Learning in the Early Years | 63
Harris 2005). Children are also more likely to remember information that is conveyed by competent and trusted adults (Sabbagh and Shafman 2009). Children also tend to trust adults who are members of their own sociocultural group. For example, from infancy, children attend more to those who speak with an accent that matches the children’s home community (Kinzler, Dupoux, and Spelke 2007), and preschool-age children favor information conveyed by adults who speak their language with their community’s native accent (Kinzler, Corriveau, and Harris 2011). By four to seven years of age, children are also more trusting of information provided by those who match their own racial group membership (Chen, Corriveau, and Harris 2013). Taken together, the results from laboratory studies suggest that children in ECE will learn best from teachers who are highly knowledgeable about the material they teach and those whose social identities align with children’s homes and local communities (Corriveau and Winters 2019). Accordingly, research on children’s educational outcomes reveals that students benefit from having teachers who are members of their own sociocultural group. For example, in the United States, having just one Black teacher before third grade significantly increases Black students’ persistence and motivation in later grades and their likelihood of graduating from high school (Gershenson et al. 2021). Having a teacher who shares children’s social identity may increase children’s trust in their teacher and the information the teacher provides—but further research is necessary to pinpoint mechanisms underlying the benefits of sociocultural convergence between teachers and students.
Key Takeaways • Children’s motivation to learn varies depending on their level of interest and persistence, as well as the trust between teachers and learners. • High levels of interest and persistence predict better academic and social achievement in school. • Children learn best from competent, knowledgeable, and confident adults. They tend to trust adults whose language, culture, and interests are similar to those of the people in the child’s social world.
WHAT PROMOTES AND HINDERS CHILDREN’S LEARNING? The capacities and motivational patterns described in previous sections guide the learning of children in all cultures, across all socioeconomic
