FIGURE 13 (S806M): Pseudoconceptual stumbling block when only one possibility is advanced

The eight-year-old participant in Figure 13 was so keen to start that he selected a mur circle before he could be shown an exemplar block. He then confidently moved into sorting the blocks by colour. However, three minutes into the session, this participant (S806M) was faced with a dilemma when reminded that four groups were required.

This reminder about the four groups became the stumbling block which revealed this eight-year-old’s pseudoconceptual mode of operation: it had appeared as if he was operating with a conceptual approach to solving the problem of the blocks by attempting a solution based on colour. However, the concrete and factual mode of his approach was such that he was unable to move beyond it to attempt an approach based on shape or some other combination of characteristics.

After this announcement about the need for four groups had been made, this participant was encouraged to turn over selected blocks to provide further clues, but these did not appear to help and he seemed baffled that his initial confident move had not solved the problem of the blocks.

Further on into the session, with 15 blocks with their names revealed, this participant described the groups as tall (lag), flat (bik) and flat (cev). He could provide no explanation for why he had placed the cev triangle in the mur group. It was only after he had been asked to compare some of the cev and bik blocks that he was able to place three of them correctly before turning them over. It would seem from this participant’s response that if one’s repertoire of reasons is limited, ie, if one works on only one approach for sorting the blocks and it fails to achieve success, that coming up with different or new ideas seems to be very difficult too. It would also seem from this example that the participants who try out a number of different ways in which to sort the blocks are more likely to be successful – and less despondent. Reasons, it would appear, and exploring and applying and discarding many of them, seem to be needed when solving a problem.

This participant (S806M), because he was not able to entertain more ways in which to sort the blocks, was also unable to form an image of why they belonged together, or how the words cev, bik, mur, and lag could be applied to other objects.