Age, Gender and Training in Children's Performance of Piaget's Horizontality Task

Abstract

Six-hundred children from the ages of 5 to 9 years, balanced for sex and age, were administered Piaget's horizontality tasks using a square water bottle. They were then divided into three experimental groups, and re-administered the task with or without instructions. The first group completed the task using gradually specific instructions until the participants performed each item to criterion level. The number of instructions needed to perform to criterion level was recorded (training scores). The second group completed the task with traditional training where the correct answer was demonstrated. The third group completed the task without feedback. After a month, all of the participants were given a post-test consisting of the square water bottle task, as well as a verticality task that required a related principle. Children's pre- and post-test performance scores were classified into six stages. It was found that there was a significant sex difference in the pretest performance of the horizontality task beginning at 8 years of age. The graduated training group evidenced higher stage scores on the post-test than the demonstration group and the control group. The former demonstrated a more integrated understanding of stable external reference frames compared to the other groups.