People are instrinsically motivated to make sense of the world. We are active processors of information and must relate prior knowlege to the materials to be learned with assimilation and accomodation to achieve equilibrium between mental schema.

Knowledge comes from what we do to objects. How to do that online? We are continually organizing what we know, structuring and re-structuring our knowledge and our knowledge is always an assimilation or interpretation – not what we observe, but how we interpret according to our own structures.  Instead of relying on previous experience, students are now capable of imagining possible outcomes. A new connection is made.

Assuming most distance students will be in the formal operational stages, either onset or mature, then logical thought, deductive reasoning and systemic planning emerge as strategies. Maturation is required for formal operations but also many require a special environment to attain this stage. Here are some suggestions to encourage the understanding of abstract concepts taken from: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Piaget’s_Stages:

• teach broad concepts rather than facts, and to situate these in a context meaningful and relevant to the learner.
• provide opportunities to discuss social, political and cultural issues,
• use visual aids and models to promote creative thinking

As a reward for your hard work, sit back and listen to the man himself with his charming French accent (I can almost smell the pipe smoke now):  Piaget on Piaget, Part 1, YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1JWr4G8YLM.  It is twelve minutes long but worth it, I think.