Teacher Preferences Regarding Evolutionarily Aligned Pedagogy and The Impact on Student Outcomes in K-2 Education

The field of evolutionary educational psychology aims to provide guidance on how humans’ evolved educational mechanisms influence student success in modern schooling contexts. Work in this field ranges in scope from complete educational reform (e.g., Gray, 2013) to smaller-scale changes possible within traditional school models (e.g., Gruskin & Geher, 2018). The current study investigates the connection between in-service teachers’ preferences for evolutionarily aligned pedagogy (i.e., collaborative work, hands-on learning, student voice, real-world applications, observational performance assessments, and play-based learning) and the academic and social-emotional outcomes of their students. Participants included 443 kindergarten- through second-grade teachers from across the United States. Results indicated that teachers showed a strong preference for evolutionarily aligned methods over traditional methods. Pearson correlations revealed positive associations between both evolutionarily aligned and traditional preferences and student outcomes, with traditional preferences generally showing stronger relations for academic performance. Multivariate multiple regression analyses indicated that evolutionarily aligned preferences significantly predicted literacy and social-emotional skills, whereas traditional preferences were associated with higher outcomes across all domains. These findings suggest that while evolutionarily aligned practices may not consistently boost academic performance, they are particularly beneficial for supporting the whole-child and students’ social-emotional development. Overall, the study provides evidence that modern students can benefit from evolutionarily aligned teaching methods, particularly in fostering the development of social-emotional skills.