Evolutionary Educational Psychology Research Articles

Framing mathematical content in evolutionarily salient contexts improves students’ learning motivation

Theory in evolutionary educational psychology (EEP) distinguishes between evolved or biologically primary knowledge and non-evolved or biologically secondary knowledge that emerges with formal schooling. The current study explores the associated argument that framing biologically secondary mathematics learning in biologically primary contexts will increase students’ learning motivation. We investigated this hypothesis by presenting standard math content in primary scenarios to a sample of Grade 9 adolescents (n = 32, age=15) and compared their motivation before and after the intervention. Quantitative results showed an increase in the students’ motivation scores from pre-to-post intervention comparisons, and qualitative interviews confirmed their positive attitudes toward learning mathematics. The results are discussed from an evolutionary point of view, and the theory’s implications for improving classrooms’ environments are outlined.

Comparing face-to-face and computer-mediated collaboration when teaching EFL writing skills

Face-to-face and computer-mediated collaboration have been used extensively in educational practice. However, research on teaching writing skills for English as a foreign language under collaborative conditions has reported mixed or even negative findings. Cognitive load theory can be used to explain many of these contradictory findings. An experiment (n = 60) was conducted to compare the effectiveness of face-to-face and computer-mediated collaborative conditions in fostering learners’ acquisition of writing skills. The results indicated that the face-to-face instructional condition benefitted learners’ development of writing skills more than the computer-mediated communication condition. Evolutionary educational psychology with its distinction between evolutionary primary and secondary skills was used to explain these results. It was suggested that since we have evolved to collaborate in face-to-face contexts, the associated primary skills could be used to leverage the acquisition of the secondary skills required during foreign language writing.

From Cognitive Load Theory to Collaborative Cognitive Load Theory

Cognitive load theory has traditionally been associated with individual learning. Based on evolutionary educational psychology and our knowledge of human cognition, particularly the relations between working memory and long-term memory, the theory has been used to generate a variety of instructional effects. Though these instructional effects also influence the efficiency and effectiveness of collaborative learning, be it computer supported or face-to-face, they are often not considered either when designing collaborative learning situations/environments or researching collaborative learning. One reason for this omission is that cognitive load theory has only sporadically concerned itself with certain particulars of collaborative learning such as the concept of a collective working memory when collaborating along with issues associated with transactive activities and their concomitant costs which are inherent to collaboration. We illustrate how and why cognitive load theory, by adding these concepts, can throw light on collaborative learning and generate principles specific to the design and study of collaborative learning.

Using cognitive load theory to structure computer‐based learning including MOOCs

AbstractA massive, open, online course (MOOC) is a form of computer‐based learning that offers open access, internet‐based education for unlimited numbers of participants. However, the general quality and utility of MOOCs has been criticized. Most MOOCs have been structured with minimal consideration of relevant aspects of human cognitive architecture and instructional design principles. This paper suggests cognitive load theory, with its roots embedded in our knowledge of human cognitive architecture and evolutionary educational psychology, is ideally placed to provide instructional design principles for all forms of computer‐based learning, including MOOCs. The paper outlines the theory and indicates instructional design principles that could be used to structure online learning and to provide an appropriate base for instructional design when using computer‐based learning.

Do We Need an Evolutionary Educational Psychology?Do We Need an Evolutionary Educational Psychology?

Do We Need an Evolutionary Educational Psychology?Do We Need an Evolutionary Educational Psychology?

Getting the point: Tracing worked examples enhances learning

Embodied cognition and evolutionary educational psychology perspectives suggest pointing and tracing gestures may enhance learning. Across two experiments, we examine whether explicit instructions to trace out elements of geometry worked examples with the index finger enhance learning processes and outcomes. In Experiment 1, the tracing group solved more test questions than the non-tracing group, solved them more quickly, made fewer errors, and reported lower levels of test difficulty. Experiment 2 replicated and extended the findings of Experiment 1, providing evidence for a performance gradient across conditions, such that students who traced on the paper outperformed those who traced above the paper, who in turn outperformed those who simply studied by reading. These results are consistent with the activation of an increasing number of working memory channels (visual, kinaesthetic and tactile) for learning-related processing.

Domain-Specific Knowledge and Why Teaching Generic Skills Does Not Work

Domain-general cognitive knowledge has frequently been used to explain skill when domain-specific knowledge held in long-term memory may provide a better explanation. An emphasis on domain-general knowledge may be misplaced if domain-specific knowledge is the primary factor driving acquired intellectual skills. We trace the long history of attempts to explain human cognition by placing a primary emphasis on domain-general skills with a reduced emphasis on domain-specific knowledge and indicate how otherwise unintelligible data can be easily explained by assumptions concerning the primacy of domain-specific knowledge. That primacy can be explained by aspects of evolutionary educational psychology. Once the importance of domain-specific knowledge is accepted, instructional design theories and processes are transformed.

