ההוראה כקוגניציה טבעית סידני שטראוס ביה"ס לחינוך

כקוגניציה טבעית ההוראה

סידני שטראוסביה"ס לחינוך

Three Points

1. Teaching and the cognitive sciences haven’t yet met

2. There is a teaching instinct or natural cognition about teaching

3. An important search is for cognitive prerequisites of teaching

A form of ToM may be such a cognitive prerequisite

1 .Teaching and the Cognitive Sciences Haven’t Yet Met

Considerable theory-building and research in the cognitive sciences on learning

Little cognitive sciences theory-building and research on what sometimes causes learning: teaching

There has been some work in the area of animal cognition and teaching

But first: How are we to define teaching?

What Is Teaching, Anyway? Biological definition: Caro, T. M. & Hauser, M. D. (1992) Is there teaching

in nonhuman animals? The Quarterly Review of Biology, 67, 151-171.

“An individual actor A can be said to teach if it modifies its behaviors only in the presence of a naïve observer, B, at some cost or at least without obtaining an immediate benefit for itself. A’s behavior thereby encourages or punishes B’s behavior, or provides B with experience or sets an example for B. As a result, B acquires knowledge or learns a skill earlier in life or more rapidly or efficiently than it might otherwise do, or that it would not learn at all.”

What is Teaching, Anyway?

An example from cheetahs– Mother kills prey and eats it, then cubs nurse– Mother kills prey and brings it to cubs– Mother wounds prey and brings it to cubs to

kill

Mother gains no immediate benefit Mother’s behaviors change with changes in

cubs’ maturity


Biological definition motivated by – Evolutionary theory – Empirical work

This definition of teaching does not require mental representations (ToM) for teaching to occur


Psychological definition – “When faced with the question of determining

whether an action is a teaching action, as opposed to some other action such as reciting, talking or acting in a play, it is the intention of bringing about learning that is the basis for distinguishing teaching from other activities. The intention the activity serves, then, is a part of the meaning of the concept, and not a factual discovery one makes about the activity.” (italics added)

Pearson, A. T. (1989). The teacher: Theory and practice in teacher education. New York: Routledge


The psychological view suggests that: the teacher attributes a set of beliefs to a pupil

– these beliefs are inferred from the learner’s behaviors (problem solving, verbalizations)

• Implies a belief that behaviors are expressions of the mind

the teacher attempts to alter these beliefs– psychological causality (action-at-a-distance)

• I stand outside someone else’s mind and by acting outside it, I can cause learning to occur in it


BOTTOM LINE:

Different definitions

Probably need views of teaching with gradations or levels

– Biological with no theory of mind

– Psychological with theory of mind

2. Teaching Instinct

Includes

cultural evolution

primatology

anthropology

child development: infancy - adulthood

non-normative cognitive development and functioning

Teaching Instinct: Cultural Evolution

Cultures replicate themselves

Technologies that allow this replication– myths– artifacts– institutions– ceremonies

Teaching is also a technology devised to pass on cultural knowledge– Preserves cultural innovations


Controversy about what gets passed on memes (Blackmore, 1999; Dawkins, 1999)

“an element of a culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, especially imitation” (Dawkins, 1999, p.viii)

Controversy about mechanisms • imitation (Blackmore, 1999; Dawkins, 1999) • contagion (Sperber, 2000)

Dan Sperber


BOTTOM LINE:

Teaching plays a role in cultural – Transmission and preservation– Maybe not cultural evolution

Teaching– About certain content

• Nonintuitive concepts

– Circumscribed – Very important

Teaching Instinct: ClaimsCombined claims:

species specific (with ToM)

universal

remarkably complex cognitively

much of teaching is invisible

teaching appears among toddlers

does not require instruction

is learned effortlessly

Teaching Instinct: Species Specific

Controversy about primates teaching with ToMSome say that chimpanzees teachOthers say that only human teach

Depends on what kind of teaching: with or without ToM

Unique to Humans?Do Chimpanzees Learn?

–Chimpanzees have developed culture

•Use tools to eat termites

•Tool-use differs among chimp communities

•Chimps learn tool-use

A Chimpanzee Fashioning a Tool for Fishing Ants

Chimpanzee Fishing for Ants

Variations in Chimpanzee Communities

Is Teaching Unique to Humans?

