Resumen de Children's academic development: where evolution meets culture
Schools are the interface between evolution and culture. They are the contexts in which children�s evolved learning and motivational biases intersect with the need to learn the vast array of evolutionarily-novel skills (e.g., reading) and knowledge (e.g., geometric concepts) needed to function as adults in modern societies. The rapid cross-generational accumulation of knowledge during the past several millennia has created a gap between children�s evolved learning and motivational biases and the types of learning needed to master evolutionarily-novel skills and knowledge. I provide a brief overview of these evolved learning and motivational biases, and place them in the context of children�s learning and motivation to learn in modern-day schools.
