The power of failure to motivate learning is the subject of a new study at the IU School of Education. A $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will help fund the program until September 2018.
Adam Maltese and Amber Simpson, both IU professors, and Alice Anderson from the Science Museum of Minnesota will be investigating just how humans adapt after failure in a project called “Maker: Studying the Role of Failure in Design and Making.”
“We are hoping to learn about failure and how it can possibly be framed to be more about ‘learning from mistakes’ or ‘response to obstacles’ rather than an end state,” Maltese said in an IU press release. “We realize the major learning potential rests in analyzing why a certain approach didn’t work and moving forward to try something else.”
“Making” is a movement within the field of education focusing on creating hands-on activities and do-it-yourself projects, rather than traditional sit-down classrooms.
The study will take place with educators and students in after-school programs, a science center and a public school district, according to the press release. It will also take into account race, urban and rural settings, and students who may be on free or reduced-price lunches.
Minority groups typically have more negative reactions to failure than other groups, according to the release.
Maltese said he hopes the IU School of Education’s Make Innovate Learn Lab is a space where everyone can learn through more creative methods. The space will be used to collect data for the team to devise better persistence and learning.
Dominick Jean
