<P> Piaget noted that reality is a dynamic system of continuous change . Reality is defined in reference to the two conditions that define dynamic systems . Specifically, he argued that reality involves transformations and states . Transformations refer to all manners of changes that a thing or person can undergo . States refer to the conditions or the appearances in which things or persons can be found between transformations . For example, there might be changes in shape or form (for instance, liquids are reshaped as they are transferred from one vessel to another, and similarly humans change in their characteristics as they grow older), in size (a toddler does not walk and run without falling, but after 7 yrs of age, the child's sensory motor anatomy is well developed and now acquires skill faster), or in placement or location in space and time (e.g., various objects or persons might be found at one place at one time and at a different place at another time). Thus, Piaget argued, if human intelligence is to be adaptive, it must have functions to represent both the transformational and the static aspects of reality . He proposed that operative intelligence is responsible for the representation and manipulation of the dynamic or transformational aspects of reality, and that figurative intelligence is responsible for the representation of the static aspects of reality . </P> <P> Operative intelligence is the active aspect of intelligence . It involves all actions, overt or covert, undertaken in order to follow, recover, or anticipate the transformations of the objects or persons of interest . Figurative intelligence is the more or less static aspect of intelligence, involving all means of representation used to retain in mind the states (i.e., successive forms, shapes, or locations) that intervene between transformations . That is, it involves perception, imitation, mental imagery, drawing, and language . Therefore, the figurative aspects of intelligence derive their meaning from the operative aspects of intelligence, because states cannot exist independently of the transformations that interconnect them . Piaget stated that the figurative or the representational aspects of intelligence are subservient to its operative and dynamic aspects, and therefore, that understanding essentially derives from the operative aspect of intelligence . </P> <P> At any time, operative intelligence frames how the world is understood and it changes if understanding is not successful . Piaget stated that this process of understanding and change involves two basic functions: assimilation and accommodation . </P> <P> Through his study of the field of education, Piaget focused on two processes, which he named assimilation and accommodation . To Piaget, assimilation meant integrating external elements into structures of lives or environments, or those we could have through experience . Assimilation is how humans perceive and adapt to new information . It is the process of fitting new information into pre-existing cognitive schemas . Assimilation in which new experiences are reinterpreted to fit into, or assimilate with, old ideas . It occurs when humans are faced with new or unfamiliar information and refer to previously learned information in order to make sense of it . In contrast, accommodation is the process of taking new information in one's environment and altering pre-existing schemas in order to fit in the new information . This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation . Accommodation is imperative because it is how people will continue to interpret new concepts, schemas, frameworks, and more . Piaget believed that the human brain has been programmed through evolution to bring equilibrium, which is what he believed ultimately influences structures by the internal and external processes through assimilation and accommodation . </P>

N contrast to piaget's views the development of formal operational thinking