Ask AI: Describe how Piaget's cognitive theory emphasises the role of children as active participants in their cognitive development.

Piaget's cognitive developmental theory asserts that children do not merely absorb knowledge passively. Instead, they are active agents who continuously construct and refine their understanding of the world based on their experiences. 1. Exploration and Interaction: Piaget argued that children learn best through direct interaction with their environment. They manipulate objects, ask questions, and engage in exploratory play, all of which improve their understanding. 2. Schemas: Piaget introduced the term 'schema' to describe the basic building blocks of knowledge. Children develop schemas through their interactions and experiences with the world. They continuously create, modify, and organize these schemas as they learn new information. 3. Assimilation and Accommodation: Children use two primary processes to make sense of their experiences. Assimilation involves incorporating new information into existing schemas. If they encounter information that doesn't fit into their present schemas, they adjust their schemas through a process called accommodation. 4. Stages of Cognitive Development: Piaget defined four stages of cognitive development (sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational), each characterized by unique ways of thinking and understanding the world. He argued that children must actively work through these stages in sequence, building their cognitive abilities along the way. 5. Equilibration: This is another critical process described by Piaget. As children acquire new information, they may experience cognitive dissonance. They restore balance or 'equilibrium' in their minds by assimilating or accommodating this new information into their schema. In conclusion, Piaget's theory emphasizes the role of children in shaping their cognitive development. The growth depends on their actions, experiences, and engagements with the environment, rather than being a process that's dictated by adults or developed entirely naturally.