Estimated Completion Time:
Approximately 5 minutes.
Synopsis:
Drawing on the ideas of variation and selection proposed by evolutionary theory, a number of developmentalists have proposed that psychological variation and selection produce change within the individual. Robert Siegler has illustrated this view in his research on young children’s use of math strategies.
When solving single-digit math problems such as 4 + 3, for example, young children use a variety of strategies, from counting on their fingers to retrieving the answer from memory. According to Siegler, young children choose among these various strategies adaptively and, over time, increasingly select the strategies that provide the most efficient path to a correct answer and abandon strategies that are inefficient. In the following trials, a kindergartener can be observed using several strategies in solving such problems. She will increasingly use the strategy of retrieval, as she does in the final trial.
In what way does the idea of psychological variation and selection in cognitive development parallel the evolutionary concept of variation and selection?
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