What we see is that chimpanzees learn.– Whiten, A. et al. (1999). Cultures in chimpanzees. Nature, 399, 682-685.

The question before us is:

Do chimpanzees, cats, birds teach?

Do Other Primates Teach?

Controversy: Yes and No.

–Yes: Boesch, Savage-Rumbaugh• Nina, daughter and Ricci, mother. Nina has difficulty opening

nuts with an irregular hammer. After 8 minutes of trying to use the hammer without success, Ricci appeared and Nina gave her the hammer. With deliberate slowness, Ricci turned the hammer to its most effective position and cracked some nuts and shared them with Nina. Nina took the hammer, held it in the position used (demonstrated?) by Ricci and proceeded to open 4 nuts.


• Ricci saw Nina’s difficulty. She corrected Nina’s error by demonstrating how it works with the proper grip.

• CONCLUSION: Chimps teach their offspring


Controversy

Do chimps teach?

–No: Premack, Povinelli, Hauser


Possibly 3 cases of teaching over years of watching chimps in their natural habitat

CONCLUSIONS– no teaching in the wild– may be teaching in captivity

• if they teach in captivity, this means they

have the capacity for teaching

Teaching Instinct: Universality of Teaching Among Humans

Little controversy about all humans teaching

Teaching is ubiquitous in all societies

– Parents teach their youngsters– Siblings teach each other games– Babysitters teach children how to tie their shoes

Universality of Teaching Among Humans

Teaching occurs among all human societies

– home– workplace– schools– fields

BOTTOM LINE: Teaching is universal among humans

Teaching Instinct: Remarkable Cognitive Complexity

Teaching is extremely complex

Teachers make inferences about others’ minds (beliefs, partial knowledge, etc.)emotions (anxious, comfortable)motivation (high, low)


Based on these inferences, the teacher teaches

Purpose of teachingto cause learning in others

psychological causality

Teaching involves inferences aboutothers’ mindshow learning occurs in others’ minds


How we teach indicates what our understandings of the mind are and how learning occurs

Unreflective

Donor for a Center for Research on Learning at Tel Aviv University

BOTTOM LINE: Teaching is remarkably complex!

Teaching Instinct: Much of Teaching is Invisible

• Surface teaching is visible• Inferences and mental processes of teacher

are invisible• Invisible aspects that underlie teaching

cannot be observations of the surface parts of teaching

Poverty of the stimulus

Teaching Instinct: Teaching not Taught

Except for universities and colleges, people are not taught how to teach

Do young children effortlessly learn to teach without having been instructed?

Teaching Instinct: Tentative Conclusions

If teaching is – Species specific with ToM– Universal– Remarkably complex– Mostly invisible– Not taught, yet learned effortlessly– In early childhood

Then it just may be an instinct or natural cognition

3 .Where to Go Empirically For Cognitive Prerequisites for Teaching?

Places To Look:Primates and lower: phylogenetic emergenceResearch on toddlers: ontogenetic emergence (MA theses: Adi Stein; Ayelet Porat; ;

BA honors thesis: Anna Gavrilov)Pragmatics in linguistics

differences between deception and teaching (Frye & Ziv) conversation and argument (work with Dorit Ravid)

Teaching among extremely gifted teachers: adult end pointDevelopmental or physiological problems

high functioning autistics brain damage and teaching (work with Naama Friedmann)specific language impairment semantic-pragmatic (MA thesis: Anna Gavrilov with Naama Friedmann and Margalit Ziv)teaching disabilities

Formal systems of analysis – AI, game theory (work with Tzur Sayag)Theory of mind theory and research

Teaching Instinct: Sensitivity Among Toddlers

Sensitivity to teaching may appear among 2-year-oldsNaming of objects

What is involved in a child asking for an object’s name?

1. “Knows” that objects have names

2. Knows that he does not know the name3. Believes others have knowledge of the

name (2+3 – knowledge gap)4. A request will yield the name from

someone 5. When given the name, I will know (learn) it (4+5 – reducing the knowledge gap)

Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers

BOTTOM LINE: Even 2-year-olds may have a sensitivity towards teaching

Strauss, S., & Ziv, M. (in press). A request for naming may be a request for teaching. Behavioral and Brain Sciences


What is involved in a request for naming?

