Assimilation & Accommodation

I am a dyed in the wool Piagetian constructivist. For those of you who do not possess a background in cognitive developmental psychology, I am saying that a human learns by building structure for knowledge, and then putting individual pieces of learning into that structure. Piaget, a ground-breaking cognitive developmental psychologist, defined building the structure as accommodation. Learning that puts pieces of knowledge into the structure is assimilation.

From my professional experience, I have discovered that learning by accommodation is far more powerful learning than assimilation. Accommodation is life changing, and therefore life expanding. Assimilation is more like adding bits and pieces of knowledge and therefore like adding trivia. Accommodation also requires readjusting everything you know to learn something new.

In the past I have discovered that there are those who fear learning by accommodation. I suspect that since accommodation makes the learner change who s/he is, that it induces fear of change into them.

So those who are fear-ridden are reluctant to change, and resist learning that shifts her/his paradigm.

I believe that I had been one who feared changing his paradigm. Thus I was stuck in an uncomfortable place, and desiring a change, but not necessarily willing to actually change.

More details later.