EDU 1003

Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills

Name: Amna Arif Julfar

Date: 26/11/2015

Piaget designed many tasks to test childrens logical thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRF27F2bn-A
For this activity, do each of the following:
1. Select three of Piagets Tasks for Logical thinking (from the
hand-out or from the video we watched).
2. Collect the materials you will need, write the procedure and
the English you will need on the attached forms Preparing
for Piagets Experiments
(one for each experiment=3 forms). Practice giving the tests
FIRST.
3. Select two children:
One should be in the pre-operational stage (ages2-7).
It is best if you choose one in the middle about four
years old.
The other should be in the concrete operational stage
(age 7 -11)
Be sure to get permission from the childs parent
before doing the task!
4. Set up the cameras and perform the tasks. Use the photos
and label them in your reports. You will fill in 3 reports for
each child (attached). 6 reports total! (and 3 PREPARATION
reports)
5. Think about how you will also get some pictures. Do not
take pictures of the childrens faces! Just from the back or
from above.
Keep in mind: Remember this is a scientific experiment! You
must be scientific and do the experiments properly. If you do not,
your results may not be accurate.
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Thinking Skills

Be sure not to tell the child, You are right! or You are wrong!,
because there is no right or wrong. We are just trying to find out
if Piagets theory about cognitive development is correct.

Preparing To Do Piaget Conservation Experiments

Experiment # 1
Nuts Experiment
Name
Materials
Needed
10
pieces of nuts

Exact words I will say:

We have two rows of nuts
here, do you think both rows
have the same amount of
nuts?

What I will do when I say

these words:
After preparing and organizing
the two rows, I will point at the
them while asking

After he answers, I will ask

I will separate the nuts of one
Now, what do you think, are row, and keep the other one as it
they both the same? Or there is
is one row that has more
than the other? Then ask
Why?

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Thinking Skills
Preparing To Do Piaget Conservation Experiments
Experiment # 2
Water Experiment
name
Materials
Needed
3 glasses, 2 full of
water with the same
size, and one is
empty and longer

Exact words I will say:

Look at these two glasses,
do both glasses have the
same amount of water?

What I will do when I say

these words:
Point at the two glasses that I
have already filled with water

After his reply, I will ask Ok, Pour one glass of water in the
if we put this water here,
long and empty glass in front of
now, which one has more? Or him
both have the same
amount? Then ask Why?

Preparing To Do Piaget Conservation Experiments

Experiment # 3
Biscuits Experiment
Name
Materials
Needed
3

EDU 1003 Paiget Tasks Report

same pieces of
biscuits

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Thinking Skills
Exact words I will say:
We have 3 biscuits here, do
you think I distribute them
between us equally? Why?

What I will do when I say

these words:
I will show him the biscuits, and
put 2 pieces in front of me, and
one piece in front of him

After he gives me his opinion, I will take his piece and break it
I will say Now, do we have
into 2 pieces, and then put them
the same? Or one of us has
back in front of him
more than the other?

Pre-operational Stage REPORT 1

Hamdan
4 Years
Male
Old
Nuts Experiment
Describe the basic procedure of
the task
1) First, I brought 10 pieces of nuts
and put them into 2 rows, each
row has 5 pieces
2) Then I pointed at each row and
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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
said We have two rows of nuts
here, do you think both rows have
the same amount of nuts?
3) After he said that both rows are
the same, I separated one row of
nuts, and kept the other one as it
is and asked Now, what do you
think, are they both the same? Or
there is one row that has more
than the other?
4) Unsurprisingly for a child, he
pointed at the separated row and
said that this one has more than
the other one
5) I asked him Why do you think
that this one has more than the
other one?
6) He said that expanding the
distance among nuts in this row,
made it contain more nuts than
the other one

Describe the childs responses

First, Hamdan said that both rows of nuts are the same. Then,
when I separated the nuts of one row, he saw that the row with
large distance among nuts pieces has more than the other one.

What do the childs responses signify?

According to Piagets Theory, Hamdan is still in the preoperational stage. Which means that he cant understand two
formulas or concepts at the same time. He just understand what
he sees. Which is normal for 4 years old child.

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Thinking Skills

Pre-operational Stage Report 2

Hamdan
4 Years Old
Male
Water Experiment
Describe the basic procedure of the
task
1) At the beginning, I filled 2 same
sized glasses with the same
amount of water, and kept the
empty glass on a side. Then I told
him Look at these two glasses, do
you think that both glasses have
the same amount of water?
2) After he said that both glasses have
the same amount of water. I poured
one glass of water in the long
empty glass in front of him, and
asked him again Now, which one
has more water? Or both have the
same amount?
3) He replied by saying that the small
glass has more amount of water.
4) Then I asked him Why do you
think that the smaller glass has
more amount than the bigger
one?
5) He answered Because you didnt
transfer the smaller one into

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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
another glass, which made it
contain more water than the taller
one

Describe the childs responses

Normally, Hamdan said that the 2 glasses with the same size
contain the same amount of water. When I poured one glass into
another taller glass. Shockingly, he said that the smaller glass
has more water than the bigger one. Hamdan thought that the
process of transferring water from a glass to another, decreases
the amount of water, which made him say that the smaller
glass, that I didnt do anything to, has more water.

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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
What do the childs responses signify?
Piagets theory states that Hamdans way of thinking and
analyzing things around him, shows that he is a pre-operational
kid. Which means that he cant understand two concepts at the
same time. He understands things on his own way, different
than adults. Which is normal for 4 years old child.

