2.1 Piaget's Theory: Understanding How Learners Acquire Knowledge. 2.2 Unraveling "Schemes": Piaget's Concept of Learners' Cognitive Structures. 2.3 Assimilation in Piaget's Theory: Integrating New

2.1 Piaget’s theory of cognitive development essentially suggests that learners construct knowledge based on their interactions with their environment and experiences. Inspired by biological adaptation, the theory asserts that individuals actively seek to comprehend and make sense of their surroundings. In doing so, they acquire, refine, and build upon prior knowledge, fostering a deeper understanding of the world. 2.2 Piaget coined the term "schemes" to represent the mental structures or patterns that organize our knowledge and guide our behavior. Schemes evolve through a continual process of assimilation (incorporating new experiences into existing schemes) and accommodation (altering existing schemes to adapt to new experiences). For instance, a child might have a scheme of a dog which includes four-legged and furry characters. When encountering a cat, the child modifies the scheme to include cats. 2.3 Assimilation, in the context of Piaget's theory, involves the integration of new experiences into existing mental structures. For example, if a learner already knows about apples and they experience a red fruit that fits their apple scheme, they'll assimilate this information, recognizing the red fruit as an apple. 2.4 Assimilation and accommodation are two key processes underpinning cognitive development according to Piaget. While assimilation involves fitting new information into an existing scheme, accommodation is the process of adjusting existing schemes in response to new experiences. Consider a child who has only ever seen small dogs; they may think all dogs are small (assimilation). Upon encountering a large dog, they adjust their dog scheme to include large dogs too (accommodation). 2.5 Equilibrium, pivotal in Piaget's theory, refers to a balance between assimilation and accommodation. The learning process creates a state of imbalance or cognitive dissonance when new knowledge can't be fitted into existing schemes. Equilibrium is restored when the learner modifies their thought structures to accommodate the new information. For example, a learner believes all bugs fly until they see a crawling bug. They experience disequilibrium, which is sorted when they modify their bug scheme to include crawling bugs. 2.6 In a Grade R classroom, a teacher could build upon existing knowledge using the "Farm animals" topic. Children mostly know a cow says "moo". The teacher could introduce the concept of a dairy farm, demonstrate how milk is obtained from cows, connect it to the milk they drink, and then they can jointly make a dairy product, like butter or cheese. This bridges the gap between prior knowledge ("cows say moo") and new knowledge ("milk comes from cows"), encouraging assimilation and accommodation.