Page 127 - Meeting with Children Book

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and then through learning adds a new object to that
existing schema such as poodle. If the child is faced with
something that does not work with the existing schema
such as Koala, the child will need to accommodate this new
animal by increasing his/her schemata to deal with new
information. Equilibration occurs when a child's schemas
can deal with most new information through assimilation.
When new information cannot "fit" a process of
disequilibrium occurs. Frustration can accompany this
process and therefore the learning process is triggered to
master the challenge of accommodation. Adjustments are
being made all along the developmental path until
adulthood.

What can be expected from a normally
developing 5-7 year old?
Linder (2000), identifies the following for
observation purposes:
5 yrs plus Children are interested in games with
rules (considered a category of play in
play development). Play leads all
forms of development, but
cognitively, the emergence of interest
in games with rules indicates a child
can engage in an activity with
accepted rules or limits with shared
expectations and some willingness to
engage in an "agree upon" way to play
5 yrs plus Children can link schemes into
complex scripts (early object use).
What are schemes and scripts? An
early schematic example would be an
infant taking a block and placing it on
top of another block. An advanced
example of schemes linking to actual
scripts is when a child is in dramatic