Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments (AEPA) Practice Exam

Children typically start to understand the concept of conservation around the age of 5 years. This marks a significant cognitive milestone in their development. At this age, children begin to grasp that certain properties of objects, such as volume, mass, and number, remain the same even when their form or arrangement changes. For example, if water is poured from a short, wide glass into a tall, narrow glass, a child who understands conservation will realize that the amount of water remains constant despite the change in shape.

This understanding is part of what cognitive psychologist Jean Piaget described as the concrete operational stage of development, which usually occurs from approximately 7 to 11 years old. However, prior to this stage, children often demonstrate a lack of understanding of conservation, believing that the characteristics of objects are solely tied to their appearance. By age 5, most children begin to show signs of recognizing that transformations do not alter the fundamental properties of an object, making this age critical for their cognitive development in terms of logical reasoning and understanding physical properties.