Shifting Perspectives on Learning and Failure

I’ve written two blog posts recently on ‘Shifting Learning‘ and ‘Learning and Failure‘. Both have a lot to do with learning through inquiry.

First, here is the presentation description that I shared for the 2013 Reform Symposium Conference. Below, I’ll share an edited video and a link to my slideshare deck. You can also see/hear the full presentation on the RSCON4 recording page: Room 126 – David Truss.

Shifting Learning  – What Did You Learn At School Today?
We hear a lot these days about project based learning, inquiry based learning, etc… What does that mean? What does it look like when schools shift away from “drill and kill” learning towards big ideas, questions, and “no right answer” kind of learning? And what kind of questions can ‘we’ ask to  support students in their learning?

(View on YouTube)

The slide show is also available on slideshare:
Shifting learning – #RSCON4 Presentation.

At the 20:52 spot in the presentation above, I started talking about the value and importance of failure, and I then shared the slide below:

The learning potential of failure is significant. If the work is meaningful enough, there can be more learned from an epic failure, than a marginal success, where the measure for success was set too low.

When I reflect on these ideas, I keep thinking about how learning through inquiry is messy. I came across this image recently and it really struck a chord with me:

Let’s get messy at school! 🙂