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Performance of balance scale tasks of the challenging type amongst Singapore children
Citation
Ng, S. F., & Lee, M. P. (2013). Performance of balance scale tasks of the challenging type amongst Singapore children. The Mathematics Educator, 14(1&2), 49-65. http://math.nie.edu.sg/ame/matheduc/tme/tmeV14_1/3.pdf
Author
Ng, Swee Fong
•
Lee, Madeline Pe
Abstract
Since the pioneering research of Inhelder and Piaget in the 1950, "balance scale tasks" have become synonymous with items used to study cognitive development of young children. This paper reports on the results of two studies about these tasks: study 1 about 137 kindergartners from five kindergartens and study 2 about 122 Primary 2 children from five primary schools in the western part of Singapore. The balance scale tasks were designed by the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore. Three-quarter of the primary one children tested could compare and identify which was the heaviest object when the information was presented concretely. However, when the weights of the objects were specified relationally as a function of each other rather than in a concrete manner their performance fell dramatically. Primary three children demonstrated similar difficulties. These findings may inform future studies on how to improve children’s competencies with such tasks and how to incorporate such tasks into curricular materials.
Date Issued
2013
Publisher
Association of Mathematics Educators
Journal
The Mathematics Educator