User:Ellatara/sandbox

Observational learning across Indigenous communities of the Americas
Children from indigenous heritage communities and backgrounds are widely known for learning through observation, a learning strategy that can carry over into adulthood. Children of indigenous heritage communities commonly use contextual cues in their understanding and ideas. In a native Northern Canadian and an Indigenous Mayan community children often learn as third-party observers to stories and conversations by others.

Indigenous communities are known to utilize observational learning by providing more opportunity to incorporate children in everyday life as ‘legitimate peripheral participants,’ where observational learning is expected and may be more inherent to some cultures more than others. This integration of children into everyday life can be seen in some Mayan communities where children are given full access to community events, which allows observational learning to occur more often. Children in communities such as the Mazahua in Mexico are known to hold themselves completely still intensely observing ongoing activities.

Within certain indigenous communities a characteristic of observational learning is that people do not typically seek out explanation beyond basic observation. In a Guatemalan footloom factory amateur adult weavers observed skilled weavers over the course of weeks without questioning or being given explanations; the amateur weaver moved at their own pace and began when they felt confident. The framework of learning how to weave through observation can serve as a model that particular members or groups within a society use as a reference to guide their actions in particular domains of life.