Action Research Project

Chapter 7

Cognitive Development – Pre-operational Stage

Heather Larsen

I was super interested in Jean Piaget’s pre-operational stage. I have never heard of this

stage and was surprised at the things the kids thought were not the same when they clearly are.

My baby has recently gotten into the movie Inside Out and it was really interesting to see how

the movie showed this pre-operational stage as well, even though they show the main star at the

pre-operational stage for a short time.

What I did was I asked three kids of different ages, but between the ages of 2-7 the pre-

operational stage, three questions. I first showed them two rows of 5 coins in each row. I lined

the coins up so the rows were the same length. Then I asked which row has more coins, or do

they have the same? Then I spread one of the rows out so that it was longer. Then I asked the

question again. I asked Gigi who is 5, I asked Marshall who is 6, then I asked Mikey who is 3.

They all answered that they had the same amount of coins when the rows were the same length.

Then when the rows were spread out, Gigi said there was more coins, Marshall said there was

the same and Mikey said there was the more.

The second question I asked was about the length of two pencils. The pencils were the

same length. I first lined them up so that they were the same length and I asked if they were the

same or if one was longer. Then I moved them apart so that they were not lined up and I asked

them the same thing. Gigi said that they were the same length each time. Marshall said they were

the same at first then that one was longer when I moved them. Mikey said that they were the

same and then one was longer when I moved it.

 The third question I asked was about the amount of water in each cup. I filled to glasses

full of the same amount of water and I asked do the glasses have the same amount of water or

which was has more. Then I poured one glass into a tall glass that made it look like there was

more. Gigi said that they were the same and then one glass had more. Marshall said they were

the same then one glass had more. Mikey said they were the same and then said one had more.

From all of this it was interesting to see that Jean Piaget’s pre-operational stage was

correct. It was also cool to see that the 5 year old and 6 year old have started to develop the next

stage, concrete (ages 7-11), the concrete stage characteristics. However the 3 year old was

clearly in the pre-operational stage.