ABSTRACT
Children learn about their environments with the help of others in the process of socialization. Adults are said to provide a scaffold of help upon which children can accomplish tasks that they would not be able to accomplish on their own (e.g., Rogoff, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978; Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976). Cultural learning (Kruger & Tomasello, 1996; Tomasello, Kruger, & Ratner, 1993) requires contexts in which children can engage their new world, but also requires others to act as teachers. Psychologists have considered the development of learning, but the development of teaching (e.g., the development of skill in scaffolding) has not been considered. Although the capacity to teach is basic to the transmission of human culture, few studies have explored the roots of teaching in childhood.
