Remember, Making Mistakes IS Learning
By Andy Williamson, Founder and Managing Director
It’s notable during the Halloween season that so much of what we fear comes from what we don’t know. Fear of ghosts, the dark, and ‘things that go bump in the night’ are all based on our brains catastrophizing when it doesn’t have all the information it needs. This makes sense: for our prehistoric ancestors, there was a survival benefit to assuming the worst. That evolutionary advantage may have saved us from sabertooth cats, but it’s not well adapted to life in the twenty-first century. Losing our fears is easier said than done, but it’s critical to thriving in life—and nowhere is that more the case than when it comes to learning.
Every generation in history has felt that they lived in the dawning of the age of information. Today’s young learners, however, have access to the entirety of human knowledge in their phones, carried with them 24/7. While this goes some way toward calming the fear of the unknown, it can create a warped sense of dependence—students are unwilling to engage with the idea of not knowing something. After all, why risk being wrong when you can be sure you’re correct in less than 10 seconds?
There is some logic to this. However, the school-age years are formative, both literally and metaphorically. Neuroplasticity means that the brain is constantly responding to external stimuli and the habits we follow literally shape the way our brain grows. A student who looks up every answer on their phone before guessing will train their brain to develop in a different way than a student who takes the time to assess the information. Very quickly, students can develop either virtuous or vicious cycles.
Ultimately, this brings us to the core questions of what education is, and what is its purpose.
At Hampton Tutors, we believe that the core purpose of education is to build functional intelligence. That is agile, flexible intelligence you can use throughout your life. One of the core aspects of this is using what you do know in order to solve what you don’t. The role of education, therefore, is to teach students how to think, and not what to think.
There’s a reason why the interview questions for Oxford University deliberately ask students about unfamiliar pieces of information - they want to determine how you think, how you engage with brand new problems, and how you can apply what you already know. As the guidance for Oxford interviewees says:
If you think you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t panic, but try and apply your mind to it—you may surprise yourself! They are looking for evidence that you are willing to engage with new ideas, and that you can be flexible in your thinking.
So how can we, as academic coaches, get students to lose their fear of not knowing answers? Well, one of the simplest and best ways to do it is to banish the phrase “I don’t know” from lessons. Instead, students have to suggest a guess or at least show their mental working. Another, more complex way is to flip the learning environment: students have to present to their coach and show that they understand the information. More fundamentally, our coaches engage with the Carol Dweck ‘Mindset’ approach and praise the student’s effort, rather than their outcome.
A central goal of Hampton Tutors is to build resilient students, who see education as developing a mental toolkit, not rote learning facts. A key part of this is making the process of learning the core of each lesson, rather than being obsessed with outcomes. After all, there is no development that happens when a student operates totally within their comfort zone. Being free to make mistakes and to explore brand-new information is exactly what learning is all about.
Andy Williamson
Founder, Hampton Tutors
About The Author
Andy’s passion for teaching is born of his own love of learning and quest for knowledge. Originally from the UK, he has an undergraduate degree from Oxford University and a master's from the University of Edinburgh.
Outside of work, he enjoys traveling, playing cricket and rugby, and spending time with his wife and two young daughters.
We provide academic coaching, executive function support, and subject tutoring for students of all ages.