Fail Better helping students fail to succeed

Sarah Bowers and Julia Denholm

The Impact of Cognitive Science on Post-secondary Teaching “It is sadly true that most of the way we teach and learn is uninformed by laboratory findings in human cognition.” (Halpern & Hakel, 2002, p. 1)

Tradition: one Brain research: nil

Failure

“Don’t call it a mistake, call it an education.” Thomas Edison

Learning from Failure

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett Worstward Ho (1983)

Productive Failure

“If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original.”

Ken Robinson The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (2009)

Desirable Difficulties

Spacing

� Massed Practice

�  Spaced Practice

Spacing

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Massed Practice (10 problems in 1 day)

Spaced Practice (5 problems with 7 day gap)

Interleaving

RIA Novosti archive, image #399644 / Vitaliy Karpov / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Interleaving

Blocked Mixed

Testing

Testing

A.  study + study + study + study B.  study + test + test + test Tested 5 min, 2 days, 1 week later. After 5 min, group A did somewhat better. After 1 week, group B did substantially better. Roediger, H.L., & Karpike, J.D. (2006)

Caveats

So What?

Sources Ansari, D., & Coch, D. (2006). Bridges over troubled waters: education and cognitive neuroscience. Trends in Cognitive

Sciences, 10(4), 146–151. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2006.02.007

Benassi, V. A., Overson, C. E., & Hakala, C. M. (2014). Applying Science of Learning in Education: Infusing Psychological Science into the Curriculum (Vol. 37). Retrieved from http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/asle2014/index.php

Birnbaum, M. S., Kornell, N., Bjork, E. L., & Bjork, R. A. (2013). Why interleaving enhances inductive learning: The roles of discrimination and retrieval. Memory & Cognition, 41(3), 392–402. http://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-012-0272-7

Bjork, E. L., & Bjork, R. A. (2009). Making Things Hard on Yourself, But in a Good Way: Creating Desirable Difficulties to Enhance Learning. Psychology and the Real World: Essays Illustrating Fundamental Contributions to Society, 55–64.

Clarke, C. M., & Bjork, R. A. (2014). When and Why Introducing Difficulties and Errors Can Enhance Instruction. In C. M. Benassi, V. A., Overson, C. E., & Hakala (Ed.), Applying Science of Learning in Education.

Desirable Difficulties in the Classroom | Psychology Today. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-addiction/201105/desirable-difficulties-in-the-classroom

Desirable Difficulties Perspective on Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://bjorklab.psych.ucla.edu/pubs/RBjork_inpress.pdf

Kapur, M. (2008). Productive failure. Cognition and Instruction, 26(3), 379–424. http://doi.org/10.1080/07370000802212669

Roediger, H.L., & Karpike, J.D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249-255. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x

Römer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. Psychological Review, 100(3), 363–406. http://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.100.3.363

Pyc, M. A., & Rawson, K. A. (2010). Why Testing Improves Memory: Mediator Effectiveness Hypothesis. Science, 330(6002), 335–335. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1191465

Thank you!

Please contact either or both of us for more discussion or additional references. sbowers@langara.ca juliadenholm@capilanou.ca