1. ההוראה כקוגניציה טבעית סידני שטראוס ביה"ס לחינוך

2. 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

3. 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?

4. 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.”

5. 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

6. What is Teaching, Anyway?  Biological definition motivated by –Evolutionary theory –Empirical work  This definition of teaching does not require mental representations (ToM) for teaching to occur

7. What is Teaching, Anyway?  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

8. What is Teaching, Anyway?  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

9. What is Teaching, Anyway?  BOTTOM LINE:  Different definitions  Probably need views of teaching with gradations or levels –Biological with no theory of mind –Psychological with theory of mind

10. 2. Teaching Instinct Includes cultural evolution primatology anthropology child development: infancy - adulthood non-normative cognitive development and functioning

11. 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

12. Teaching Instinct: Cultural Evolution 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)

13. Dan Sperber

14. Teaching Instinct: Cultural Evolution  BOTTOM LINE:  Teaching plays a role in cultural –Transmission and preservation –Maybe not cultural evolution  Teaching –About certain content Nonintuitive concepts –Circumscribed –Very important

15. Teaching Instinct: Claims Combined 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

16. Teaching Instinct: Species Specific Controversy about primates teaching with ToM Some say that chimpanzees teach Others say that only human teach Depends on what kind of teaching: with or without ToM

17. 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

19. Chimpanzee Fishing for Ants

20. Variations in Chimpanzee Communities

21. 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?

23. 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.

24. Do Other Primates Teach? Ricci saw Nina’s difficulty. She corrected Nina’s error by demonstrating how it works with the proper grip. CONCLUSION: Chimps teach their offspring

25. Do Other Primates Teach?  Controversy  Do chimps teach? –No : Premack, Povinelli, Hauser

26. Do Other Primates Teach?  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

27. 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

28. Universality of Teaching Among Humans  Teaching occurs among all human societies –home –workplace –schools –fields BOTTOM LINE: Teaching is universal among humans

29. 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)

30. Teaching Instinct: Remarkable Cognitive Complexity Based on these inferences, the teacher teaches Purpose of teaching to cause learning in others psychological causality Teaching involves inferences about others’ minds how learning occurs in others’ minds

31. Teaching Instinct: Remarkable Cognitive Complexity  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!

32. 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

33. 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?

34. 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

35. 3. Where to Go Empirically For Cognitive Prerequisites for Teaching? Places To Look: Primates and lower: phylogenetic emergence Research 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 point Developmental 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

36. Teaching Instinct: Sensitivity Among Toddlers Sensitivity to teaching may appear among 2-year- olds Naming 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 name 3. 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)

37. 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

38. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers What is involved in a request for naming? It might involve (unreflective) knowing that a gap in knowledge exists prerequisite for teaching attempting to close the gap A REQUEST FOR A NAME MAY BE A REQUEST FOR TEACHING

39. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers 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

40. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers  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 3 ½ 25 age 5 ½

41. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers  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

42. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers 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

43. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers Children teach the game to a peer  Videotaped  Teaching ends when –One child wins –The teacher or learner “quits” Let’s see a videotape.

44. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers  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

45. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers  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?

46. Teaching Instinct: Teaching Appears Among Toddlers BOTTOM LINE: Toddlers and children in early childhood have a sensitivity to teaching can teach

47. 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

48. Teaching Instinct: Conclusions If teaching is universal remarkably complex cognitively mostly invisible appears at a very early age does not require instruction Then it might just be a natural cognition

49. 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

50. 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

51. 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

52. 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

53. 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

54. Summary I attempted to claim that 1. teaching and the cognitive sciences haven’t yet met 2. teaching may be an instinct or a natural cognition 3. we need to know more about the cognitive prerequisites of teaching 4. These cognitive prerequisites may be developmental 5. there may be initial notions about what these ideas might mean for teacher education

55. 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.

56. גמרנו  I hope you found interest in these ideas  THE END