History, Culture, Learning, and Development

Greenfield, Patricia M.; Maynard, Ashley E.; Childs, Carla P.

doi:10.1177/106939710003400404

Cited by 56 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…These skills cannot be taught in a classroom, but are passed on to the next generation via a different and more suitable strategy, which can be labelled as "progressive teaching" (Thornton and Raihani -in press:6-7), or "scaffolding" (e.g. Greenfield et al 2000;Stout 2002Stout , 2005.…”

Section: The Ethnography Of Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an archaeology of pedagogy: learning, teaching and the generation of material culture traditions

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this article we seek to build on efforts to apply the insights of social learning theory to interpret patterns of continuity and change in the archaeological record. This literature suggests that stable and often highly arbitrary material culture traditions are likely to be founded on our biologically-evolved capacity for imitation. However, it has recently been argued that the latter may be insufficient to explain the long-term maintenance of complex and difficult-to-master skills, such as those required to produce stone tools, pots, textiles and other cognitively opaque cultural forms. To ensure that these skills are accurately transferred to the next generation, adults must actively guide and control the learning activities of their children, a mode of transmission that can be labelled 'pedagogy'. The importance of pedagogy has often been overlooked in the theoretical and empirical literature on craft learning, a fact that can probably be attributed to an unnecessarily narrow conception of teaching that equates it with explicit linguistic instruction. Using ethnographic data gathered from detailed case studies, we characterise pedagogy in the context of craft apprenticeships as involving the gradual scaffolding of skill in a novice through demonstration, intervention and collaboration. Although these processes cannot be directly observed in the archaeological record, they can sometimes be inferred through the detailed reconstruction of operational chains in past technologies.The evidence we present suggests that pedagogy has played an essential role in securing the faithful transmission of skills across generations, and should be regarded as the 2 central mechanism through which long-term and stable material culture traditions are propagated and maintained.

show abstract

Section: The Ethnography Of Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an archaeology of pedagogy: learning, teaching and the generation of material culture traditions

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In contrast to informal learning in traditional cultures, such formalized teaching is a comparatively recent phenomenon and hence not our focus here. A number of ethnographic studies show that informal teaching is traditionally an integrated part of everyday activities (Greenfield et al 2000). In informal learning children are taught, by adults or peers, the conditions of their work and behaviour through playful participation (Kamp 2001).…”

Section: Most Teaching Is Informalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowing, Learning and Teaching—How Homo Became Docens

Högberg

Gärdenfors

Larsson

2015

CAJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The perceived erosion of TEK in this period may have been driven by a number of factors, including the widespread depopulation caused by disease (estimated at 90 % in some areas of Vanuatu, and recalled on Malekula in Deacon 1934); the changes in cosmology brought with Christianity, which some commentators claim was accompanied by 'psychological warfare' to persuade local inhabitants to abandon traditional practices (Regenvanu 2005); and, in Unmet and Lorlow, the geographic shift of communities to the coast. In the latter case, the influence of the different environmental conditions on the coast is likely to be important: cultural transmission of TEK is tightly linked to the ecological knowledge in which it is generated, and significant changing in the surroundings would be likely to have spurred the rapid adaptation of knowledge systems (Greenfield et al 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local Perceptions of Changes in Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A Case Study from Malekula Island, Vanuatu

McCarter

Gavin

2013

AMBIO

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) is a critical global resource that may be eroding amid social and environmental change. Here, we present data on local perceptions of TEK change from three communities on Malekula Island in Vanuatu. Utilizing a structured interview (n = 120), we find a common perception of TEK loss. Participants defined two key periods of TEK erosion (roughly 1940-1960 and 1980-present), and noted that TEK decline was driven both external (e.g., church) and internal (e.g., shifting values) processes. Erosion was perceived to more comprehensive in the worldview domain than in aspects of ethnobiological knowledge and practice. These data indicate the perceived fragility of TEK systems and the complexity of TEK change. TEK systems are critical to natural resource management, and data such as these will assist in designing nuanced responses to the ongoing loss of cultural knowledge and practice.

show abstract

History, Culture, Learning, and Development

Cited by 56 publications

References 7 publications

Towards an archaeology of pedagogy: learning, teaching and the generation of material culture traditions

Towards an archaeology of pedagogy: learning, teaching and the generation of material culture traditions

Knowing, Learning and Teaching—How Homo Became Docens

Local Perceptions of Changes in Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A Case Study from Malekula Island, Vanuatu

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About