1. psychlotron.org.uk What would the world be like if people had tails?

2. psychlotron.org.uk What do you need to be able to do to answer that question? How might the responses of younger children differ from yours?

3. psychlotron.org.uk Today’s session You are learning about...You are learning to... Piaget’s formal operational stage Tests of systematic & abstract thinking Compare and criticise ways of investigating children’s cognition

4. psychlotron.org.uk What are operations? How do you think concrete and formal operations might be different?

5. psychlotron.org.uk Formal operations Concrete operations are carried out on things whereas formal operations are carried out on ideas. From about 12 years children can follow the form of a logical argument without reference to its content.

6. psychlotron.org.uk Formal operations Concrete problem: Cristiano is older than Beyonce. Chardonnay is younger than Wayne. Wayne is younger than Beyonce. Beyonce is older than Chardonnay. – Christiano (oldest) – Beyonce – Wayne – Chardonnay (youngest) Formal problem: A>B; C C – A>B>D>C

7. psychlotron.org.uk Formal operations In the stage of formal operations people can think logically about: – Relationships between abstracts – Hypothetical situations (e.g. the ‘tails’ question)

8. psychlotron.org.uk Formal operations Arrange yourselves in groups of four. Decide who will be children and who researchers. – Children: use the apparatus provided to work out what determines how fast a pendulum swings. – Researchers: observe carefully and note the strategies used by the children.

9. psychlotron.org.uk Formal operations Children become systematic in their thinking and make logical plans in order to solve problems.

10. psychlotron.org.uk Formal operations Pendulum problem: – Concrete operations – haphazard approach, with many variables being changed simultaneously. Solutions are accidental. – Formal operations – systematic approach, one variable altered whilst others held constant. Solution is logically arrived at.

11. psychlotron.org.uk Piaget & Inhelder (1958): The four beaker problem 4 beakers labelled 1-4 containing colourless liquid One beaker labelled ‘g’ which contains a chemical that can be added to the others using an eye dropper Spare empty beakers A few drops of ‘g’ are added to two further unlabelled beakers containing colourless liquid – One turns yellow while the other remains colourless Participants have to use the liquids in the four beakers to try and get the same yellow colour as the researcher

12. psychlotron.org.uk How would you expect a 10-year-old’s approach to differ from a 16-year-old’s?

13. psychlotron.org.uk What difference can we expect between a Year 7’s and a Sixth Former’s thinking? How can we test this?