Assimilation and Accommodation
Jean Piaget viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. This happens through:
• Assimilation
– Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation.
• Accommodation
– This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.
• Equilibration
– This is the force, which moves development along. Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibrium is occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation).
Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it.
