Children’s Pedagogical Competence and Child-to-Child Knowledge Transmission: Forgotten Factors in Theories of Cultural Evolution

Abstract

Theories of cultural evolution tend to agree that teaching is one of the most powerful social learning mechanisms whereby knowledge gets passed on from one generation to the next. Researchers have mainly focused on the communicative signals adults produce when teaching. Natural pedagogy theory, for example, discusses how adults’ use of ostensive communication leads children to adopt a learning stance and interpret the information they receive as generalizable (Gergely & Csibra, 2013). A consequence of this is that children are almost exclusively cast in the role of beneficiaries of others’ pedagogy. We argue that young children are not just receptive to teaching – they have pedagogical skills that have not been recognized by theories of cultural evolution. Children’s pedagogical competence manifests in their selective and learner-sensitive teaching of others. We urge theories of cultural evolution to recognize that children receive knowledge not just from adults but also from other children.