Know thy audience: Children teach basic or complex facts depending on the learner's maturity

Abstract

What kind of information is appropriate to teach depends on learner characteristics. In three experiments, 5- to 7-year-old children (N = 170, 50% female, 68% White; data collection: 2022-2023) chose between basic and complex information to teach an infant or adult audience. The older, but not younger, children, taught more complex information to adults and more basic information to infants, (OR = 2.03). Both ages overcame their own preference for complex information when teaching infants (h = .45). Children's reflections on why they made particular pedagogical choices did not predict audience-contingent teaching. The findings suggest that young children can infer what kind of information is suitable given a learner's maturity, with a key developmental progression between ages 5 and 7.