It might involve (unreflective) knowing that a gap in knowledge exists

prerequisite for teachingattempting to close the gap

A REQUEST FOR A NAME MAY BE A REQUEST FOR TEACHING


Ashley, J., & Tomasello, M. (1998). Cooperative problem-solving and teaching in preschoolers. Social Development, 7, 143-163.

Wood, D., Wood, H., Ainsworth, S., & O'Malley, C. (1995). On becoming a tutor: Toward an ontogenetic model. Cognition and Instruction, 13, 565-581.

3½-year-old children show initial indications that they can teach

5½-year-olds can be excellent teachers


Strauss, S., Ziv, M., & Stein, A. (in press). The teaching instinct: Teaching among toddlers. Cognitive Development

Study to determine cognitive prerequisites of teaching

50 pairs of children: 25 age 3½ 25 age 5½


Study had 4 parts

– ToM tasks oriented towards teaching• Knowledge gap

– Experimenter teaches a board game

– Children teach the game to a peer

– Interview after the teaching ends


Experimenter teaches the board game

Videotaped

Experimenter – explains the rules of the game– demonstrates as she explains

Teaching ends when child plays the game flawlessly


Children teach the game to a peer Videotaped Teaching ends when

– One child wins – The teacher or learner “quits”

Let’s see a videotape.


Findings for 3½ -year-olds Teach/play the game without giving the

rules– Perhaps demonstrate the rules by playing

Intervene when learner errs– Teacher compares his representation of the

game with the learner’s behaviors Do not intervene when learner is correct


Findings for 5½ -year-olds

Explain and demonstrate the rules

Sometimes ask questions using mental terms– Do you understand? What do you think you should do

now?


BOTTOM LINE:

Toddlers and children in early childhood

have a sensitivity to teaching

can teach

Teaching Instinct: Teaching Does Not Require Instruction

Very young children are exposed to teaching

BUT

Probably not taught how to teach

Learning how to teach is effortless

Teaching Instinct: Conclusions

If teaching isuniversalremarkably complex cognitivelymostly invisibleappears at a very early agedoes not require instruction

Then it might just be a natural cognition

Five Points

1. Teaching and the cognitive sciences haven’t yet met

2. There is a teaching instinct or natural cognition

3. The search is for cognitive prerequisites of teaching

4. The natural cognition may develop

5. May be teacher education implications

4 .Development of the Cognition of Teaching

2-3½ -year-olds different cognitively than 5-7-year-olds (Ashley & Tomasello; Astington; Wood et al.; Strauss, Ziv, & Stein)

Adults are different cognitively that 5-7-year-olds

There may be developmental waystations between the latter 2 groups

These differences may be developmental

5 .Teacher Education Implications

What I do NOT want to say:

If toddlers already ask for and know how to teach, there is no room for teacher education

Teacher Education Implications

What I do want to say:

We may want to think about teacher education in ways unlike our present thinking

Some of this thinking informed by developmental considerations

what is different about children’s and adults’ teaching

Teacher Education Implications

Roles of various content in teacher education curricula:

subject matter

teaching techniques for subject matter

theories of learning and development

mind-reading

SummaryI attempted to claim that

1. teaching and the cognitive sciences haven’t yet met

2. teaching may be an instinct or a natural cognition3. we need to know more about the

cognitive prerequisites of teaching4. These cognitive prerequisites may be

developmental5. there may be initial notions about what these

ideas might mean for teacher education

Where To Go Theoretically? Powerful Mechanisms to Acquire Teaching

– Learnability Condition• Adapted to learning any teaching• Teaching can be learned in the first place

– Equipotential Condition– Time Condition

• Takes a certain amount of time to learn to teach

– Input Condition• Mechanisms must not require input that is unavailable to children

– Developmental Conditions• Should agree with cognitive “stages” found in empirical work

– Cognitive Conditions• Should be consistent with what we know about children’s cognitive

abilities, perceptual discriminations, memory, attention, etc.

גמרנו

I hope you found interest in these ideas

THE END

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