Getting the answer wrong is a great way to learn

Doh! I'm learning

More research on errors and how, when supported in the activity, learning performance can be enhanced. At Caspian we think that Safe Failure is a key element of the learning design process for sims and serious games.

For years, many educators have championed “errorless learning,” advising teachers (and students) to create study conditions that do not permit errors. For example, a classroom teacher might drill students repeatedly on the same multiplication problem, with very little delay between the first and second presentations of the problem, ensuring that the student gets the answer correct each time.

The idea embedded in this approach is that if students make errors, they will learn the errors and be prevented (or slowed) in learning the correct information. But research by Nate Kornell, Matthew Hays and Robert Bjork at U.C.L.A. that recently appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition reveals that this worry is misplaced. In fact, they found, learning becomes better if conditions are arranged so that students make errors.

You can read more at – http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=getting-it-wrong&sc=MND_20091029