Knowledge of Number Conservation and the Acquisition of Quantity Conservation in First Graders

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Summary First graders were tested on number conservation, conservation of continuous quantity (mass), and conservation of discontinuous quantity. The 24 girls and 19 boys who failed the two quantity conservation tasks were exposed to a classroom demonstration on conservation and retested on all conservation measures. Posttest quantity conservation performance was assessed in relationship to performance on the number conservation task. A chi-square test for the homogeneity of the distributions of number correct on quantity conservation showed a significant difference between number conservers and number nonconservers. Children who understood number conservation improved their quantity conservation performance more often than children who showed no understanding of number conservation.