%0 Journal Article
%A Brandl, Eva
%A Emmott, Emily H.
%A Mace , Ruth
%+ Lise Meitner Research Group BirthRites - Cultures of Reproduction, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
%T Development of teaching in ni-Vanuatu children : 
%G eng
%U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000D-41BF-3
%R  https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13946
%7 2023-06-14
%D 2023
%X Teaching is an important mechanism of social learning. In industrialized societies, 3-year-olds tend to teach through demonstrations and short commands, while 5-year-olds use more verbal communication and abstract explanations. However, it remains unclear whether this generalizes to other cultures. This study presents results from a peer teaching game with 55 Melanesian children (4.7–11.4 years, 24 female) conducted in Vanuatu in 2019. Up to age 8, most participants taught through a participatory approach, emphasizing learning-by-doing, demonstrations, and short commands (57.1% of children aged 4–6 and 57.9% of children aged 7–8). Contrary to Western findings, abstract verbal communication only became common in children aged 9–11 (63.6%), suggesting that the ontogeny of teaching is shaped by the socio-cultural environment.
%J Child Development
%V 94
%N 6
%& 1713
%P 1713 - 1729
%I Blackwell Publishing Limited
%@ 0009-3920