On the basis of these findings, both the measurement techniques of previous studies and Piaget's analysis of seriation are challenged. (Author)

The development of the concept of seriation was studied for 415 children, ranging in age from 3 to 9 years. The subjects were required to learn to identify the larger or smaller object in a two stimulus series, the smallest or middle-sized object in a three stimulus series, and the largest or next to the smallest in a four stimulus series. The end…

Examines the issue of object sorting in early infancy. Forty-eight infants at 6, 9, and 12 months were presented with eight sets of small, manipulable objects. At six months, selective manipulation was absent; at nine months, 94 percent of the infants sequentially touched similar objects and at 12 months 100 percent did so. (Author/DB)

Matrix tasks to assess multiple classifications and multiple seriation skills were administered to 160 children (40 Ss each from preschool, kindergarten, first and second grade levels). Each child received six matrix subtasks (reproduction and transportation of cross classification I, double seriation, and cross classification II) in one of six…

Examined developmental changes in the use of distance-based and calendar-based approaches to estimate the recency of two events. Found that children's ability to discriminate temporal relationships between two events appears by four to five years of age. In contrast, use of calendar information and cognizance of annual patterns was found only in…

This study investigated (1) the order of acquisition of related temporal and spatial terms, (2) the application of temporal and spatial terms and (3) the relationship between the application of temporal and spatial terms and performance on cognitive measures of temporal and spatial ordering. Children 3 to 5 years of age were tested on four…

Results indicate that within the limitations of this study there is evidence that children with superior" intelligence showed more mature response patterns on Piaget-type tasks than children of the same age with average" intelligence test scores. (Author)

A seriation task (assembling a set of nesting cups) was used in this study to examine developmental changes in young children's ability to restructure a situation. Forty young children, eight each at 18, 24, 30, 36, and 40 months of age, participated in the study. Each child was presented with five nesting cups and was told he or she could play…

The relationships among the perception, representation, and construction of series are examined within a model of the acquisition of seriation abilities. The model is then related to two experiments with three-, four- and five-year-olds. The key feature of the model is the delineation of parallels among developmental changes in three arenas:…

This study focused on the issue of whether "scripts" guide children's comprehension and recall of stories. Two groups of kindergarten and second-grade children (N=48) from middle class elementary school districts were told two stories about typical events in the life of a young child (eating dinner and going to bed). Children were asked to recall…

Six mildly and moderately retarded children (ages 6-8) were instructed in the Piagetian constructs of unidimensional classification and/or seriation using the "Piacelleration" learning set technique. After one semester, subjects made significant gains on: classification and seriation tasks, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the…

Describes longitudinal study of the development of understanding of two logical properties of number by 36 children during the first three years of primary school in Glasgow. Piagetian tests and number skills tests were administered to explore the acquisition of number as class and number as order concepts. (Author/LRW)

Through seriation, verbal seriation, and conservation tasks, investigated blind, partially sighted, and sighted children's understanding of quantity. Subjects were 81 children equally dispersed through these 3 groups. Age range was 4 to 17 years. Found similarity in concept acquisition among three groups that extended beyond quantity conservation…

This study examined the effect of an innovative teaching activity to improve concrete operational thinking skills with preschoolers in Head Start programs. A "learning set" of classification games and seriation games was used to teach the oddity principle and insertion into a series. These games were played with the children using toy ponies and…