Revalidation of Conservation of Pre-operational Stage of Piaget’s Cognitive Theory Using Mental Characteristics in Mayo-belwa Local Government Area, Adamawa State, Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which children between the ages of 2-7 in Mayo-belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa state exhibit the mental characteristics of pre-operational stage of Piaget’s theory of mental development. A sample of 576 nursery and primary school pupils and unschooled children between the ages of 2-7 were selected using quota and purposive sampling techniques. One research question and one hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. An instrument titled ‘Piaget’s Experimental Procedures and Interview Battery (PEPIB) was used to collect data. The instrument was subjected to face and content validation. The reliability an index of 0.73 was obtained. This values was high enough to permit investigation. Descriptive statistics of frequency lines and percentage was used to answer the research question while a two sample Kolmogorov Smirnov test was used to test the hypothesis. The results revealed that children between the ages of 2-7 in Mayo-belwa Local Government area of Adamawa state exhibited all the mental characteristics of preoperational stage of Piaget’s cognitive theory. There were significant differences in performance on conservation of number, mass, length, liquid, weight and volume between boys and girls at the pre-operational stage of mental development. It was therefore concluded that the theory can be used with confidence in non-western environments.. The issues raised by the study were also examined from the perspective of counselling and human development practice. It was recommended among other things that Counsellors be massively trained and posted to work in all UBE schools so as to diagnose and treat children’s developmental problems at the various stages of growth and development. Periodic training workshops should be organized for elementary school teachers to understand how children think and learn.