Heinz Werner Werner published in many areas: Ethnopsychology Animal behavior Embryology Psychopathology Phylogenesis (biological evolution) Ontogenesis (development of individuals) And more Commonality: Development

Werner’s Search Werner wanted one definition of development for all areas where it occurs

Werner’s Orthogenetic Principle The orthogenetic principle was intended to describe all developments  Ortho = direction (orthodontist)  Genetic = origins (genesis) and development

Werner’s Orthogenetic Principle Werner adopted the biological principle of orthogenesis as a process that governs psychological development over the long term. The idea is that the direction of development is towards: 1. Increasing differentiation and specification of primitive action systems that were initially fused in a global organization, that causes 2. the emergence of action systems that are more differentiated and that begin segregated and develop to be more integrated over time, such that 3. the more advanced systems (more differentiated, specified and internally integrated) hierarchically integrate (subordinate and regulate) the less developed systems. Langer, J. (1969). Theories of Development. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston

Relations Between Behaviors and Organizations In order to interpret behaviors (0 s and X s ) we must know what organizes them (mental organizations) X 2 X 3 X 4 X 5 X

Developmental Coordinates  Werner differentiated between behaviors and the organizations that organize them Behaviors Syncretic/globalDiscrete (differentiated) (fusion) Organizations DiffuseArticulated RigidFlexible UnstableStable

 In humans, the only thing we can observe is their behaviors  The search in cognitive development is for invisible mental organizations that produce those behaviors  Two common assumptions about child development 1. Improvement in behavior over time (from incorrect solutions to correct ones) indicates developmental progress of the mental organizations that underlie the behaviors 2. Poor performance in an area where there had once been good performance indicates regression in the underlying mental organizations

At the core of these two assumptions are deeper meta-assumptions Meta-Assumption 1: Behaviors and the mental organizations underlying them go hand-in-hand  Going from incorrect to correct understandings is always a product of going from lower to higher level mental organizations  Regression in behaviors is always a product of going from higher to lower mental organizations

Meta-Assumption 2: We often think of mental growth as being similar to physical growth  8-year-olds are as tall as they were when they were 4-year-olds, and then some  8-year-olds can solve correctly tasks they solved when they were 4-year- olds, and then some

 I intend to show that these assumptions and meta-assumptions are not always correct  Afterwards I discuss some educational implications that result from a different way of looking at these assumptions and meta-assumptions about the development of children ’ s thinking

 The problem through which I present my ideas is called ratio comparisons  Children and adults have been asked to solve problems of ratio comparisons  (Piaget, Bruner, Siegler, Klahr, Karmiloff- Smith)  In schools, tasks of the following sort are often given: = 4/5 > 3/4 <

 Problems with tasks of this sort: 1. The use of numbers here is unusual. They represent fractions. 2. The sign “ / ” is unclear. 3. Only children who have learned fractions can be asked such questions without the experimenter being laughed at.

 Another way to present tasks about ratio comparisons that are appropriate to test even children ’ s understandings of ratio comparisons:  Put sugar in water in order to create a ratio of sugar/water that is expressed as the sweetness of the water. = > < sugar/water sugar/water 21

 The logic of ratios Direct Relation – A change in the numerator (amount of sugar) changes the ratio (sweetness) directly. Example: Adding sugar to water increases its sweetness. More leads to more. Inverse Relation – A change in the denominator (amount of water) changes the ratio (sweetness) inversely Example: Adding water to a sugar water concentration decreases the sweetness. More leads to less

Proportions – A proportional change in both the numerator (amount of sugar) and denominator (amount of water) results in the same sweetness. Example – Putting 2 teaspoons of sugar in one container filled with water and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a second cup that has half the amount of water, leads to the same sweetness in both cups. 2 1

 Intensivity – A physical property that does not change despite a change in its amount. Example: We pour two cups of sugar water (that are the same sweetness as a third cup that remains untouched) into a fourth empty cup. The amounts of sugar and water increase but the intensive quantity (sweetness) remains the same. Other examples of intensivity: temperature, density, pressure, viscosity 111

What is the development of these ratio comparisons?

21 age Percent task solutions across age % Correct solutions directinverseprop.intensivity

These are group data. They hide individuals ’ development. What patterns can be found for each and every child, i.e., how does each child solve each and every task?

Tasks IntensivityProportions Inverse Relations Direct Relations

What is the development of these patterns?

Age % Pattern Use Percent Pattern Use By Age Patterns

These patterns develop in the following order: How can we describe the developmental patterns according to Werner ’ s orthogenetic principle?

IntensivityProportions Inverse Relations Direct Relations Developmental Patterns Global Initial Differentiation + 3. Full Differentiation Initial Coordination Full Coordination

In the intensivity task, what are these solutions in the developmental patterns? Pattern 1+ Pattern 2 + Pattern 3- Pattern 4- Pattern 5+

Educational Implications  We should not only look at children ’ s behaviors but also at what gives them meaning: mental organizations  Sometimes a drop in performance is due to cognitive advance in mental organizations  Two behaviors that appear identical (+ for intensivity) can be expressions of different mental organizations and, as a consequence, they are not identical in their meaning  Two behaviors that appear to be different (- for intensivity and + for direct relations) can be the product of identical mental organizations and, in this sense, they can be formally similar

 In sum, life is complicated. Things are not necessarily as they appear.  When evaluating children ’ s thinking, we should attempt to determine the mental organizations that underlie them  These mental organizations give meaning to the behaviors