University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1973 A science curriculum for preschool children based on a model designed to release human potential. Gerard Patrick Baruch University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Baruch, Gerard Patrick, "A science curriculum for preschool children based on a model designed to release human potential." (1973). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 2786. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/2786 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © 1973 GERARD PATRICK BARUCH ALL RIGHTS RESERVED m A SCIENCE CURRICULUM FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN BASED ON A MODEL DESIGNED TO RELEASE HUMAN POTENTIAL A Dissertation Presented By Gerard Patrick Baruch Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION August , 1 973 Major Subject: Education - Human Potential ) A SCIENCE CURRICULUM FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN BASED ON A MODEL DESIGNED TO RELEASE HUMAN POTENTIAL A Dissertation Presented By Gerard Patrick Baruch Approved as to style and content by: an (Chairman of Committee) (Head ofHDepartment . Daehler (Member) {T, AcL* Dr. Donald T. Streets (Miember) a . Dr. Leverne Thelen (Member) ff. August, 1973 DEDICATION To my wife, Sylvia, and daughter, Lucita, for their patience, encouragement, and good disposition. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 A. Context of the Problem 7 B. Statement of the Problem 9 C. Limitations of the Study 10 D. Educational Significance 11 E. Organization of the Study 13 II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 17 A. The Disadvantaged Learner and Cognitive Competence 18 B. Preschool Programs 24 1. Maria Montessori 25 2. The Bank Street Model 28 3. The EDC Approach 31 4. Glen Nimnicht's Responsive Model 33 5. The Cognitively-Oriented Curriculum.... 36 6. Ira Gordon's Parent Educator Model 38 7. Bushell's Behavior Analysis Model 40 8. Bereiter-Engelmann' s Academically Oriented Program 9. Discussion ^ -v- Chapter Page C. Jean Piaget 49 1. Sensorimotor Intelligence 53 2. Pre-Operational Intelligence 36 3. Concrete Operational Thought 58 4. Formal Operational Thought 61 5. Summary 64 III. SERIATION, CONSERVATION, SPACE, AND TIME AS A BASIS FOR LEARNING COMPETENCE 65 A. Seriation 71 1 . Definition 71 2. Elaborate Description 71 a. Simple vs. Multiple Seriation 73 b. Seriation vs. Classification 74 c. Seriation and Correspondence 75 3. Justification 79 4. Development 81 a. Sensorimotor Seriation 82 b. Pre-Operational Seriation 83 c. Concrete Operational Seriation 87 Studies in 5 . Other Developmental Seriation ®9 B. Conservation 93 -vi- Chapter Page 1 . Definition 93 2. Elaborate Description 93 a. Conservation and Reversibility 95 b. Qualitative and Quantitative Invariants 97 c. Identity and Equivalence Conservation 99 d. First-Order and Second-Order Conservation 101 e. Types of Conservation 101 3. Justification 108 4. Development 110 a. Sensorimotor Growth 110 b. Pre-Operational Growth Ill c. Concrete Operations 114 C. Cognitive Space 120 1. Definition 120 2. Elaborate Description 120 a. Perceptual Space 121 b. Cognitive Space 122 c. Levels of Space 123 d. Processes for Understanding Space.. 131 139 3 . Justification -vii- Chapter Page 4 . Development 142 a. Perceptual vs. Representational Space 142 b. Stages of Spacial Concepts 143 c. Topological Space 145 d. Projective Space 147 e. Transition Between Projective and Euclidean Space 150 f. Euclidean Space 150 D. Cognitive Time 152 1. Definition 152 2. Elaborate Description 152 a. Space and Time 155 b. Succession and Duration 157 c. Qualitative and Quantitative Time.. 160 d. Physical vs. Psychological Time.... 164 e. Relativity 166 3. Justification 167 4. Development 169 a. Space and Time 169 b. Clock Time 171 c. Piaget’s Conception of Time 172 d. Concept of Age 179 -viii- Chapter Page IV. THE GROWTH OF SERIAT ION, CONSERVATION, SPACE, AND TIME IN ADOLESCENCE AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO EARLY CHILDHOOD 181 A. The INRC Group 181 1 . Identity 182 2. Negation-Inversion 183 3. Reciprocity 185 4. Correlation 187 5 . Summary 189 B. The 16 Binary Propositions 190 1. Independence and Their Inverses 193 2. Conjunction/Disjunction and Their Inverses 194 3. Negation-Tautology 196 4. Reciprocal Implication-Exclusion 196 5. Implication 197 C. The Role of Seriation, Conservation, Time, and Space in Formal Operations 199 1. Seriation 199 2. Conservation 203 210 3. Space 21 4. Time ^ oon 5. Conclusion 222 D. Summary -ix- Chapter Page V. THE CURRICULUM 223 A. Seriation 225 1. Educational Objectives 225 2. Guidelines for Writing Educational Experiences 227 3. Prerequisites for Seriation Competence. 