Embracing the Learning Pit

This term we have introduced the school community – staff, students and parents – to The Learning Pit, a concept that illustrates what learning truly feels like. We have been working on developing Fearless Learners for several years now at Channing and this is a really useful visual representation of what we mean when we talk about this core aspect of learning.

We were fortunate to have James Nottingham himself, the man who devised this in the early 2000s, to work with staff on our INSET day before the start of term. He has worked closely for many years with Carol Dweck, famous for encapsulating the concept of the Growth Mindset. The Learning Pit builds on that work and those of other leading educational researchers. With James Nottingham’s permission, we have created our own version to use at Channing.

Many people imagine learning as a steady climb up a ladder, but in reality, it’s more like tumbling into a muddy pit before you can climb back out again. That dip, or struggle, is not a sign of failure; it’s the most productive part of the learning process. However it is also one that many people – including Channing students – would sometimes prefer to avoid. As Mr Boardman and I explained to them in assembly, when they are in the Pit students may feel lost, confused, annoyed and frustrated. They might well think, “This is not as easy as I thought” or “Why did my teacher do this to me?”.

In fact we push students into the Pit intentionally, not because we are cruel, but because we know that this is where true learning occurs. Dylan Wiliam, one of the top education researchers in the world, says: “If students don’t have to work hard to make sense of what they are learning, they are less likely to remember it in six weeks’ time.” The goal is to encourage students to step out of their comfort zones, which will cause a temporary dip in performance.

Elizabeth and Robert Bjork, researchers from California, refer to this as ‘desirable difficulty’. When students wrestle with a problem, their memory strengthens and their understanding deepens, leading to better long-term retention. You may have heard me use Professor Guy Claxton’s lovely phrase ‘intelligent floundering’ to describe this process. Indeed Jo Boaler of Stanford University adds that the most productive classrooms are those where students “struggle, fail, and still feel good about it”.

And that’s the joy of the Pit. After the initial confusion, students begin to climb out. The feelings of frustration are replaced with determination, as they think, “I need to work hard at this,” followed by understanding, as they say, “I think I’m getting it,” and finally, “Eureka! I understand it now”. Our role as teachers is to support students in getting out of the Pit, not to give them all the answers right away. Giving students the answers would suggest we don’t believe they can work it out for themselves. Instead they need to use everything they already know, ask questions and make links and connections to find their own way out.

We have shared the following advice with students to help them when they are in the Pit:

• Work at it: Students should stay focused, organise themselves, take risks and be 10% braver.
• Reframe it: Instead of saying “I can’t do this,” students should try saying, “I can’t do this yet” or “I can figure this out”.
• Help each other: We encourage students to help their classmates by asking questions and pushing them to explain their reasoning, rather than by simply giving them the answers.

We want to encourage students not to dodge the Pit but to search out the hard things that make them struggle, to jump in and wrestle with them. Because every time they climb out, they are not just learning a subject; they are learning to keep going, how to think harder and how to believe in themselves. This is what ultimately leads to Girls Enjoying Success (and yes, they did roll their eyes at that bit!).