According to Piaget's theory, how do children primarily learn?

According to Piaget's theory, children primarily learn by constructing their understanding of the world through active engagement with their environment. This learning process is a dynamic one where children explore, manipulate, and experiment with their surroundings, allowing them to form concepts and acquire knowledge based on their experiences and interactions.

Piaget emphasized the importance of cognitive development stages, suggesting that as children grow, they build upon their existing knowledge structures. This construction of understanding involves assimilation, where new experiences are integrated into existing frameworks, and accommodation, where those frameworks are adjusted to incorporate new information. This hands-on, experiential approach highlights the role of active participation in learning, making it a foundational aspect of Piaget's theory.

In contrast, learning through direct instruction and memorization does not align with Piaget's view of how knowledge is developed. These approaches tend to underestimate the child's role in the learning process and do not support the active construction of meaning that Piaget advocated. Similarly, passive observation does not engage children in a way that allows them to make connections and develop their understandings, which is central to Piagetian learning principles.