Ethnographic research indicates that in a number of cultural communities,
children's learning is organised around observation of ongoing activities,
contrasting with heavy use of explanation in formal schooling. The present research
examined the extent to which first- to third-grade children observed an
adult's demonstration of how to fold origami figures or observed the
folding of two slightly older children who also were trying to make the figures,
without requesting further information. In the primary analysis, 10 Mexican heritage
US children observed without requesting additional information to a greater extent
than 10 European heritage US children. Consistent with the ethnographic literature,
these two groups differed in the extent of their family's involvement in
schooling; hence, we explored the relationship with maternal schooling in a
secondary analysis. An additional 11 children of Mexican heritage whose mothers had
extensive experience in formal school (at least a high school education) showed a
pattern more like that of the European heritage children, whose mothers likewise had
extensive experience in school, compared with the Mexican heritage children whose
mothers had only basic schooling (an average of 7.7 grades). The results suggest
that a constellation of cultural traditions that organise children's
learning experiences—including Western schooling—may play an
important role in children's learning through observation and explanation.
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