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Kindergarten and third grade children originally assessed in 1973 were retested one year later on a series of conservation and transitive inference tasks (length and weight content areas). An additional sample of matched cohort/grade subjects was assessed in the second year only to permit evaluation of repeat measurement biases for the longitudinal sample. Results indicated a lack of presentation order, slelctive survival, repeated measurement, sex, and content area significant main effects or interactions. Analyses of the longitudinal sample subjects' conservation task performances over the annual interval indicated significant grade-level distinctions, year one versus year two differences, and type of conservation distinctions. Identity conservation scores were consistently superior to equivalence conservation scores and this superiority was most notable for the younger subjects. Transitive inference tasks were significantly less difficult than equivalence conservation tasks. Most importantly, evidence for a developmental mastery sequence (transitivity to conservation) was demonstrated. Pass/fail comparisons indicated a lack of regression effects and greater growth for the conservation abilities as contrasted with transitivity task mastery. Identity/equivalence conservation task distinctions were most apparent for the without verbal justification response criterion. Implications for the general concept of the Piagetian concrete operations stage were discussed. (Author/BW)

This report reviews some ostensibly conflicting empirical findings which have been reported in conjunction with Elkind's (1967) conjecture that Piaget's conservation problems tap two distinct concepts. The discrepant findings which report on the order of emergence of identity conservation and equivalence conservation are discussed. An analysis of the procedural details of the conflicting studies reveal that the discrepant findings are probably the results of a measurement error (judgements-plus-explanations response criteria) and a sampling error (older subject samples), routinely committed in studies reporting that identity and equivalence emerge in no fixed order. Some new data from an experiment in which these two errors were controlled provide support for this conclusion. The general consequences of measurement and sampling errors for concept development studies are discussed. (Author/CS)

Attempts to apply Piagetian theory and research to educational settings are reviewed and evaluated. The fundamental assumptions of Piagetian theory are briefly summarized and the educational philosophy of Piaget is explained. Five representative early childhood education programs are described. Current criticisms of Piagetian theory and associated educational recommendations are reviewed and it is concluded that adopting a genuine Piagetian perspective conveys mixed blessings upon the aspirant educational innovator. The following principles are thought to be major, valid principles that may be derived from the Piagetian system: an awareness of intellectual product/process distinctions, a recognition of the crucial role of play activities, social interaction and associated peer group processes, and the essential stipulation of self-initiated active involvement as the primary determinant of intellectual development. The third principle is thought to provide the fundamental continuity between Piaget's views and the numerous open classroom and self-discovery learning approaches to educational innovation. (Author)

As an integral step in a comprehensive, four year longitudinal analysis of concept development, a series of logical concept tasks based upon Piagetian theory, and suitable for administration to individuals five years of age or older, are described. The developmental focus was the logical groupements associated with the concrete operations period of middle-childhood. Sixty-four binary choice items were devised; one half of these assessed the operation of logical composition while the remainder assessed the inverse operation and reciprocal operation. In addition, complimentary concrete operations tasks, adapted from the procedures of previous normative investigations, were administered. These included dichotomous sorting, some-all understanding, class inclusion, cardinality, combinatorial reasoning, serial ordering, addition, and correspondence, transitive inference, and conservation of length, weight, and number. A sample of 180 children (equal numbers of kindergarten, and third and sixth grade male and female subjects) received the concept task series. Significant sex differences and order of presentation effects were generally absent. As anticipated, grade-level main effects were significant for the great majority of the tasks. Psychometric analyses were conducted, and it was concluded that the task series was a generally reliable assessment of logical reasoning. (Author/SD)

A series of Piagetian concrete operations period tasks dealing with classificatory concepts was administered to 280 children (40 subjects from each of seven levels--preschool, kindergarten, and first, second, third, fourth, and sixth grades). Significant main effects for age were found for all the tasks. Few significant sex differences were observed. Scaling analyses of the pass/fail patterns indicated a generally reliable (reproducibility coefficients of .91-.93) order of difficulty. Factor analysis of a subset of the tasks indicated that three principal components were necessary to account for 85 percent of the performance variance. Thus, a nonunitary structure was found for the children's performances across the present task array and age range. In general agreement with the original contentions of Inhelder and Piaget, it was concluded that the child's understanding of the logic inherent in class inclusion relationships evolves gradually and is contingent upon the previous mastery of certain less complex classificatory skills. (Author/DEP)

