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To replicate the findings of a previous experiment in which it was shown that the systematic presentation of rules and feedback on conservation and conservation-related problems can be employed to teach young children the traditional (Piagetian) liquid quantity problem rapidly, an analysis was made of the role of two others variables: (1) use of three different types of problems vs. repeated presentation of the conservation task, and (2) age of the subject. It was predicted that rule and feedback training would again facilitate conservation performance; that exposure to conservation-related problems would facilitate performance on them without impeding mastery of the conservation problem, per se; and that performance would be directly related to age. It was expected that older children would benefit from mere exposure to the problems, but that younger children would not. The subjects were 80 children (40 kindergarten children with mean age of about 64 months, and 40 first graders with a mean age of 77 months). The criterion for participation was failing to respond acceptably to a pretest of liquid quantity conservation. An equal number of boys and girls were randomly assigned within age groups to four experimental conditions. Pretests and posttests were administered on three liquid quantity measures. All children received 18 training trials following posttests. Analyses of variance were performed on posttest data. Results of the study showed that 70% of the children who received conservation and conservation-related problems with rule and feedback training mastered the conservation of liquid and quantity task; 60% of kindergarteners and 80% of first graders mastered the problem. (DB)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert