Children’s academic development: Where evolution meets culture

Abstract

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. Key words: evolution, development, cognitive development, academic learning.