Generality of the Controlling Variables Scheme in Early Adolescence

Abstract

The present study examined the generality of the formal operations scheme of controlling variables across different tasks. It was hypothesized that performance would be favorably affected by the subjects' familiarity with the content of the task. Seven controlling variables tasks (four laboratory, one naturalistic and two neutral) were administered to urban and rural thirteen year olds. Groups were selected such that the rural group was more familiar with the content of the naturalistic task than was the urban group, while the urban group was more familiar with the content of the laboratory tasks. Both groups were equally familiar with the artificial variables in the neutral tasks. It was found that the rural group performed significantly better than the urban group on the naturalistic task and the urban group performed significantly better on 3 of the 4 laboratory tasks. No significant differences between the groups were found on the neutral tasks. The types of strategies employed by the subjects were examined; it was found that most subjects used more than one strategy, and used the controlling variables strategy at least once, but not consistently on all seven tasks.