Old Boy Observation
I observed two four year old boys in a vacant preschool classroom on a Sunday morning while their parents were in a meeting. By observing two boys approximately the same age, I was able to compare their developmental differences and see how they interacted and played together. Liam, who is about to turn four in November, was eager to tell me all about his Batman themed birthday party and his new light up tennis shoes when I meet with him to do the experiment, but to Liam I was just there to play and have snack. Elijah, who turned four in September, was less eager to let Dad go, but quickly warmed up without any tears. When I asked Liam who he lives with he was quick to tell me mommy, daddy, Abi, and Mia. Abi is his twelve year old sister and
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According to Piaget, the concept of conservation is not understood until age six or seven, so I expected that neither of the boys would have grasped the concept. I began by giving Elijah two graham crackers and Liam one. Both of the boys agreed that this was not fair because Elijah got more. I broke Liam’s graham cracker in half and asked the boys if it was fair now. Elijah told me that it was fair because he had two and now Liam had two. Liam disagreed with Elijah because his two pieces were much smaller than Elijah’s. I decided to see if the results would change if I tested conservation with juice as well. I gave each boy a cup of juice and they agreed that the cups had an equal amount of juice. I poured Elijah’s juice into a larger cup to give the illusion of less juice. This time both of the boys agreed that Liam had more juice and Elijah has less even though they still had the same amount. It was clear from both of the experiments that Elijah does not understand conservation, but with Liam it was not quite as clear. Liam demonstrated the concept of conservation in reference to the graham crackers, but did not in reference to the juice. He seems to almost understand conservation, but not fully. Neither of the boys should have understood conservation, but Liam seemed closer to developing it than
According to Piaget, the concept of conservation is not understood until age six or seven, so I expected that neither of the boys would have grasped the concept. I began by giving Elijah two graham crackers and Liam one. Both of the boys agreed that this was not fair because Elijah got more. I broke Liam’s graham cracker in half and asked the boys if it was fair now. Elijah told me that it was fair because he had two and now Liam had two. Liam disagreed with Elijah because his two pieces were much smaller than Elijah’s. I decided to see if the results would change if I tested conservation with juice as well. I gave each boy a cup of juice and they agreed that the cups had an equal amount of juice. I poured Elijah’s juice into a larger cup to give the illusion of less juice. This time both of the boys agreed that Liam had more juice and Elijah has less even though they still had the same amount. It was clear from both of the experiments that Elijah does not understand conservation, but with Liam it was not quite as clear. Liam demonstrated the concept of conservation in reference to the graham crackers, but did not in reference to the juice. He seems to almost understand conservation, but not fully. Neither of the boys should have understood conservation, but Liam seemed closer to developing it than