ERIC Number: EJ815157
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Oct
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0046-1520
EISSN: N/A
Adapted Minds and Evolved Schools
Keil, Frank C.
Educational Psychologist, v43 n4 p196-202 Oct 2008
Evolutionary psychology raises questions about how cognitive adaptations might be related to the emergence of formal schooling. Is there a special role for natural domains of cognition such as folk physics, folk psychology and folk biology? These domains may vary from small fragments of reasoning to large integrated systems. This heterogeneity complicates claims about abilities to inhibit folk sciences and about how formal education exploits such inhibitory abilities. Moreover, formal education often needs to build on intuitive knowledge systems rather than inhibit them. Education must also reduce complex information to the right level of granularity and help students appreciate the limits of their understanding. This involves learning how to outsource understanding to other minds and to read intentions. In his article in this issue, David C. Geary provides an important focus on these issues by suggesting that educational and evolutionary psychologists ask how the patterns found in each field might inform the other.
Descriptors: Educational Psychology, Evolution, Adjustment (to Environment), Cognitive Development, Inhibition, Informal Education, Intention, Learning, Knowledge Level
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A