Assimilation is where the child deals with a new event by using existing schemas for example a toddler may assimilate a new ball into the schema of ‘toys that can be thrown.’ Accommodation is where a child changes their schema to deal with the new situation, for example a child may see a dog, parent will tell child “it’s a dog”, the child will take this information in – it becomes a schema, however the next time the child sees a 4 legged furry animal with a tail ‘a cat’ the child will say “dog.” Once the child has been told that it’s a cat the child will modify the existing schema dog and create a new schema for cat. The child is then back in its state of equilibrium.
Piaget also believed that children go through four stages of cognitive development, that the child has to be at a certain stage of development to be able to learn new concepts. He said each child will go through the stages but not always in the same order and each child may progress at different rates. …show more content…
It is at this age that logical thought develops, this means that the child is able to work things out in their head. Reversibility is another logic that children understand at this stage, they are aware that actions can be reversed. Rules are again something that they learn at this age. Children begin to understand conservation at this stage, this where something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes. (McLeod) ‘Additionally, seriation and classification are the two logical operations that develop during this stage and both are essential for understanding number concepts. Seriation is the ability to order objects according to increasing or decreasing length, weight, or volume. On the other hand, classification involves grouping objects on the basis of a common characteristic’. (files.eric.ed.gov) Cooking is a great activity to do with children of this age as it allows them to use measurements as well as classifying and categorising the ingredients. It is also at this stage when children stop thinking ego-centrically they are able to understand that other people have their own thoughts. It is at this stage when children are able to play group games such as football and