This is an interesting, and short, post from the site KQED (which has tons of fascinating material on education) that argues for strengthening learning through 'brain confusion', and provides three 'bullet point' approaches to improve learning. The article made me reflect on how I do this in my classes, and in my own attempts to learn new concepts, and reinforced my belief that our students are more capable than they give themselves credit for; and that it is up to me to challenge them as much as possible in class.
For instance, in my Western Civilization class this week I asked the kids to develop questions based on the prompt: 'The pen is mightier than the sword', in preparation for our delving into the Russian Revolution, Stalinism, and Animal Farm. After they developed several questions, they chose one that they thought was their 'best' question and for homework they each wrote a short response to someone else's question. Without having read or learned anything about the time period, they developed responses that already moved them in the direction of understanding the importance ideas play in history, and the subtle and large scale impact that writing and the spoken word can have over the blunt force of the sword.
After going through the unit, we will return to these responses and see how accurate they were in relation to the actual events and discuss how the students would change their responses after studying the history of the time period. I think this exercise is similar to #3 from the article: 'Test Yourself Before You Learn'. Without opening a book they already have a rather strong understanding of human nature and how people are moved to action.
Why Confusion Can Be a Good Thing
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