Retention of Conservation Acquired by Instructional Methods, Eight Months After Termination of Instruction

This study attempted to determine if subjects that had been instructed in the principle of conservation, maintained conservation after termination of instructions. Using subjects from kindergarten to third grade that had received instructions by use of both concrete example and mental imagery methods. Those S\u27s that received instructions were compared with S\u27s that had received no instructions. A test of conservation was administered to a total of 96 S\u27s approximately eight months after termination of instructions to determine if the scores received on a test of those students that had received instructions exceeded those S\u27s that had not received instructions. A statistical analysis of the data indicated that instructions were of no value to kindergarten or first grade students , but that second grade students showed a significant improvement in their ability to conserve after receiving instructions and the third grade group achieved the competence on test performance as their peers that had exceeded them before instructions were given. The results thus would indicate that instructions could be valuable in acquiring conservation if the S\u27s have reached a certain cronological or maturational level in his development