the mind. If schemes are considered building blocks, then the assimilation and accommodation processes can best be describes as the construction crews. These two processes aid in cognitive growth by arranging the new information with schemes that are already present in the individual’s mind. The more new information the child assimilates or accommodates, the less his or her schemes will have to rely on physical objects to create cognitive operations. Of course, according to Piaget’s stage model, this reliance on physical objects will not decrease until the latter stages of the child’s cognitive growth. While both the assimilation and accommodation processes are responsible for establishing a perfect cognitive fit between the scheme and the information, each completes the process in different manners, hence the need for two different terms. Assimilation reconfigures the new data to fit with existing schemes, and the accommodation process restructures a child’s schemes to accommodate the new environmental information. As Piaget states, “Accommodation is the adjustment of the scheme to the particular situation.” He goes on to give an example of the two processes: An infant who’s just discovered ha can grasp what he sees (will then assimilate) everything he sees to the schemes of prehension, that is, it becomes an object to grasp as well as an object to look at or an object to suck on. But if it’s a large object for which he needs both hands he will (accommodate) the scheme of prehension. The main component of Jean Piaget’s development theory has been addressed somewhat, but a factor of this importance requires much more attention. The key component is the stage model of cognitive growth. Piaget makes it clear that these stages are not determined by age, but cognitive development in this very brief explanation of the model, “The stages are an order of succession. The ...
