ABSTRACT
One of the primary foci of formal schooling is the facilitation of student learning of information that underlies core academic domains (e.g., mathematics, history, or science). Much of the learning that takes place in classrooms can be described as assimilation (piaget, 1929) or accretion (Rumelhart & Norman, 1981). In both assimilation and accretion, students integrate new knowledge into their existing conceptual framework. In essence, students are using their existing understandings to make sense of what they are learning. For example, a 5-year-old who has grown up with a large, gentle-natured dog would likely be predisposed to acquiring new knowledge about dogs consistent with her personal experiences (e.g., dogs are mammals).
