Skip to main content icon/video/no-internet
icon backReturn to Entries

Conservation

One of the key notions used in Piaget’s account of cognitive development is that of conservation. This refers to the idea that some abstract quantities remain constant even when they undergo surface changes. As an illustration, consider conservation of liquid.

A child is shown a glass of juice, which is filled up to a certain point. The juice is then poured into another glass that is shorter but wider than the original one. As a result, the juice does not go as high in the second glass as it did in the first, and from the child’s perspective it is no longer in the same shape in the second glass as it was in the first. Nonetheless, the quantity of juice remains the same. In Piagetian language, the quantity of juice is what remains constant when the juice changes shape.

It is useful to note that the notion of conservation was used in a manner analogous to the way conservation is used in physics. Physicists attempt to predict the results of complex transformations. Underlying much of physicists’ ability to do so are some key forms of conservation (matter, energy, spin, etc.) that allow the writing of equations for which a conserved quantity is balanced while accounting for other kinds of changes. This gives an underlying structure to what might appear to be a random sequence of physical changes.

In a similar way, understanding conservation of physical quantities allows children to predict the results of changes in the physical environment, and mastering conservation is an important developmental milestone. This entry discusses the different types of conservation and their development as well as the basic principles required to understand conservation.

Types of Conservation

The various forms of conservation mirror the larger scale differences that characterize cognitive development and can be seen as important markers of development. Although the beginning of this sequence starts in the sensorimotor period with object permanence, the classical forms of conservation typically develop between the ages of 6 and 12 years of age and correspond with the onset of the concrete operational period of thinking. The earliest developing form is that of conservation of number.

Subsequently acquired forms correspond to conservation of liquid quantity, of solid quantity (mass), of surface, of weight and of volume (although the latter represents a transition to a more abstract level of thought). Each of these notions requires the ability to understand that the underlying quantity remains invariant even when the physical dimensions change.

Although, as we shall see, these forms of conservation require a basic level of what Piaget referred to as operational thinking, they nonetheless develop at different ages, possibly because the underlying concepts are perceptually more difficult. For example, the earliest form of conservation, specifically number, can be easily perceived visually because it is instantiated by discrete objects. The most difficult of these is conservation of volume, which requires conceptual coordination of three dimensions. These examples illustrate what Piaget referred to as a horizontal décalage (decoupling), which are concepts that in principle require the same level of thinking but for which associated physical attributes make understanding more or less difficult.

...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles

Read next

More like this

Sage Recommends

We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.

close

Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches

close
close
close Signed In to profile You are signed in as:
close
Logged in Institution Institution