Cognitive skills are individuals ability to think, give opinion, comprehend,
memorise events that occur in the surroundings. It involves mental activities like memory, categorizing, planning, reasoning, problem solving, creating, imagining etc. Cognitive skills are crucial for the individuals survival. Childrens cognitive development give emphasis on developing a childs mind. It focuses on the changes in thinking that takes place from one stage to the next. Jean Piaget identified four stages of Cognitive Development:: 1. Sensorimotor Stage (From birth-2years old) 2. Preoperational Stage (2 7 years old) 3. Concrete Operational Stage (7 11 years old) 4. Formal Operational Stage (11 years and above) Therefore, Jean Piaget conducted various tests of cognitive ability to understand the perspective of children. Among the tests often used when testing the cognitive abilities of children is conservation experiment. Conservation is the conceptualization that the amount or quantity of a matter stays the same regardless of any changes in an irrelevant dimension. It is also something that had created considerable confusion during earlier stages, and which means the amount or quantity of matter remains the same, despite changes made in its outward appearance. Thus, even though the distribution of matter changes nonetheless conserves its properties. According to Piaget, conservation structures cannot be induced through direct instruction (teaching) or reinforcement techniques. Active experience is the key. The following are the different Conservation Tasks developed by Jean Piaget and his co-workers to assess childrens level of conceptual development and their level of attainment with respect to the concepts involve. 1. Conservation of Number Number is not changed despite the rearrangement of objects. 2. Conservation of Length The length of a string is unaffected by its shape or its displacement. 3. Conservation of Liquid Amount The amount of liquid is not changed by the shape of its container. 4. Conservation of Substance(Solid Amount) The amount of substance does not change by changing its shape or by subdividing it. 5. Conservation of Area The area covered by a given number of two-dimensional objects is unaffected by their arrangements. 6. Conservation of Weight A clay balls weighs the same even when its shape is elongated or flattened. 7. Conservation of Displacement The volume of water that is displaced by an object depends on the volume of the object and is independent of weight, shape, or position of the immersed object.
The following are Piagets Conservation Tasks conducted in school during the School-based Experience (SBE) to test the cognitive abilities of 3 selected students between the ages of 5-12 years old.
Task carried out for the 9 year old student: Task 1: 1. 2 rows of erasers were shown to the student as the follows:
2. The student was asked whether the number of the erasers in each row was the same. 3. The first row was lengthened right before the children as shown below:
4. The student was asked the same question.
Task 2: 1. Two similar pens were arranged as shown below:
2. The student was asked whether the length of the two pens was the same. 3. Next, one of the pens was moved to the right as shown below:
4. The same question was posted to the student.
Task 3: 1. A and B glasses were filled with the same amount of water. 2. Water from B was poured into C which was taller and thinner. 3. The student was asked whether the amount of water in A and C was the same.
Analysis of the Finding: Stage of Cognitive Development Task Finding
Concrete Operational Stage(7-11 Years Old) 1 The student answered correctly. He was able to conclude that the number of erasers was still the same even though the first row of erasers was lengthened. He said that the number of the erasers was the same because there were no erasers added or deducted. 2 The student answered correctly. He was able to conclude that the length of the two pens was still the same even though one of the pens was moved to the right. He said that the length two pens was the same because they were similar.
3 The student answered correctly. He was able to conclude that the amount of water in A and C was the same. He said that the level of water in glass C was higher because glass C was thinner and taller. Conclusion: From the finding, it can be concluded that children at Concrete Operational Stage are able to think logically about concrete objects. They have understood the process of transformation, reversibility and reasoning. According to Piaget, children at this stage are able to solve problems relating to conservation. Children of this stage are able to master three basic aspects of reasoning in conservation: Identity. They should know that when nothing is added or taken away, the objects remain the same. Compensation. They should know that changes in one direction can be compensated for by a change in another direction. Reversibility. Children can mentally cancel out the change that has been made. Therefore, the student was able to answer correctly for the three tasks conducted.