Primates in the Classroom: An Evolutionary Perspective on Children's Education

The search for a firmer foundation for educational thought begins with an investigation into human evolution. In this book, Bernhard argues that schools must develop specific methods for dealing with certain biologically based social and emotional needs of children.

This study is presented in three parts. Part 1 investigates the social and emotional contexts of learning and the activities of learning in higher primate groups. Part 2 is concerned with these learning contexts and activities as they have probably existed for most of the history of the human species. Part 3 explores the ways in which these learning contexts and activities have changed in rather recent human history, describes the problems that these changes have created in children's education, and offers suggestions for educational reform from an evolutionary perspective.

J. Gary Bernhard is director of the University without Walls, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.