In his excellent book, Why Don't Students Like School, Daniel Willingham discusses the difference between performance and growth. A lot of students use study techniques that are ineffective for learning because they seem good at the moment. As teachers, we all know that cramming is not good for keeping things in long-term memory, but students feel that it is effective because they do well in the short term (even though they know they have forgotten that information a few days later if you press them on it). Parents have sometimes told me they didn't understand how their student performed poorly on a test because they went over their flashcards many times the night before, and they knew them by the end of the study session. They don't realize that the student has recognized the material from seeing it a few minutes ago, and that they suffer from the "Illusion of Knowing."
You can learn more about recognition/familiarity vs. knowing in Willingham's book Outsmart Your Brain. In it, he uses an analogy from the world of fitness. He asks the reader to consider a situation where your goal is to do as many pushups as possible. He suggests that most people would be inclined to do the easiest pushups possible. After all, you can do them relatively quickly, so it seems like you are reaching your goal, at least from a short-term performance standpoint. What is not happening, however, is growth. If you want to get stronger, you have to do the hardest pushups you can accomplish and then slowly make them even harder. It will feel ineffective because you will end the session with jello arms, but it will help you accomplish your long-term goals in a way the easy thing won't. You should do the harder thing.
I am in a class called Group Power at the YMCA. It is a choreographed group weightlifting class, and I love it. The first night I took it, I was afraid of injury, so I used the lightest weights I could, but for some of the moves, I realized I could do a lot more. Over the next few weeks, I added more and now have "a normal weight factor" for each muscle group. The instructor changes up the routine every six weeks or so, giving me the opportunity to experiment. Right now, we are using an inclined bench. During the core portion of the routine, we have the option to fight gravity or let it help us. I thought of Daniel Willingham and chose to do situps and crunches against gravity, knowing it would help in the long run. That long-run mindset is important because the first week, I looked like a dying cockroach, legs flailing everywhere. Another member of the class showed me how to grip the bench risers with my feet, which helped a lot. I still run out of core and leg strength a few reps before the end, but I feel stronger and can feel that I have improved. Next week, I will talk about ways in which an understanding of cognitive science has helped me in group fitness classes, but the idea of doing the harder thing despite the feeling of ineffectiveness is definitely one of them. I wouldn't be pushing myself as hard if not for Willingham's analogy.
Two weeks ago, in a parent-teacher conference, a mom came in and said, "My daughter has changed how she studies because of your advice." I have spent a lot of time explaining effective study methods to my 8th graders. Some of them neglect the advice, believing that they know what works for them in the face of contrary evidence. ("No, listening to music doesn't affect my working memory," said one young lady as though she was qualified to know that.) I want students to understand the reason for the advice we give them, so I have explained the difference between performance and learning. Some continue with the ineffective strategies that make them comfortable, and some only care about performance (which is hard to change in our current culture). But those who care about learning adapt, and I know they will find it satisfying at some point if they stick with it through the times when it feels ineffective.
As teachers, it is easy to send mixed messages. I know have been guilty of talking to them about keeping a long-term perspective on learning while also communicating with them more about their performance when grading them. It's a tension I don't know we will ever fully reconcile, but we should be aware of it and try to keep them focused on growth over grades, learning over performance, and the important over the immediate.
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