Young Children Selectively Transmit True Information When Teaching

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Social Cognition

Abstract

Teaching is a human-unique, social learning mechanism whereby knowledge is transmitted, and culture is accumulated across generations (Gergely & Csibra, 2006; Laland, 2017; Tomasello, 2019). There is wide agreement that children are receptive to teaching from early ontogeny, but the psychological underpinnings of teaching remain underexplored (for exceptions, see Sobel & Letourneau, 2016; Strauss, 2018; Strauss & Ziv, 2004): How do young learners cognitively represent teaching? What do they think it means to teach and be taught? Finding out more about this is essential because children’s conception of teaching is likely to impact how they learn, which, in turn, would have ramifications for the design of optimal pedagogical practice.

One important feature of teaching is the truth of its content. If teaching is to “advance a learner’s knowledge” (Goldman, 1999), then what is taught must be true. Sharing false or unverified information (e.g., rumors) does not qualify as teaching. In two experiments, we investigate if preschool children understand this requirement by examining if they selectively transmit true information, i.e., knowledge, when placed in the role of teachers.

In Experiment 1, we examined if 3.5-year-old (planned n = 24; current n = 12) and 4.5-year-old (n = 24) children selectively taught true as opposed to false information. The experiment had two phases, a learning phase and a teaching phase. In the learning phase, children heard statements about fictional animals that were marked as “true” or “wrong” (false). In the teaching phase, children had the opportunity to share what they had learned with a naïve adult. The dependent measure was the content of the information (true or false) children shared. The results showed that 4.5-year-olds selectively taught true, as opposed to false, information, t(46) = 2.65, p = .01, Cohen’s d = .76, whereas 3.5-year-olds did not distinguish between true and false information, t(22) = .34, p = .74, Cohen’s d = .14. The findings suggest a developmental shift between 3.5 and 4.5 years in children’s understanding of the role of truth in teaching. Data collection was interrupted by COVID-19, but will be resumed, as outlined in Table 1.

Experiment 2 (planned n = 32; currently piloting) serves to replicate and extend the findings from Experiment 1. Specifically, we are investigating whether 4.5-year-olds not only omit teaching false information (replication of Experiment 1) but also omit information with an unknown truth value (“maybe true, maybe wrong”). This addition is relevant because spreading rumors or mere opinion—which is hotly debated in today’s socio-political climate—qualifies no more as teaching than does spreading outright falsehoods. The procedure is as in Experiment 1, with the difference that materials have been digitized and testing occurs online. Based on Experiment 1 and pilot data, we expect that 4.5-year-olds favor teaching facts over both falsehoods and (unverified) rumors.

Taken together, the preliminary findings indicate that young children, before having received formal schooling, understand that the aim of teaching is to advance learners’ knowledge and that, consequently, teaching is guided by a concern for the truth.

Authors

• Ellyn Pueschel, University of Southern California
  Presenting Author

• Samantha Skinner, University of Southern California
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ashley Ibrahim, University of Southern California
  Non-Presenting Author

• Henrike Moll, University of Southern California
  Non-Presenting Author