed to a point for this moment to happen
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Gesell
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Believed one had to wait until the child’s human genetic processes have occurred in that child

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Do not want to shortchange a child
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Also want to challenge a child
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Important to understand there is a uniqueness in their rate of learning and development
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Piaget and Gesell focused on different aspects of child development
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Both useful in developing a correct curriculum for a child and helping them grow