I began Michael-Joseph with Piaget's task Conservation of Numbers by lining up two identical rows horizontally of three small stick pretzels. I asked, "Do both rows have the same number of pretzels?" He replied "yes". Then I lengthened one row by placing one extra pretzel and asked him, "Now does one row have more pretzels in it than the other row?" He answered, "yes". .
Conservation of Matter was the next task. I placed two identical balls of play dough (same size and shape) in front of Michael-Joseph. I asked, "Do these two balls have the same amount of play dough in them?" He replied "yes". Without adding play dough, I changed the shape of one ball by flattening it. I asked him if he now thought that one of the play dough's had more? His response was "no". .
In conducting the Conservation of Length, I aligned vertically two unsharpened pencils (same length) in front of Michael-Joseph and asked, "Are these two pencils the same length?" His reply was "yes". Without changing the size, I moved one pencil to the right and asked, "Now are the two pencils the same length?" Michael-Joseph answered "yes". .
Conservation of Volume was the last task I conducted on Michael-Joseph. Measuring cup he observed me pour 1 cup of water into two identical glasses and dropping two identical play dough balls in each glass. I asked him if the balls moved the same amount of water in each glass he answered "yes". Then I took one ball and changed its shape and placed it back into the cup of water. "Will the balls still move equal amounts of water in each glass?" Michael-Joseph answered, "yes". .
Piaget's tasks clearly represent Michael-Joseph at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development. When conducting each task he was able to solve each task in a logical fashion. During the tasks his recognition of the physical world aided him to recognize that when I added or subtracted nothing from an object it was still the same.