The Colored Blocks Test

Abstract

A recently developed test of basic Piagetian stage abilities is described, and new data collected in rural Hawaii and in a working-class Chicago suburb are used to defend its validity. The test makes use of familiar test stimuli-blocks of different colors and shapes-which are reasonably salient cross-culturally. The use of (1) identical materials in assessment of all levels of cognitive development and (2) minimal verbal cues of simple construction serve to enhance (a) the internal consistency of the measure in tapping the child's full potential and (b) the measure's practical utility in a cross-cultural testing situation. The subtasks are designed to correspond to a theoretical description of the stages of cognitive development as defined by Piaget. In order to provide validation for the test, some preliminary empirical confirmation of the correspondence between the abilities tapped by the present test and those tapped by standard Piagetian tests is presented. Finally, data from all of the measures are used to argue that a stage of thinking with some, but not all, of the characteristics of formal operations may in fact be a universal development.

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