Enhancing employability in the “ME generation”

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to place all of the contributions to this special issue into a theoretical framework and to highlight the role that the so‐called “information age mindset” has in the facilitation of employability skills.Design/methodology/approachThe paper discusses the major themes of this special issue.FindingsUndergraduate students do see the importance of technological innovation in the classroom but they see the development of experiential or work‐based skills to be more important.Practical implicationsFuture curriculum design should consider the expectations and attitudes of the modern day undergraduate student to ensure that potential employability is maximised.Originality/valueThe findings are placed into the wider context of the emerging field of evolutionary educational psychology.

Evolutionary educational psychology: The disparity between how children want to learn and how they are being taught

Evolutionary educational psychology: The disparity between how children want to learn and how they are being taught

Educational Professionals' Knowledge and Acceptance of Evolution

This study sought to determine if we could identify a cadre of educational professionals with sufficient knowledge and acceptance of biological evolution to objectively evaluate the merits of the emerging discipline of evolutionary educational psychology. Members of APA and AERA were recruited to complete surveys measuring demographic characteristics, evolution knowledge (specifically natural selection), and evolution acceptance. We tested a model representing propensity toward open-minded examination of the merits of evolutionary educational psychology. Results showed evolution knowledge and acceptance, personal beliefs, academic and research experience, were key indicators of willingness to engage in objective evaluation of this new discipline. We conclude that there are a number of educational professionals with sufficient levels of evolution knowledge and acceptance to evaluate the plausibility and applicability of this new perspective.

Editors' Introduction to the Special Issue

The editors of the Educational Psychologist's special issue “Evolution of the Educated Species” begin with an anecdotal account of the project's history, followed by an overview of the articles that comprise the special issue's contents. In the focal article, David C. Geary reviews the theory, rationale, and definitions associated with a science of evolutionary educational psychology. He then provides selected examples of how an “evolutionarily informed” perspective has direct implications for students' learning and motivation in the classroom. Four commentators, with varied perspectives, respond to Geary's provocative assertions. Geary's final response to the commentators includes clarifications and extensions of his evolutionary educational psychology principles.

Whither Evolutionary Educational Psychology?

Commentators' questions about the utility of an evolutionarily informed approach to children's schooling are addressed. I begin with discussion of our knowledge of the organization of evolved folk domains and clarify my proposals as to how evolved learning and motivational biases might influence the acquisition of nonevolved academic competencies. I then provide a model of how the Darwinian mechanisms of variability, competition, and selection at the levels of brain and cognition might operate during children's cognitive and academic development, and then I turn to the question of whether evolutionary predictions are falsifiable. I close with suggestions for future directions.

An Evolutionarily Informed Education Science

Schools are a central interface between evolution and culture. They are the contexts in which children learn the evolutionarily novel abilities and knowledge needed to function as adults in modern societies. Evolutionary educational psychology is the study of how an evolved bias in children's learning and motivational systems influences their ability and motivation to learn evolutionarily novel academic abilities and information in school. I provide an overview of evolved domains of mind, corresponding learning and motivational biases, and the evolved systems that allow humans to learn about and cope with variation and change within lifetimes. The latter enable the creation of cultural and academic innovations and support the learning of evolutionarily novel information in school. These mechanisms and the premises and principles of evolutionary educational psychology are described. Their utility is illustrated by discussion of the relation between evolved motivational dispositions and children's academic motivation and by the relation between evolved social-cognitive systems and mechanisms that support children's learning to read.

Instructional Implications of David C. Geary's Evolutionary Educational Psychology

David C. Geary's thesis has the potential to alter our understanding of those aspects of human cognition relevant to instruction. His distinction between biologically primary knowledge that we have evolved to acquire and biologically secondary knowledge that is culturally important, taught in educational institutions and which we have not evolved to acquire in modular form, is critical to instructional design. In this article, I outline some of the instructional implications that I believe flow from Geary's theory.

Principles of evolutionary educational psychology

Evolutionary educational psychology is the study of the relation between evolved systems of folk knowledge and inferential and attributional biases as these relate to academic learning in modern society. Following discussion and illustration of the mechanisms of natural selection and their application to human motivational, cognitive, and behavioral evolution, the basic premises and principles of evolutionary educational psychology are outlined. The gist is that the evolved cognitive systems and inferential biases that define folk knowledge are not sufficient for academic learning, but, at the same time, are the foundation from which academic competencies are built. A theoretical frame outlining the relation between folk knowledge and academic development is proposed and implications for motivational issues and instructional practices are detailed.