Assimilation involves the incorporation of new events into preexisting cognitive structures. Accommodation means existing structures change to accommodate to the new information. This dual process, assimilation-accommodation, enables the child to form schema. Equilibration involves the person striking a balance between himself and the environment, between assimilation and accomodation.
When a child experiences a new event, disequilibrium sets in until he is able to assimilate and accommodate the new information and thus attain equilibrium.
There are many types of equilibrium between assimilation and accomodation that vary with the levels of development and the problems to be solved. For Piaget, equilibration is the major factor in explaining why some children advance more quickly in the development of logical intelligence than do others Lavatelli, A Piagetian-inspired curricula emphasizes a learner-centered educational philosophy.
The teaching methods which most American school children are familiar with - teacher lectures, demonstrations, audio-visual presentations, teaching machines, and programmed instruction - do not fit in with Piaget's ideas on the acquisition of knowledge. Piaget espoused active discovery learning environments in our schools.
Intelligence grows through the twin processes of assimilation and accomodation; therefore, experiences should be planned to allow opportunities for assimilation and accomodation.
Children need to explore, to manipulate, to experiment, to question, and to search out answers for themselves - activity is essential.
However, this does not mean that children should be allowed to do whatever they want. So what is the role of the teacher? Teachers should be able to assess the child's present cognitive level; their strengths and weaknesses.
Instruction should be individualized as much as possible and children should have opportunities to communicate with one another, to argue and debate issues. He saw teachers as facilitators of knowledge - they are there to guide and stimulate the students. Allow children to make mistakes and learn from them. Learning is much more meaningful if the child is allowed to experiment on his own rather than listening to the teacher lecture.
The teacher should present students with materials and situations and occasions that allow them to discover new learning. In his book To Understand Is to Invent Piaget said the basic principle of active methods can be expressed as follows: "to understand is to discover, or reconstruct by rediscovery, and such conditions must be complied with if in the future individuals are to be formed who are capable of production and creativity and not simply repetition" p.
In active learning, the teacher must have confidence in the child's ability to learn on his own. Laboratories, workshops and technologies that encourage interactivity such as multimedia, hypermedia and virtual reality fit in with Piagetian thought. Assimilation involves the interpretation of events in terms of existing cognitive structure whereas accommodation refers to changing the cognitive structure to make sense of the environment. Cognitive development consists of a constant effort to adapt to the environment in terms of assimilation and accommodation.
While the stages of cognitive development identified by Piaget are associated with characteristic age spans, they vary for every individual. Furthermore, each stage has many detailed structural forms.
For example, the concrete operational period has more than forty distinct structures covering classification and relations, spatial relationships, time, movement, chance, number, conservation and measurement. Similar detailed analysis of intellectual functions is provided by theories of intelligence such as intellect theory , multiple intelligences , and triarchic theory. Piaget explored the implications of his theory to all aspects of cognition, intelligence and moral development. The theory has been applied extensively to teaching practice and curriculum design in elementary education e.
For example, with children in the sensorimotor stage, teachers should try to provide a rich and stimulating environment with ample objects to play with.
On the other hand, with children in the concrete operational stage, learning activities should involve problems of classification, ordering, location, conservation using concrete objects. Application Piaget explored the implications of his theory to all aspects of cognition, intelligence and moral development.
Principles Children will provide different explanations of reality at different stages of cognitive development. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or situations that engage learners and require adaptation i. Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of motor or mental operations for a child of given age; avoid asking students to perform tasks that are beyond their currrent cognitive capabilities.
Use teaching methods that actively involve students and present challenges. This theory, because it partially focuses on biological maturation, predicts that all children across the world should go through these stages in the same order and around the same time, regardless of differences in the environment that they are growing up in. Making the decision to study can be a big step, which is why you'll want a trusted University.
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