User:Hannah.beck/sandbox

Learning through observing others can take multiple forms, with different participant formats, based on the time and place the learning is occurring. In this way, the learning process is linked to and influenced by the socialization and economic practices of a specific community. Whereas in some European American communities observational learning may take on a more imitative, passive form often seen in the education system, this learning has been documented to take a fundamental shift in multiple indigenous American communities. Ethnographic anthropological studies in Yucatec Mayan communities and Quechua communities of the Peruvian Highlands provide evidence that the home or community-centered economic systems of these cultures allow children to witness first-hand, activities that are meaningful to their own livelihoods and the overall well-being of the community. Because these children have the opportunity to observe activities that are meaningful within the context of that community, they have more of a reason to sharpen their attention to the practical knowledge they are exposed to. Therefore the significance of observational learning in this community goes far beyond learning mundane tasks through rote imitation; it is central to children’s gradual transformation into informed members of their communities’ unique practices.