| The purpose of the present study was to ascertain the effect of conservation training on the decoding and comprehension skills of third grade children. Piaget (1970) stated that 75% of eight year olds attain conservation. The research question for the present study was as follows: would conservation training facilitate conservation and reading abilities in a sample of third grade (eight year old) children who were non-conservers, on early transitionals, and concomitantly at least one year below grade level in reading.;The present study utilized a sample consisting of 66 subjects: 33 males and 33 females, with a mean CA of 7.9. One group of subjects received conservation training utilizing procedures adapted from Inhelder's (1974) work. A second group of children received traditional reading instruction with the Barnell Loft, Level C Reading Materials (in both decoding and comprehension skills). And, finally, a third group was designated as a control group and received no training.;Each group consisted of 22 subjects: 12 non-conservers and 10 transitionals. After a four-month period, with training consisting of five sessions per child (each lasting 30 minutes to an hour), the children were post-tested on conservation and reading measures. With PPVT-R scores as a control for Mental Age (MA), the children who received conservation training had significantly higher post-test scores on measures of conservation, reading grade equivalents, comprehension, number of paragraphs read, and story recall tasks. Further, the children in the conservation group showed significant decreases in the number of errors made.;The Gray Oral, Forms A and B, were the primary measure of reading, with two Aesop's Fables and two basal reader stories utilized to assess story recall: total score, main idea and inferences.;Conservation measures were found to correlate both positively and significantly with reading measures, with PPVT-R scores partialled out. Implications for future research and educational practice are also considered. |