Pre-operational Stage Report 3

Hamdan
4 Years Old
Male
Biscuits Experiment
Describe the basic procedure of
the task
1) First of all, I showed him that I
have 3 pieces of biscuits.
2) Then I put 2 pieces of biscuits in
front of me, and 1 piece in front of
him, and asked Do you think that
I distributed them between us
equally? Or one of us has more
than the other?
3) He said that I have more than him,
which is true.
4) So I took his piece of biscuit and
broke it into 2 halves, and asked
Now, do we have the same? I
mean are we equal?
5) He replied Yes, we are

Describe the childs responses

When I gave myself 2 pieces of biscuits and gave Hamdan 1

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Thinking Skills
piece only, he noticed that the distribution of biscuits between
us was unfair. However, when I broke his piece into 2 halves, he
thought that I gave him another piece of biscuit; in which he had
2 pieces just like me. Although I had double the amount of
biscuit he had, yet, he was convinced that both of us had the
same amount of biscuits due to the number of pieces in front of
each one of us.

What do the childs responses signify?

According to Piaget theory, Hamdans simple way of thinking
and analyzing things in life, proves that he is in the normal
stage of his age, which is the pre-operational stage. This means
that he cant understand many things at the same time. He
understands things in a very simple way, and then interprets
them the way that suits his way of thinking, which is normal for
a child at this age.

Concrete-Operational Stage Report 1

Mohammad
10 Years
Male
Old
Nuts Experiment

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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
Describe the basic procedure of
the task
1) First, I brought 10 pieces of nuts
and put them into 2 rows, each
row has 5 pieces
2) Then I pointed at each row and
said We have two rows of nuts
here, do you think both rows have
the same amount of nuts?
3) After he said that both rows are
the same, I separated one row of
nuts, and kept the other one as it
is and asked Now, what do you
think, are they both the same? Or
there is one row that has more
than the other?
4) He thought for a while and then
said Both are the same
5) I asked What do you mean by
that? He replied People will think
that the taller one has more nuts
because of the distances among
nuts, and it seems bigger, in fact,
both have the same amount of
nuts, because what you just did is
increasing the space among nuts,
not adding more pieces of nuts

Describe the childs responses

First, Mohammad said that both rows of nuts are the same, just
like what Hamdan said. Then, after increasing the distance
among nuts pieces of one row, he understood that what I did is
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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
increasing the distance among pieces, not adding more pieces
to the row. Which made him say that both are still the same.

What do the childs responses signify?

According to Piagets Theory, Mohammad is in his appropriate
stage, which is concrete-operational stage. This means that he
is able to understand more than one concepts at the same time.
For example, the concept of the way it looks, doesnt affect the
amount of pieces we have. This clarifies that Mohammads way
of thinking is normal for a child at this age.

Concrete-operational Stage Report 2

Mohammad
10 Years
Male
Old
Water Experiment
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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
Describe the basic procedure of
the task
1) At the beginning, I filled 2 same
sized glasses with the same
amount of water, and kept the
empty glass on a side. Then I
told him Look at these two
glasses, do you think that both
glasses have the same amount
of water?
2) After he said that both glasses
have the same amount of water.
I poured one glass of water in
the long empty glass in front of
him, and asked him again Now,
which one has more water? Or
both have the same amount?
3) He replied by saying that both
glasses have the same amount
of water.
4) Then I asked him Why do you
think that both glasses are the
same?
5) He answered Because both
small glasses had the same
amount of water, and when you
poured one small glass into a
taller and bigger glass, the
shape of glass changed, yet, the
amount of water is still the
same. This means if you
returned the water into the
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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
smaller glass, they will be equal,
which means nothing changed in
the amount of water

Describe the childs responses

Normally, just like Hamdan said, the 2 glasses with the same
size contained the same amount of water. After pouring the
water into different glass, Mohammad was able to understand
that they had the same amount, although both glasses had
different sizes and shapes. He also knew that I didnt add water
to any of them, what I did was transferring water from a glass to
another.

What do the childs responses signify?

Piagets theory states that Mohammads way of thinking and
analyzing things around him, shows that he is a concreteoperational kid. In other words, Mohammad understands things
on the way that a 10 years old child should do. Which proves
that Piagets theories are right.

Concrete-operational Stage Report 3

Mohammad
10 Years
Male
Old
Biscuits Experiment

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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
Describe the basic procedure of
the task
1) First of all, I showed him that I
have 3 pieces of biscuits.
2) Then I put 2 pieces of biscuits in
front of me, and 1 piece in front of
him, and asked Do you think that
I distributed them between us
equally? Or one of us has more
than the other?
3) He said that I have more than him,
which is true.
4) So I took his piece of biscuit and
broke it into 2 halves, and asked
Now, do we have the same? I
mean are we equal?
5) He replied No, it is true that both
of us have 2 pieces, but my pieces
are smaller, because what you did
is breaking my piece. I mean you
have 2 big pieces, while I have
only 1 big piece. Breaking my
biscuit means that I still have 1
piece only which is divided into
two parts. In other words, one
piece of my broken biscuit equals
half of one piece you have. So still
you have more biscuits than I do.

Describe the childs responses

When I gave myself 2 pieces of biscuits and gave Mohammad 1
biscuit only, he noticed that the distribution of biscuits between

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Piaget: Observing Childrens

Thinking Skills
us was unfair. Even when I broke his piece into 2 halves, he
knew that I still have more than him. In addition, he understood
that number of pieces, doesnt determine who has more, yet, it
is the size of biscuit pieces.

What do the childs responses signify?

According to Piagets theory, the way that Mohammad thinks
about things in life, proves that he is in the normal stage of his
age, which is the concrete-operational stage. This means that he
understands what is going on around him, and analyzes things
in several ways. Thus, his understanding is more complex that
Hamdans.

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