227 4. Prototypical Experiences 228 B. Conservation 237 1. Educational Objectives 237 2. Guidelines for Writing Educational Experiences 238 3. Prerequisites 241 4. Prototypical Experiences 242 C. Cognitive Space 251 1 . Educational Objectives 251 2. Guidelines for Writing Prototypical Experiences 254 3. Prerequisites 255 4. Prototypical Experiences 256 2 ^5 D. Cognitive Time 1. Educational Objectives 265 2. Guidelines for Writing Educational Experiences -x- Chapter Page 3. Prerequisites 268 4. Prototypical Experiences 269 E. Current Elementary Science Programs and the ANISA Model 278 1. Elementary Science Study (ESS) 278 2. Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) 281 3. American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 283 F. Summary 285 VI. EVALUATION AND CONCLUSIONS 287 A. Formative Evaluation Methods 290 B. Evaluation and Extinction Techniques 292 1 . Conservation 293 2. Seriation, Space, and Time 294 C. Other Considerations in Evaluating Seriation, Conservation, Space, and Time... 295 1 . Seriation 295 2. Conservation 297 3. Cognitive Space 298 4. Cognitive Time 299 D. Limitations in Using the Curriculum 301 E. Suggestions for Further Research 302 -xi- Chapter Page BIBLIOGRAPHY 304 1 . Books 304 2. Journal Articles 308 3. Unpublished Materials 314 -xii- A Science Curriculum For Preschool Children Based On A Model Designed To Release Human Potential Gerard P. Baruch, B.S., Roosevelt University M.Ed., University of Massachusetts Directed by Dr. Daniel C. Jordan When new educational programs are devised, the focus of the curriculum is confined to the children for whom the program is designed and to specific subjects. Because of this approach educational ventures have failed to construct a conceptual model that includes all of human growth, and which could provide the basis for coordinating efforts between subject areas. Furthermore, it is only recently and at the preschool level that curriculum specialists have traced developmental growth within a subject level. For instance, no fewer than seven different curriculum models for preschool education have been designed within the past five years. Yet none of these programs addresses the need to construct an overall model which can identify the strategic areas of human growth. Furthermore, while some of these models are developmentally oriented due to the use of Piaget’s research, they are limited only to the preschool and early elementary school period and only to the development of logical reasoning. 2 This dissertation addresses itself to these shortcomings. The primary purpose of this research is to describe in detail the processes of seriation, conservation, cognitive space, and cognitive time, to elaborate on the developmental stages from infancy to adolescence and adulthood, and to integrate these four processes into a cohesive unit. The secondary purpose is to develop a set of prototypical learning experiences that demonstrate how these processes can release children's cognitive potentialities not only within the area of cognitive growth but also concerning such areas of human growth as increasing children's ability to focus their attention, promoting their understanding of people in other cultures, and facilitating children's setting of and completing goals. The methodology for undertaking this study emphasizes the research of Jean Piaget with respect to the four areas mentioned earlier. Furthermore, the ANISA program, a comprehensive educational model designed to foster learning competence, is used as the basis for integrating cognitive development within the framework of human growth, and as a tool for predicting how cognitive processes might foster the development of growth in areas of human competence other than cognition. processes The detailed elaboration of each of the four prototypical generates educational objectives from which 3 experiences are designed. Moreover, three elementary science curricula, AAAS, ESS, and SCIS, are used as sources for generating learning experiences that promote cognitve competence. Although this curriculum has not been field tested, evaluation procedures are discussed and used in the learning experiences. These procedures require that alternative approaches to evaluation be designed since a developmentally based model of learning assumes that learning is acquired over a period of time and is dynamic. It is hoped that such an approach to curriculum development will provide the teacher with a diagnostic tool for determining the