Investigated was the distinction between identity conservation and equivalence conservation in 180 preschool, kindergarten and third grade students. Ss were assigned to one of six different counterbalanced orders of presentation for the conservation task battery. The factors were age, task (identity/equivalence), criterion (judgment only/judgment plus explanation), and content area (length/weight). Among results were greater difficulty indicated for equivalence than identity conservation and significant performance improvement at every grade level for the transitivity tasks. (CL)

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 orders of presentation. Preliminary analyses indicated a general absence of significant presentation order effects and an absence of sex differences. Grade level comparisons were significant for all subtasks except cross classification I transposition. Significantly superior performances on the reporduction when compared to the counterpart transposition subtask were shown for the cross classification I (first grade, second grade, and combined grades), double seriation (kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and combined grades), and cross classification II (first grade and combined grades) cases. The between matrix difficulties were that in both reproduction and transposition subtasks, cross classification II was more difficult than double seriation and cross classification I. Results suggested that development in classificatory abilities may lag behind relational abilities contrary to the structural prediction of orthodox Piagetian theory. (Author/SB)

The implications of a life-span developmental prospective for Piagetian theory and research are discussed in this paper. Initially, certain recent criticisms of the Piagetian system are evaluated. These include the interpretations of Piaget's abstract model of logical reasoning; his views concerning the interrelationship of hereditary, maturational, and socioexperiential factors; the similarities and contrasts present in the Genevan viewpoint and neo-Hegelian dialectical approaches; and the possibility of continued developmental change following the adolescent years. A brief overview of the research on Piagetian concept development beyond the years of adolescence is presented. These cross-sectional assessment studies which have included samples of elderly subjects have generally found marked differences favoring the mature adult subsamples, similarities between the performances of the young children and aged subject subsamples, and/or apparent decrements in the performances of elderly persons on the Piagetian tasks. In a concluding section the philosophical, methodological, and practical implications of a straightforward acceptance of a life-span orientation are discussed. (TO)

The efficacy of small group instructional programs in classificatory, seriation, and combined class/series skills was evaluated for a sample of 60 urban, middle-class, 4- to 5-year-old children in a transfer of training design. Significant curriculum-specific transfer effects were found for the seriation instructional condition, whereas little differences were found for the classification, verbal intelligence, and far-transfer conservation task measures. Sex differences, school location effects, teacher biases, and pretesting effects were generally absent. The apparent feasibility of seriation skill instruction for preschool-aged children and the general noneffectiveness of the classificatory and combined instructional conditions, particularly insofar as far-transfer effects are concerned, suggest a nonunitary picture of cognitive functioning during the transitory phases between preoperational and concrete operational period thought. (Author)

This report is the initial overall summary of a comprehensive analysis of children's logical concept attainments and memoric abilities and deals exclusively with the initial and second year's assessment data. The focal point for this normative investigation is the concrete operations period spanning the years of middle childhood. The measurement battery consisted of logical concept tasks assessing classificatory abilities (groupements, I to IV, dichotomous sorting, some-all understanding, class inclusion, and combinatorial reasoning); relational abilities (groupements V to VIII, transitive inference--length and weight task formats, seriation--serial ordering, additive seriation, and serial correspondence); number concepts (cardinality, conservation and weight (identity and equivalence task formats); and three memory ability measures (forward word and digit series, and visual orientation memory). All the tasks were individually administered. It was concluded that the best characterization of the concrete operations period is a complex interrelationship pattern which is multidimensional in nature. The transition from preoperational forms of logical reasoning to a full mastery of the concepts derived from the logical groupements appears not to be a punctuate, discontinuous phenomenon with uniform progress for the various task settings. (RC)