| Abstract: | Abstract Fifth-grade students (N = 103) from 4 classrooms were administered a multiple-choice test of Piaget tasks (B. J. Wadsworth, 1996). Fifty of the students were identified as preoperational in their cognitive understanding. Two of the classrooms served as the experimental group for 24 identified students; 26 students were in 2 classrooms that served as the control group. The experimental group received special lessons and activities designed to increase abilities in concrete and abstract thinking. The school had a large Hispanic population; therefore, the students received the instruction in the language in which they demonstrated mastery. Students in the experimental group showed a significantly greater increase in concrete operations than did the control group. All the students in the 2 experimental classrooms indicated greater use of concrete operations than did the students in the 2 control classrooms. |
