The Fort Issue 05 Feb 2020 | Page 8

Learning How to Learn

HIGH SCHOOL

Mr. David Miles - High School Principal

“Growth Mindset” we are often referring to the ability to learn from our mistakes

Consider what scientists do - they create hypotheses, and then they test them. Often, it turns out they were wrong. So they tweak their hypothesis, and test it again. Or perhaps they got lucky, and it was right, but then they have to test it in new scenarios, to ensure that their hypothesis is truly robust. Other areas of learning have similar processes of developing ideas and then refining them through trial and error until they come up with something that is considered “success” - whether that is a work of art, a piece of writing, a mathematical proof, etc.

Learning happens in different ways in different subject areas. The learning process involves the exploration and the experimentation which builds up a body of knowledge, creating a structure of understanding. It is through the experimentation that we learn.

When we talk about a “growth mindset” we are often referring to the ability to learn from our mistakes; the understanding that they are an integral part of the learning process. That does not necessarily mean that failing over and over again will result in learning. It is certainly possible to fail without learning. But deliberate practice will provide an opportunity to learn what has not worked, or the limitations of an approach, or to understand the parameters of a problem and why something we just tried worked or did not work in a particular scenario.

http://siliconrustbelt.com/free-online-course-learning-how-to-learn-garners-huge-success/

The 10,000 hour rule, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers (2008) proposed that to truly master something we need to spend around 10,000 hours practicing. He and others have since then suggested that it is not so much the time spent, but the quality of the practicing that matters. The most valuable practice is deliberate practice, in which we focus not just on doing and getting done, but on the process of the doing itself.