---
title: "Newsletter #40 They Say | Conversations on Education： What if getting it wrong is where learning begins?"
description: In a rapidly evolving educational landscape, sparking and sustaining a passion for learning in students is more critical than ever.
image: https://ctl.wku.edu.cn/hubfs/%E6%88%AA%E5%B1%8F2026-09-10%2013.07.14.png
---

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 Oct 15, 2026, 7:00:55 AM

# Newsletter #40 They Say | Conversations on Education： What if getting it wrong is where learning begins?

[Center for Teaching and Learning Wenzhou-Kean University](https://ctl.wku.edu.cn/author/center-for-teaching-and-learning-wenzhou-kean-university)

![截屏2026-10-15 19.01.51](https://ctl.wku.edu.cn/hs-fs/hubfs/%E6%88%AA%E5%B1%8F2026-10-15%2019.01.51.png?width=960&height=405&name=%E6%88%AA%E5%B1%8F2026-10-15%2019.01.51.png)

 

## CTL’s New Series | Rethinking Education Through Different Perspectives

## ISSUE 02 | Mistakes

## What if getting it wrong is where learning begins?

In the classroom, Students are often encouraged to find the right answer and move quickly past the wrong one. But a mistake is not always the end of learning. What if it is the beginning of a better question, a new strategy, or a deeper understanding?

Four researchers invite us to look at mistakes differently. Together, their work helps us ask what happens when students face difficulty, make mistakes, try before formal instruction, and learn to see challenge as part of learning. They point to a simple but important idea: **a mistakebecomes meaningful when students have the opportunity to think, receive feedback, reflect, and try again.**

### Robert Bjork: Can Difficulties Actually Help Us Learn?

### We often hope that learning will be as smooth as possible: students understand concepts quickly, remember information easily, and make fewer mistakes along the way. However, psychologist **Robert A. Bjork** has proposed the concept of **desirable difficulties**, reminding us that not every learning difficulty needs to be removed immediately. Some appropriately designed difficulties may make learning feel slower or more challenging in the moment, while ultimately helping learners retain and retrieve what they have learned more effectively.

![截屏2026-10-15 18.54.16](https://ctl.wku.edu.cn/hs-fs/hubfs/%E6%88%AA%E5%B1%8F2026-10-15%2018.54.16.png?width=701&height=310&name=%E6%88%AA%E5%B1%8F2026-10-15%2018.54.16.png)

This suggests that performing better in the moment does not necessarily mean learning better in the long run. When students have to make an effort to retrieve information, compare alternatives, make judgments, or solve problems, the process itself can sometimes strengthen learning. Of course, this does not mean that more difficulty is always better. A “desirable difficulty” needs to be appropriate to students’ prior knowledge, the task, and the opportunities for subsequent practice and feedback. The goal of education is not to make learning difficult, but to make difficulty meaningful.

### Janet Metcalfe: Can We Really Learn from Our Mistakes?

If difficulties can support learning, what about mistakes? Psychologist **Janet Metcalfe**, in her work on learning from errors, reminds us that **mistakes do not automatically lead to learning**. A student may answer a question incorrectly without necessarily understanding the correct answer afterward. What matters is whether the student receives feedback and has the opportunity to reflect on why the mistake occurred.

![](https://ecnlno5t1qg6.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=NjJkYmRlNzU1OWFkMTE2YTlmOWJmZTA3OGNhZGUyMTRfNFpYTzc4RHRqSEw2eGR6THdBdkhwcEtBYXRmME9wbm9fVG9rZW46WUhOQmI2ZW91b3ZEVmp4VVEzcWNhdFBVbldiXzE3OTIwNjEzOTA6MTc5MjA2NDk5MF9WNA&add_watermark=true&scene_type=CCM)

 *Image from Columbia University*

From this perspective, an error can provide valuable information. It can reveal how a student currently understands a concept, how they are reasoning through a problem, and where their thinking differs from the target concept. The teacher’s role, therefore, is not simply to point out that an answer is wrong, but to help students ask: “Why did I think this?” “Where did my reasoning go wrong?” and “What could I do differently next time?” When mistakes become opportunities for analysis and adjustment, they can become part of the learning process.

This also means that a classroom that allows no room for mistakes is not necessarily more effective. If students are constantly worried about giving the wrong answer or being judged, they may ask fewer questions, take fewer risks, or avoid challenging problems altogether. By contrast, in an environment where students can try, receive feedback, and revise their thinking, mistakes can help teachers understand students’ thinking and help students develop their own understanding.

### Manu Kapur: What If Students Try Before We Teach Them?

What if we do not rush to give students the “right answer”? Educational researcher **Manu Kapur’s** concept of **productive failure** offers another way of thinking about learning design. In his research on mathematics learning, students first attempted to solve challenging problems and explored possible solutions before receiving formal instruction. They were then given systematic instruction from the teacher. Compared with students who received direct instruction first, students who experienced this initial exploration tended to demonstrate stronger conceptual understanding and knowledge transfer.

