Activity 2: Piaget and James

Q2:  Piaget vs. James

The video displayed students completing various exercises and demonstrated the developmental levels of the children to the viewer.  In one exercise, the same amount of juice of is placed in glasses of the same size and then again in glasses that vary in size -- One glass is skinny, the other is wide.  The younger of the children believes that when the size of the glass is changed, the amount of liquid inside the glass is changed also.  This is unlike the older child who recognizes that the amount of liquid does not change even though the glass size does. 

I think a Piagetian approach to developing the cognitive level in students for this particular problem would have the students continue to explore with the glasses until it is recognized that the liquid amount did not change.  Contrastingly, James would have the teacher show the student the difference and then proceed to go on to the next lesson.