Development of Number Conservation: An Examination of Some Predictions from Piaget's Stage Analysis and Equilibration Model

Abstract

difficulty was consistent with Piaget's stage order of global, intuitive, and operational quantification. The fact that the strategy of building a row in one-to-one correspondence with another preceded both intuitive and operational quantification was not consistent with the stage theory. Consistency in judgment and the use of a relative length hypothesis in judging number increased with age. Both findings contradict predictions derived from Piaget's equilibration model. However, consistent with the model, the young preoperational child's judgment was not influenced by whether or not he observed a conserving transformation.