Instructing a child’s education can prevent them from learning other possibilities by making them more likely to imitate
it turns out that instructing young children can actually stop them learning. Elizabeth Bonawitz and her research group looked head on at the difference between exploratory learning and instruction. They used a toy which did several different things. Adults offered the toy to a child, and for half the children they told them explicitly how one part of the toy worked. For the other half, they ‘accidentally on purpose’ showed the child how one part worked but gave no instruction. The children who weren’t instructed explored the toy and discovered all the other things it could do. The children who were instructed played with that toy in the way they were shown. The instruction seemed to stop them from looking for other possibilities. Other studies have found the same thing. When children are told how something works, they imitate. When they aren’t told, they explore. And in the second case, they learn more. In this way, children serve to inject new ideas into the system of cultural evolution.
Of course, if you see the point of education as the acquisition of a particular body of knowledge, this doesn’t matter. Imitation is useful. Exploration and discovery aren’t on the cards until the children become ‘experts’. But if you’re concerned about children losing their joy in learning as they go through school, perhaps this offers one clue as to how that might be happening.
References
- Fisher, Naomi. (2021). Changing Our Minds Chapter 2. Learning – Scientists, Processors and Rats (p. 52). London, UK: Robinson Publishing.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Politics / Education / Psychology / Cognitive Science Status:☀️