P, Shah P. (2004). An Investigation into the Conservation Ability of the Pupils as Predictor of Understanding of the Mathematical Concepts Embedded in the Syllabus of the Standard VIII and IX of the Gujarat state. Unpublished. Ph.D., Education. Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The objectives of the study were: (1) To survey the conservation ability of the pupils of Standards VIII & IX by administrating them selected tasks of conservation. (2) To collect relevant data regarding different variables of castes, parents, education, socio-economic status & family size which are supposed to have influence on conservation. (3) To prepare a comprehensive list of concepts embedded in the material of mathematics for Standards VIII & IX. (4) To construct an achievement test each for Standards VIII & IX. (5) To compare the achievements of pupils in mathematics who are conserves & non - conserves. (6) To compare the achievements of the BC pupils & non - BC pupils. (7) To compare the achievements of the pupils whose parent’s educational levels are high & low. (8) To compare the achievement of pupils having high & low SES.
A representative sample of 400 boys and girls was selected from urban and rural areas of Sabarkantha District by using Cluster Sampling Method.
The data were collected by administering Conservation Ability Test (Jean Piaget) and an SES scale developed by K.G. Desai. Using a sheet collected the primary data regarding the pupils and their parents.
The Survey Method was used.
The data was analyzed with the help of 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 Factorial Design ANOVA and other non-parametric methods.
The main findings were: Phase I: Standard VIII - (1) Non - BC pupils were better performers in Mathematics. (2) The pupils belonging to high SES level were better than their counterparts. (3) Parents education level was also responsible. (4) Pupils having high conservation could perform better than these having low conservation ability. (5) The interactions of caste x parents education x conservation & of SES x parents education x conservation produced significant result. Phase II: Standard IX – (6) Both the BC and Non - BC pupils were identical performers in Mathematics. The pupils of high SES and those having high parents education were better performers than their counterparts. (7) The interactions of caste x conservation, caste x SES, SES x parents education, SES x conservation, caste x SES x parents education and caste x SES x conservation had significant effect on achievement. (8) Conservation had all pervading effect as main and as interactive factor, too. As Jean Piaget proved, it was the central, pivotal factor in educational career of the pupils. The pupils having conservation ability could understand Mathematical sub-concepts easily.
Keyword(s): Conservation Ability, Ability of Pupils , Predictor, Mathematical Concepts, Syllabus, Standard VIII and IX , Gujarat State