The Child as Hacker

© 2020 The Authors The scope of human learning and development poses a radical challenge for cognitive science. We propose that developmental theories can address this challenge by adopting perspectives from computer science. Many of our best models treat learning as analogous to computer programming because symbolic programs provide the most compelling account of sophisticated mental representations. We specifically propose that children's learning is analogous to a particular style of programming called hacking, making code better along many dimensions through an open-ended set of goals and activities. By contrast to existing theories, which depend primarily on local search and simple metrics, this view highlights the many features of good mental representations and the multiple complementary processes children use to create them.NSF (Grants 1760874, 1122374, 1745302)Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (Award 1R01HD085996)Office of Naval Research (Grant N00014-18-1-2847)Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Award FA9550-19-1-0269