Preoperational Stage (2 to 7 years) (piaget)

I did the experiment with my children Tala a four years old and Rayan a seven years old were the liquid experiment.
First of all, I put three glasses in front of Tala. Two are short, wide glasses and have the same amount of water, and the third one is tall, thin and empty. I explained to her that the first two glasses are same and they have the same amount of water. Then I asked her “ Is it the same amount of water in the identical glasses” she said “yes” Then, I poured the water from one glass into the tall one; and I asked her “Is it still the same amount of water?” she replied immediately “No, the tall glass has more water”, then I asked her “Why does it has more water, I told you that the first two glasses have the same amount of water exactly, what’s the difference now?” She answered “I told you that the tall glass has more water because it is taller!”

Tala couldn’t understand that the first 2 glasses have the same amount of water, so even if I poured the water from one short glass to another tall one, the amount of water won’t change. What happened is that Tala focused on the obvious characteristics of the glasses and not the amount of water, and focusing only on the height of the glasses rather than both the height and width when determining what has the biggest volume. So, she is still in the Preoperational Stage according to Piaget’s theory.

Second, I did the liquid experiment with Rayan in the same way that I did it with Tala, I placed three glasses in front of him; two are short, wide glasses and have the same amount of water, and the third one is tall, thin and empty glass. After explaining to him that the first two glasses have the same amount of water, I poured the water in the tall glass and I asked him “Is it still the same amount of water?” he said “Can you do it again” so, I did it again for him. Then, he said “yes, it is still the same amount of water.” I asked him “why do you think is it the same?’ he said ‘because you only poured the water in different sized glass”

Actually, Rayan’s answer was different from Tala’s answer, as Rayan is older and more mature. This is what Piaget came with in his theory; he discovered that children in the Concrete Operational Stage are able to conserve, and Rayan was able to recognize that even if we poured the water from a short glass to another tall one, the amount of water will not change or increase!