Failure to Learn

R ecently I witnessed an epic failure—well, maybe not epic, but exciting nonetheless. Let me explain. Last week, I purchased a 3D printer to work with a local middle school on STEM projects. Admittedly, it was not solely for altruistic reasons; I am investigating informal learning or what Colardyn and Bjornavold (2004) refer to as “learning resulting from daily life activities” (p. 136). Our students lead busy, active lives outside of our formal classrooms and I want to learn more about how they construct knowledge, understanding, and skills while working on projects they are interested and motivated to develop. Here’s what happened. Two students were conducing their first “print.” After an exhaustive online search to identify a “cool”model, the process of how to print it began. My initial observations of this informal learning activity were the confidence and excitement levels of the participants. The only goal was to print the cool model, a moveable elephant. They kept discussing, how can you “print” an elephant that had moveable legs and a movable trunk? It excited them. Their actions were deliberate, their decisions were decisive, and they skimmed through the step-by-step process, as their confidence was high with a guaranteed successful outcome. Guess what? You got it, failure, and to me it was exciting! Of course I don’t want them to fail, but it wasn’t until after their first project failed that they took time to stop, think, and ask questions about what they were really doing. Clearly the biggest question was, why? Why didn’t the model stick to the platform? Why did the printer get stuck? Why did it take so long? Why don’t the legs move? To me, it was during this reflection and problem-solving session after their “failure” that their real learning began. There were ongoing discussions dissecting each step, consulting the manual and guides, identifying what worked and what didn’t, and identifying how to make sure they did it right next time. Eventually all problems were overcome and there were several successful prints. Then I heard the best question. How do we design our own models? They wanted to learn about coding, design, math, and technology. They were selfmotivated and taking ownership of their learning. Failure was not crushing. Failure in informal learning is a critical component of growth. It served as the impetus for growth, for learning more to accomplish a goal. This is clearly not a groundbreaking study, more of an informal observation on informal learning, but that’s not to say there are not interesting lessons to be learned: goal setting, inquiry, trying something new, pushing beyond boundaries (appropriate risk), accepting failure as a part of learning, asking questions, reflecting to grow skills and understanding, and extension of ideas. Sound familiar? We encourage our teachers to take small, appropriate risks with their teaching and to reflect on their successes and failure. Problem solve on how a new tool enhanced the learning process. Revise your instructional strategy for next time. It’s the teaching design cycle. We see it in EdTPA, National Board Certification, and good teaching practice. So many times we focus on not allowing our teacher candidates or teachers to “fail” as they learn. Candidates and teachers are worried about grades as much as K–12 students, so they don’t push themselves beyond their boundaries and try new things for fear of failure. Clearly, I‘m not suggesting teachers engage in outlandish and risky teaching. I’m suggesting teachers consider research trends, combined with innovation and creativity, to move their craft and ability forward. For example, many teachers consider Puentedrua’s (2010) Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition (SAMR) model and take an appropriate risk by using a new technology tool to modify their lessons. In doing so, the lesson might fail or it might not be as successful as planned, but after reflection teachers have a better sense of how to be successful next time. The key is reflection after failure. Failure without reflection is not learning, it’s just failure. I’mnot saying that learning from failure is easy.We’re taught at an early age to be successful, to avoid failure. Failure might have a negative impact on selfesteem, thus resulting in an aversion to risk for fear of failure (Cannon& Edmondson, 2001). After this experience, I am reflecting onmy own teaching and questioning what I’mdoing. Am I empowering the teachers and candidates I work with to be in charge of their own learning? Do I support them in inquiry and goal setting? Allow appropriate risk taking and yes, allow (expect?) some small degree of failure? I know how I answered these questions. I plan to make changes to my teaching based on my reflection. Do your answers surprise you?