Six-year-old Deshawn sees a cheetah at the zoo for the first time but when asked to identify the animal he tells his father that
it is a leopard. When his father tells him it is a cheetah and not a leopard, Deshawn becomes confused. After understanding the explanation given by his father on why it is a cheetah and not a leopard, Deshawn no longer confused. Deshawn's understanding indicates he is experiencing:
Deshawn is experiencing cognitive equilibrium that exemplifies a balance between an individual's mental framework and the environment. The equilibrium(balance) is achieved when expectations or the schemata based on earlier knowledge equips with the new knowledge. It is one of the four crucial factors in cognitive development.
Jean Piaget outlined this equilibration as the process that refines the mental arrangements or constructions and reforms it positively, which defines the basis of cognitive development as it transforms an individual to move from the developmental stage to another. Thus, <em>Deshawn experiences cognitive equilibrium as he had a preconceived confused mental image of leopard and cheetah which has been clarified and reformed by his father with new knowledge.</em>
The fact that verbs can be inflected to mark past, present and (in some languages) future is called tense. There are three main ways of defining "tense" as it relates to English
