Constructivism is a theory that people construct their own understanding and knowledge through experiences and reflecting on those experiences. There are two major strands of constructivism: cognitive constructivism which focuses on helping students assimilate new information with existing knowledge, and social constructivism which stresses the importance of social interactions and culture. Jean Piaget was influential in developing constructivism and proposed that children think differently than adults, going through sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages of cognitive development based on building blocks of knowledge called schemas and processes of equilibrium, assimilation and accommodation.