Weight Conservation and Matrix-Solving Ability in Papuan Children

Abstract

A nonverbal method of assessing ability to conserve weight is further validated, and an earlier finding that fifty percent of Zambian urban school children of median stated age of thirteen years cannot do so is repeated with a comparable sample of Papuan children. A quasi-experimental study is made of the reasoning ability of conservers and nonconservers: this confirms previous observations by Goodnow and by Heron that this is largely unrelated to conservation status. Following a model put forward by Flavell and Wohlwill, it is suggested that the transitional stage in various cultures may be unduly extended, thus presenting a variable and incomplete range of competences regarded by Piaget as together forming a unitary stage of concrete operations.