Classification and Seriation Instruction and Logical Task Performance in the Preschool

Abstract

The efficacy of small group instructional programs in classificatory, seriation, and combined class/series skills was evaluated for a sample of 60 urban, middle-class 4- to 5-year-old children in a transfer of training design. Significant specific transfer effects were found for the seriation instructional condition whereas little differences were found for the classification, verbal intelligence, and far transfer conservation task measures. Sex differences, school location effects, teacher biases, and pretesting effects were generally absent. The apparent feasibility of seriation skill instruction for preschool aged children and the general non-effectiveness of the classificatory and combined instructional conditions, particularly insofar as far transfer effects are concerned, suggests a nonunitary picture of cognitive functioning during the transitionary phases between preoperational and concrete operations period thought.