ERIC Number: ED071754
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1972
Pages: 2
Abstractor: N/A
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Learning of Liquid Quantity Relationships as a Function of Rules and Feedback, Number of Training Problems, and Age of Subject.
Siegler, Robert S.; Liebert, Robert M.
To replicate the findings of a previous experiment in which it was shown that the systematic presentation of rules and feedback on conservation and conservation-related problems can be employed to teach young children the traditional (Piagetian) liquid quantity problem rapidly, an analysis was made of the role of two others variables: (1) use of three different types of problems vs. repeated presentation of the conservation task, and (2) age of the subject. It was predicted that rule and feedback training would again facilitate conservation performance; that exposure to conservation-related problems would facilitate performance on them without impeding mastery of the conservation problem, per se; and that performance would be directly related to age. It was expected that older children would benefit from mere exposure to the problems, but that younger children would not. The subjects were 80 children (40 kindergarten children with mean age of about 64 months, and 40 first graders with a mean age of 77 months). The criterion for participation was failing to respond acceptably to a pretest of liquid quantity conservation. An equal number of boys and girls were randomly assigned within age groups to four experimental conditions. Pretests and posttests were administered on three liquid quantity measures. All children received 18 training trials following posttests. Analyses of variance were performed on posttest data. Results of the study showed that 70% of the children who received conservation and conservation-related problems with rule and feedback training mastered the conservation of liquid and quantity task; 60% of kindergarteners and 80% of first graders mastered the problem. (DB)
Descriptors: Age, Analysis of Variance, Cognitive Development, Conservation (Concept), Feedback, Females, Grade 1, Kindergarten, Males, Performance Tests, Problem Solving, Research, Testing, Training Methods, Young Children
American Psychological Association, 1200 17th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
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Sponsor: National Inst. of Child Health and Human Development (NIH), Bethesda, MD.
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