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Conservation of Weight, Length and Number An important cognitive task that is critical to mathematics development is the ability to understand that weight, length and number remain constant despite changes in appearance. This ability to conserve requires logical reasoning skills. Children who are not yet able to conserve typically use transductive reasoning skills; that is, thinking from particular to particular. This type of centred thinking relies primarily on the sensory information being provided -- that is, if it looks the same it must be the same; if it looks different it must be different. In comparison, adults are able to use both inductive and deductive reasoning. |
