Peter Gray on Education as a Biological Phenomenon, Learning from Hunter-Gatherers, and Letting Children Lead

This View of Life

Peter Gray, the first psychologist to write an introductory psychology textbook from an evolutionary perspective, experienced a family crisis when his son started to rebel against public school. Finding alternative schooling for his son led Peter to champion a new paradigm for child development and education from an evolutionary perspective. He joins David to discuss this journey and more, including how children learn by imitating “real” people, how graduate school is like hunter-gatherer education, and whether we need creativity more than ever. Links from the Show 00:52- Peter's blog on Psychology Today 00:58- Peter's book, Free To Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life 11:57- The Sudbury Valley School (website) Also see these related TVOL articles: "Mismatch Between Our Biologically Evolved Educative Instincts and Culturally Evolved Schools" by Peter Gray "Free To Learn: Does The Hunter-Gatherer Style Of Education Work?" by Gabrielle Principe And explore the Evolution Institute's East Tampa Academy project, where we are taking the best of what science tells us about how young minds learn to create a high-quality, tuition-free school for children at risk of academic failure. --- Become a member of the TVOL1000 and join the Darwinian revolution Follow This View of Life on Twitter and Facebook Order the This View of Life book