The shift from preoperational thought to operativity entails the idea of necessity. The concrete operativity tasks were analyzed from this perspective. Results from a broad class of conservation training studies were also analyzed from the perspective of their efficacy, fidelity to necessity, and implications for school instruction. (Author/BW)

The author offers the premise that the field of learning disabilities is at a critical point in development and that the research literature manifests such trends as few references beyond special education, emphasis on conversation tasks rather than unifying themes (equilibration and structuralism) of J. Piaget, and reductionist tendencies. (CL)

Discussed is the physical concept of conservation as it is framed within the laws of conservation of mass, of momentum, and of energy. The derivation of Ohm's Law as a generalization of the relationship between the observed measurements of voltage and current serves as the exemplar of how conservation theories are formed. (JJK)

The question of how Piaget selects mathematical concepts for his theory is addressed as a problem which may have contributed to a misinterpretation of the relevance of conservation studies for mathematics education. A new form of pseudo-conservation is discussed in which nonconservers of length are able to pick out strips of equal length from an…

Although the idea that conservation can occur without compensation was rejected by Piaget, direct and indirect evidence from developmental studies and conservation training research indicates that conservation can and does develop without compensation. Nevertheless, adults' conservation concepts include the compensation principle and influence…

Research in progress on some unresolved issues regarding the relationship of cognitive development and language acquisition is reported, especially the relationship between conservation of length and knowledge of relevant comparative dimensional adjectives. Much further investigation is recommended and possible educational implications are…

Researchers investigated the effects of sex differences on the relationship between conservation ability and the reading and linguistic awareness of five-year-old children. Findings of this study and others consistently support the hypothesis that conservation ability correlates more highly with reading in girls than in boys. (Author/PP)

This paper reviews literature related to two questions: (1) How do preschoolers acquire numerical concepts? (2) What range of basic numerical knowledge do beginning kindergarteners possess? The first section briefly highlights main ideas of learning theories. The second section discusses Piaget's concept of conservation of number and how young…

This paper is mainly devoted to reviewing past research on music development. Some recommendations for future research on music development and for improving music education for preschool children are also included. The developmental theories of Jean Piaget are discussed in detail, with special attention being given to concepts important to…

Discussed is research which shows, in contrast to the dominant impression given by Piaget's work, that before the onset of schooling the young child possesses several kinds of fundamental "intuitions" concerning numbers. (Author/TG)

Summarizes results of studies indicating that play training led to significant increases in young children's problem-solving ability, use of language, creative thinking ability, verbal ability, and conservation. (Author/MP)

Surveys 30 studies involving 104 separate tests of the "similar structure hypothesis" which holds that, when nonorganically impaired retarded and nonretarded persons are similar in developmental level, they are also similar in the processes and concepts by which they reason. (Researchers distinguished between studies that excluded…

Previous research has indicated that correlations between Piagetian and psychometric tests and chronological age are influenced by the size of the age range of the sample groups. To examine whether the size of the age range and mean age are related to the size of the correlations between Piagetian and arithmetic tests, Spearman rank-order…

In four parts, this discussion describes characteristics of the thought of infants, preschool children, primary school students, and adolescents. Topics briefly addressed in part I, on the thought processes/capabilities of babies, concern sensorimotor thought without abstraction, the importance of physical exploration, the development of…