A STUDY OF THE CONSERVATION OF WEIGHT IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL CHILD

Abstract

S ummary . A large number of children in a junior school were tested, individually, along the lines initiated by Piaget, in an attempt to trace the development of the conservation of weight. While results very similar to those of Piaget are obtained using his criteria for invariance of weight, it is shown that children who are conservers of weight in his type of test, are often non‐conservers in other tests of conservation of weight. Overall, our results lead us to suggest that while logical thought may be a necessary condition for conservation of weight, it is not a sufficient condition. Sheer experience of the physical world seems to play a more important role than Piaget reckons.