Mr. Davis asks his second graders to conduct experiments to examine the effects of water, sunlight, and type of soil on growing sunflowers. He tells them, "I want you to find out which of these three things–water, sunlight, and soil–affect how well sunflowers grow. Here are lots of sunflower seeds, lots of paper cups to grow them in, and two different types of soil. You can give your growing

Question

plants plenty of sunlight by putting them on the shelf by the window, or you can grow them in a shadier place on the bookshelf behind my desk. And here's a measuring cup you can use to measure the amount of water you give them each day." Mr. Davis is assuming his second graders can do at least two things that, from Piaget's perspective, they probably cannot do. What two crucial abilities necessary for conducting appropriate experiments do his students probably not yet have? Justify your answer in a short paragraph.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Mr. Davis is assuming that his students can formulate and test multiple hypotheses and can separate and control variables. According to Piaget, these are abilities that emerge in the formal operations stage, and other researchers have found that they emerge primarily in adolescence. Thus, Mr. Davis's students, who as second graders are about 7 or 8 years old, have probably not acquired these abilities.