CONSTRUCTING AN UNDERSTANDING OF CONSTRUCTIVISM
According to Piaget, there are two mental processes which are required for learning something—assimilation and accommodation. In this activity, you will discover on your own what these two words mean.
Time to Reflect:
1. Reflect on the word “accommodate”. What does it mean to you. How have you heard it being used in your own personal life? (Consider the following common uses, as you reflect: “He was very accommodating to his guests.” )
Piaget argues that every time a person sees or hears something new (e.g., is confronted with a new idea in class, sees some puzzling object in nature which she/he has never seen before) he/she must accommodate to this new idea or object. What do you think he means by this?
2. Reflect on the word “assimilate”. What does it mean to you. How have you heard it being used in your own personal life? (Consider the following common uses, as you reflect: “The family had fully assimilated into the new culture.” or “There was simply too much information for me to assimilate.”)
Piaget argues that every time a person sees or hears something new, she/he must also assimilate that new information into that which he/she already knows. What do you think he means by this?
3. Piaget says that assimilation and accommodation have to both occur in order for learning to occur. Identify accommodation and assimilation in the example below.
A four-year-old child is using templates to trace shapes in the math center. As she traces a rectangle, a teacher moves over and asks, “What shape is that?” “A square,” the child announces.
“No,” the teacher says, “that’s called a ‘rectangle.’” The child shrugs and continues tracing. Later, in the block area, the child is placing two square blocks together to build on top of a rectangular one. She studies the blocks a moment, then calls out, “Teacher! Here’s that rectangle again.”
4. The final step is to discuss how you learned about assimilation and accommodation in this activity. In what ways did you assimilate these new ideas into what you already knew about? In what ways did you accommodate to this new information.
RESOURCES
https://www.edu-apps.org/lti_public_resources/launch?driver=youtube&remote_id=k50yMwEOWGU
https://www.edu-apps.org/lti_public_resources/launch?driver=youtube&remote_id=uXIW_m0lo0U
https://www.edu-apps.org/lti_public_resources/launch?driver=youtube&remote_id=DGyRD9HnXVs
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