Learning to Fail

We forget most of the things we learn, and it doesn't get better as we age.

It doesn't help that learning is often confused with reading, doing homework, and then taking a test. The knowledge gained from that type of learning gets forgotten even faster.

The kind of learning that leaves a larger imprint on the learner's mind is the kind of learning with an immediate impact on our lives. When learning is applicable in our lives or makes a difference in the lives of others we take the experience much more seriously.

Why? Because there are stakes involved. If we mess up, we affect others as well. And that might interfere with our value system. If that happens, we pay attention.

Cooperative learning engages us as citizens and asks us to take social responsibility for our work. For example, going public forces me to be accountable to my audience.

How do we modify our instruction and build in opportunities for our students to create work that matters, even if it might end up messy?

The answer isn't exactly widely agreed upon, but my two cents is that maybe it starts with teachers taking a risk and giving their students projects that actually have real consequences asides from a grade on a piece of paper.