Explicitness and Conservation: Social Class Differences

Abstract

The performance of 5-, 6-, 7-, and 8-year-old children in liquid conservation tasks was studied in four conditions. In the first two conditions (Standard and Incidental) the initial comparison in the task was made perceptually. In the other two conditions (Quantity and Money) the child was not allowed to make a direct perceptual comparison and the initial comparison was made by measurement. The children did much better when they measured the quantities than when they simply made perceptual comparisons, and this effect was stronger with working class children than with middle class children. Contrary to previous reports, there was no difference between the Standard and the Incidental conditions. We conclude that children in general, and working class children in particular, are helped when the nature of the task is made more explicit.