It is proposed to conduct a survey of junior secondary schools in Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Guyana to ascertain typical levels of cognitive development, in Piagetian terms, in different types of schools and localities. The object of the survey is to provide accurate data on levels of concept development which may be used in the preparation and modification of science curricula throughout the secondary school system in the Caribbean.
Although the first to be written, this paper is properly the second of a series describing an investigation into science concept development in the Caribbean. It describes the task instruments used in the survey, their derivation from Piagetian protocols, development in the UK, and modification for the Caribbean, Validation trials are described and details of reliability, validity and task-task correlation are given.