Learning from Errors

This week, I was fortunate to chat with one of new Faculty Fellows Dr. James Friend, who will be sharing his expertise on integrating mistakes as part of the learning process. So, with this in mind, we would like to share a 2017 by Metcalfe entitled “Learning from Errors.” The author shares that “although error avoidance during learning appears to be the rule in American classrooms, studies suggest that it may be a counterproductive strategy.”

Experimental investigations indicate that errorful learning followed by corrective feedback is beneficial to learning. Interestingly, the beneficial effects are particularly salient when individuals strongly believe that their error is correct: Errors committed with high confidence are corrected more readily than low-confidence errors. Corrective feedback, including analysis of the reasoning leading up to the mistake, is crucial. Aside from the direct benefit to learners, teachers gain valuable information from errors, and error tolerance encourages students’ active, exploratory, generative engagement.

If the goal is optimal performance in high-stakes situations, it may be worthwhile to allow and even encourage students to commit and correct errors while they are in low-stakes learning situations rather than to assiduously avoid errors at all costs. The authors point out that “Errors enhance later memory for and generation of the correct responses, facilitate active learning, stimulate the learner to direct attention appropriately, and inform the teacher of where to focus teaching.