21.03.2018Mistakes should be avoided in learning! Or shouldn´t they?

Prof. Dr. Nikol Rummel, Pädagogische Psychologie, Institut für Erziehungswissenschaft, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Many instructional approaches start from the premise that mistakes in learning should be avoided. The students are supposed to perform flawlessly as soon as possible and to acquire only correct knowledge. A number of studies on the “Productive Failure” paradigm are taking a different direction. They show – in accordance with the phrase “from errors one learns”- that incorrect approaches to a problem without immediate correction can be fruitful for learning. The talk will address empirical results and theoretical aspects for both sides in order to enable a differentiated evaluation of the topic.