10 Year Old Vs Formal Operational Stage

A typical 10-year-old may be in any stage that Piagetian has developed. There are three main stages. First in the pre-operational, second is the concrete operational and the third stage is formal operational. To determine what stage the 10-year-old is in, I would conduct two tasks. The first is the conservation of liquid quantity task. In this task I would pour equal amounts of water into two of the same glasses and make sure the child agrees that the water is the same amount in both glasses. Then while the child watches, I would pour the water from one glass into a taller narrower container. Then I ask if the smaller wider glass has the same amount of water as the taller and more narrow glass, or if the amount of water is different. After
I would ask the 10-year-old if the glasses are same or if one glass have more water. If the 10-year-old answered that the glasses have the same amount, and then continued to explain with a scientific explanation then the 10-year-old is in the formal operational stage. If the 10-year-old explained the task by saying that the two glasses have a difference in circumference and height causing the water to distribute differently which would cause the water line to appear lower in the shorter glass and higher in the taller glass, however both glasses have the same amount of volume. The 10-year-old would be showing scientific reasoning and systematic thinking about the problem which is consistent with those of the formal operational stage (219). The 10-year-old would answer the question correctly and also go on further to explain a scientific reasoning behind
The 10-year-old will be given several different weights and different lengths of string that are to be tied together make a pendulum. Then I would ask the 10-year-old if he can solve the problem of which combination would swing the fastest taking into consideration the height at which it would dropped at. If the 10-year-old does trial and error without much planning, then the 10-year-old would be a concrete operational thinker. If the 10 year conducts many trials but fails to answer why the pendulum swings faster with a shorter string, then he would answer the question incorrectly and be put in the concrete operational