In this article, I examine children’s evolved learning mechanisms that make humans the most educable of animals. These include (1) skeletal perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that get fleshed out over the course of development, mainly through play; (2) a high level of plasticity that is greatest early in life but that persists into adulthood; (3) remarkable social-learning capabilities; and (4) dispositions toward exploration and play. I next examine some evolutionary mismatches—conflicts between psychological mechanisms evolved in ancient environments and their utility in modern ones—specifically with respect to modern educational systems. I then suggest some ways educators can take advantage of children’s evolved learning abilities to minimize the effects of evolutionary mismatches, including (1) following developmentally appropriate practices (which are also evolutionarily appropriate practices), (2) increasing opportunities for physical activities, (3) increasing opportunities to learn through play, and (4) taking advantage of stress-adapted children’s “hidden talents.” I argue that evolutionary theory informs teachers and parents about how children evolved to learn and can result in more-enlightened teaching methods that will result in a more enjoyable and successful learning experiences for children.

在这篇文章中，我研究了儿童进化的学习机制，这些机制使人类成为最容易受教育的动物。其中包括 (1) 主要通过游戏在发育过程中充实的骨骼感知和认知机制；(2) 高水平的可塑性，在生命早期最为明显，但一直持续到成年期；(3) 卓越的社会学习能力；(4) 探索和玩耍的倾向。接下来，我将研究一些进化上的不匹配——古代环境中进化的心理机制与其在现代环境中的效用之间的冲突——特别是在现代教育系统方面。然后，我建议教育工作者可以通过一些方式利用儿童进化的学习能力来最大程度地减少进化不匹配的影响，包括 (1) 遵循适合发展的做法（这也是适合进化的做法），(2) 增加体育活动的机会，(3) 增加通过游戏学习的机会，以及 (4) 利用适应压力的儿童的“隐藏才能” ” 我认为，进化论可以让教师和家长了解孩子是如何进化到学习的，并且可以产生更开明的教学方法，从而为孩子带来更愉快和成功的学习体验。