George Free (gfree@oise.utoronto.ca)
Wed, 9 Dec 1998 15:02:28 -0500 (EST)
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 1998 15:02:28 -0500 (EST) From: George Free <gfree@oise.utoronto.ca> Subject: Re: [ifets] Trial and Error learning
On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Mary Harrsch wrote:
>
> I personnally think the value of "error" in the learning process is not
> recognized for the vast potential it has in instruction today.
I agree. You may be interested to know that Roger Schank makes error and
failure central to his pedagogical approach. For example, at
http://www.ils.nwu.edu/~e_for_e/nodes/NODE-46-pg.html
he writes:
"Because we cannot do what we want perfectly the first time we attempt
something new, failure is critical in the learning process. If you don't
fail when you try to do something, it is probably because you have
already learned to do it. Doing something for the first time and failing
at it are intimately intertwined. When children fail, they discover they
need to expand their capabilities. Although they may be frustrated by
initial failures, they are rarely so frustrated that they don't try and
try again. Also, children are not embarrassed by failure until they get
to school. It is there that their failures result in the ridicule of
their peers and the approbation of their teachers. In school they learn
to view failure as something to fear. The willingness of young children
to fail is a critical prerequisite to their ability to learn. Without
failure there is no second try, no thinking about what needs to be
changed, what needs to be learned. The loss of this willingness to fail
is highly detrimental to the very curiosity that drives education."
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