Cultural niche construction and human learning environments: investigating socio-cultural perspectives

Kendal, J.R.

Abstract

Niche construction theory (NCT) can be applied to examine the influence of culturally constructed learning environments on the acquisition and retention of beliefs, values, role expectations, and skills. Thus, NCT provides a quantitative framework to account for cultural-historical contingency affecting development and cultural evolution. Learning in a culturally constructed environment is of central concern to many sociologists, cognitive scientists, and sociocultural anthropologists, albeit often from different perspectives. This article summarizes four pertinent theories from these fields-situated learning, activity theory, practice theory, and distributed cognition. As a basis for interdisciplinary investigation, the article considers how these theories may be addressed using a cultural niche-construction framework, including the utility of an embedded model that explicitly accounts for effects of the constructed learning environment on within-individual learning dynamics in an evolutionary framework.

Citation

Kendal, J. (2011). Cultural niche construction and human learning environments: investigating socio-cultural perspectives. Biological Theory, 6(3), 241-250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0038-2

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Mar 1, 2012
• Journal: Biological Theory
• Print ISSN: 1555-5542
• Electronic ISSN: 1555-5550
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 241-250
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0038-2
• Keywords: Activity theory, Distributed cognition, Niche construction, Practice theory, Situated learning, Cultural evolution.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1480796