Piaget

__Equilibration__ - a key mechanism in learning - "...new experiences disequilibrated prior knowledge, and re-equilibration drives learners toward better, more advanced thinking." (diSessa 2006)

Piaget established the central thread of constructivism - new ideas emerge from past experiences and prior knowledge. He also established the idea that children think in radically different ways than adults do. His work helped to shape the way we view conceptual change today by his contribution to constructivism, as well as undermining the ideas that 1) knowledge originates through empirical observations alone - empiricists view; and that 2) knowledge is the product of thought, independent of experience - rationalist view.