Piaget suggested two processes, adaptation and organisation, to be the basis of the learning process. In accordance with the theory of constructivism, human beings have inherited the tendency to adapt and organise the gained knowledge (Ginsburg & Opper, 2016).
Mainemelis et al. (2002) defined the adaptation process as the equilibrium between the action of the organism and the environment and vice versa. “Piaget believed that organisms are self-regulating in their choices of ways to adapt to the environment and that intelligence develops through an organism’s adaptation to the environment” (Southwell, 1998, p. 2). Piaget argued that this stage includes creating schemes or psychological models as a consequence of the interaction with the environment (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005).
According to Piaget, the adaptation process consists of two parts: assimilation and accommodation (Ginsburg & Opper, 2016). VonGlasersfeld (1982) stated that assimilation and accommodation processes are complementary, as one cannot exist without the other. Simatwa (2010) stated that the assimilation is the process of intellectual growth so that the previously existing behaviours can be described as a set of organised behaviours or cognitive structures that are considered as previous knowledge. The interaction between organisms and the environment will form (assimilate) new knowledge or behaviours, which will be discussed internally (internal mind) to check its compatibility with the previously existing set of behaviours and schemes. If these schemes fail to understand the external examples or the newly gained knowledge, then new schemes will be developed. In other words, the new knowledge will be accommodated; new schemes will be formed, which will be considered later as current knowledge.
Piaget explained the assimilation process as the process where a person uses existing schemes to interpret newly gained knowledge or real external examples from practical life (Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005). This implies that there will be integration between the external elements, those that can be seen externally (the environment) and the existing experience. (vonGlasersfeld, 1982; AIU, 2018). The second part of the adaptation process is the accommodation process, which has been defined as the process of acquiring new knowledge from the environment. The accommodation takes place when the previous knowledge or schemes do not work or are insufficient to understand
the external examples, which cause cognitive disequilibrium; in this case, the existing schemes must be modified to be compatible with the new situations. Therefore, new schemes will be formed, which brings cognitive equilibrium again. As such, the newly formed schemes are sufficient to understand the new experience, until new assimilation (experience) rechallenges the scheme. (AIU, 2018; Littlefield Cook & Cook, 2005).
Bada (2015) claimed that the accommodation stage is an essential process as it explains how a human can stay up to date by adjusting the previous schemes. For instance, without accommodation, the child’s thoughts and views of the environment could never be developed.
Simatwa (2010) demonstrated that the assimilation process occurs without any change in the cognitive structure, unlike the accommodation process that ends up changing the cognitive architecture. For example, a child can have some experience of geometrical shapes (square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal), later on; they can see a new geometrical shape, which implies that a new piece of knowledge will be assimilated. At this point, there has still not been any change in the cognitive structure, but when the child adds the new knowledge to the previously existing knowledge to interact with each other; a change in the cognitive structure takes place. Therefore, it can be said that after accommodating the new knowledge, a change in the cognitive structure takes place.
Regarding the organisation process, it is considered the second primary phase of intellectual growth. The significance of the organisation is to allow the integration between assimilation and accommodation, so newly formed knowledge will be organised as current knowledge (Bhattacharjee, 2015).
The organisation process is "the tendency to form increasingly coherent and integrated structures" (Ginsburg & Opper, 2016, p. 57). In other words, it is the process of seeking the perfect equilibrium (perfect understanding) which will never be fully achieved, as always there are new ideas to examine. Because of this tendency, people are never satisfied with the current equilibrium as they are looking for a deeper understanding of the known "We stretch and extend our cognitive structures by assimilating new and challenging information" (Ginsburg & Opper, 2016, p. 57). Piaget claimed, “the normal state of mind is one of disequilibrium—or rather a state of ‘moving equilibrium” (Beilin, 1994, cited in (Ginsburg & Opper, 2016, p. 58).
According to Piaget, adaptation and organisation are interdependent factors complementing each other in developing human intelligence. In other words, one cannot be found without the other. “It is by adapting to things that thought organises itself, and it is by organising itself that it structures things” (Piaget, 1952, p. 8).
Based on the discussion of the two processes, adaptation and organisation, it can be suggested that there are three interrelated stages of cognitive development. Firstly, the discovery of new knowledge due to the interaction with the environment. Secondly, checking the new knowledge in light of the old schemes. Finally, the modification or adjustment of the cognitive structure to create a new cognitive structure, which will be organised as current knowledge. These three steps form the adaptation and organisation stages. Table 2 and Table 3 show a summary of these processes.
Adaptation process
Assimilation process Accommodation process
The human uses the existing schemes to interpret the newly
gained knowledge
The human adjusts the previous schemes to develop new schemes after discovering that the current
schemes are inadequate
Table 2. The Adaptation Process.
Organisation process
The organisation process is consonant with the learner’s natural tendency to organise knowledge into well-connected structures (schemes). The significance of the organisation
process is to allow the integration between assimilation and accommodation (Bhattacharjee, 2015)
Table 3. The Organisation process.