A child is shown two identical balls of clay.Then an adult squashes one ball into a pancake shape.She then asks the child if one of the shapes contains more clay and the child answers,"Yes,the pancake does." In Piagetian terms,the child has not yet reached:

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The child's response indicates a lack of understanding of the principle of conservation, which is a key ability developed during the concrete operations stage of Piaget's theory. In this stage, children are able to understand that changes in appearance do not necessarily mean changes in underlying properties, such as the amount of clay in the balls. The child's response also suggests that they have not yet developed decentration, which is the ability to consider multiple aspects of a situation at once.

A Child Is Shown Two Identical Balls of Clay