L'APPRENTISSAGE DE LA NOTION D'INCLUSION DE CLASSES CHEZ DE JEUNES ENFANTS BAOULÉS (CÔTE D'IVOIRE)*

This training study of the concept of class inclusion follows a previous paper on the training of the conservation of liquids (Dasen et al. 1979). Twenty-eight African (Baoulé) children, aged 7 to 9 years, were attributed to two groups, matched on age, schooling and performance on a pretest comprising 5 concrete operational tasks. Fourteen subjects who performed at stages 1 or 2 on class inclusion were trained according to a method adapted from Inhelder et al. (1974). The training effect was measured during two post-tests at the interval of one month. The results show a stable training effect in half of the subjects; there is a statistically significant generalization to other concepts of the same stage. This finding, which is similar to what has been reported for European children, supports the hypothesis of connections between operational concepts based on the common structure of the ‘grouping’. A ‘time lag’ of about 2 years in the development of class inclusion appears when comparing Baoulé and European children. The absence of very rapid learning (‘actualization’) shows that this lag probably occurs at the competence and not only at the performance level. The training effect is sufficient to reduce and even bridge this lag.