A child is presented with two identical balls of clay. The experimenter rolls one ball into a long, thin shape; the other remains in its original ball form. The child is then asked if there is more clay in the ball or in the long, thin piece of clay. If the child answers the problem correctly but cannot use abstract reasoning yet, the child most likely is in which stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory?

Question

Social Studies

Zaria Peters

9 March, 15:25

A child is presented with two identical balls of clay. The experimenter rolls one ball into a long, thin shape; the other remains in its original ball form. The child is then asked if there is more clay in the ball or in the long, thin piece of clay. If the child answers the problem correctly but cannot use abstract reasoning yet, the child most likely is in which stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory?

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Jonah Bean · Answer 1

The concrete operational stage

Explanation:

The child presented with the two balls will be able to correctly solve the problem in the concrete operational stage: A child shows this ability to "preserve" or conservate things mentally.

The conservation is a mental process that involves exposure to situations like watching the two balls, where one remains in its original form while the other is rolled, and thus being able to mentally manipulate the object.

In concrete operational phase, child is able to think logically, following rules. It is also characterized by overcoming the inadequate mental operations present in the previouvs phase - the preoperational.

In Concrete operational thinking children are in the third stage of cognitive development, Piaget believes children in this stage follow logical reasoning in situations where changes in appearances are present and yet they are able to solve the problems.