![](https://ecnlno5t1qg6.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=NTBlOTliNzJmZTNlNmQ5MzEzNDIzM2IyMTY0MWMzN2RfVWFSNDFkNzBPSnlXeGtYNHU2M3FPUDl1dzE3SjNyREJfVG9rZW46QW5NNmJEYllsb3RnVWR4WjdNYmNOb1dHbnNoXzE3OTIwNjEzOTA6MTc5MjA2NDk5MF9WNA&add_watermark=true&scene_type=CCM)

*Image from YouTube*

The point is not to let students “fail on their own,” but to allow students to think before formal instruction begins. When students attempt to solve a problem they do not yet fully understand, they reveal what they already know, where their understanding is incomplete, and what difficulties they encounter. The teacher’s subsequent instruction can then do more than provide a standard answer. It can help students reorganize and revise the ideas they developed during their initial attempts.

In this sense, “trying first and teaching later” does not reduce the teacher’s role. Instead, it changes how the teacher enters the learning process. Effective learning design does not require students to avoid every mistake. Rather, it creates opportunities for mistakes to occur within a structured learning process—with clear goals, appropriate support, and meaningful feedback. A mistake does not have to be the outcome; it can become the starting point for the next stage of learning.

### David Yeager: What Do Students Think When They Struggle?

Even when a classroom allows students to make mistakes, another question remains: how do students themselves understand those difficulties? Psychologist **David Yeager** and his colleagues have taken this question further through their research on **growth mindset**. A large-scale national experiment published in *Nature* in 2019 found that a brief growth mindset intervention improved academic outcomes under certain conditions, especially for lower-achieving students. At the same time, the study showed that the effects of intervention depended in part on the school environment and peer norms.

![](https://ecnlno5t1qg6.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=MjRkNGM0OTQ5MTc4NTg3Y2Q4N2RiZmZjNzExNTNlNDBfenNlT0JwNVYwQVNtNjR4NXZBa25ZVDZqblFIRnF0QnJfVG9rZW46RVVObWJqNzRwb2R6UkR4RGhlNGNzdVY2bmdnXzE3OTIwNjEzOTA6MTc5MjA2NDk5MF9WNA&add_watermark=true&scene_type=CCM)

*Image from Huberman Lab*

This reminds us that telling students that their abilities can grow is not the whole story. Whether students are willing to continue facing difficulties also depends on how they understand challenges, how their classroom responds to mistakes, and what kind of learning environment surrounds them. If a setback is interpreted as “I am not smart enough,” students may be more likely to avoid the next challenge. By constrast, if it is understood as “I have not mastered this yet,” the same difficulty can become a reason to keep trying.Supporting students through mistakes, therefore, is not simply about telling them not to be afraid of failure. It is about helping them understand that **when they encounter difficulty, they can seek support, analyze what went wrong, change their approach, and try again.** In such an environment, a mistake is no longer simply evidence of limited ability. It can become one step in the learning process.

## They Say | Rethinking “Mistakes”

These four researchers approach mistakes from different perspectives, yet together they help us rethink the role of mistakes in learning. **Bjork** reminds us that appropriate difficulties may make learning less comfortable in the moment while supporting longer-term learning; **Metcalfe** shows that mistakes become meaningful through feedback and reflection; **Kapur** demonstrates how trying before formal instruction can support deeper understanding; and **Yeager** reminds us that how students interpret difficulty—and the learning environment around them—can influence whether they continue to engage.

![](https://ecnlno5t1qg6.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=ODY5ODA2YjRmYjkxYjE4ZDg5MTBiYjg4MGUyMGM3MTlfdFJMVExZeEtEVlAwSjhoMGJFNVFuQnJ0T2VBSDBnNURfVG9rZW46RWV0U2JiNWxYbzEzNjF4UjJGZWN1T1BhbkpmXzE3OTIwNjEzOTA6MTc5MjA2NDk5MF9WNA&add_watermark=true&scene_type=CCM)

*Image from AI*

Perhaps the real question for education is not “How can we help students make fewer mistakes?” but **“How can we help students learn what to do after making a mistake?”** When students can try, make mistakes, receive feedback, reflect, adjust their approach, and try again, mistakes can become part of how learning happens. **Sometimes, getting the answer wrong does not mean that learning has stopped. It may be where learning begins.**

## References

Bjork, E. L., & Bjork, R. A. (2011). Making things hard on yourself, but in a good way: Creating desirable difficulties to enhance learning. In M. A. Gernsbacher, R. W. Pew, L. M. Hough, & J. R. Pomerantz (Eds.), *Psychology and the real world: Essays illustrating fundamental contributions to society* (pp. 56–64). Worth Publishers.Kapur, M. (2014). Productive failure in learning math. *Cognitive Science, 38*(5), 1008–1022. [https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12107](https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12107)Metcalfe, J. (2017). Learning from errors. *Annual Review of Psychology, 68*, 465–489. [https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044022](https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044022)Yeager, D. S., Hanselman, P., Walton, G. M., Murray, J. S., Crosnoe, R., Muller, C., Tipton, E., Schneider, B., Hulleman, C. S., Hinojosa, C. P., Paunesku, D., Romero, C., Flint, K., Roberts, A., Trott, J., Iachan, R., Buontempo, J., Yang, S. M., Carvalho, C. M., Hahn, P. R., Gopalan, M., Mhatre, P., Ferguson, R., Duckworth, A. L., & Dweck, C. S. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. *Nature, 573*, 364–369. [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1466-y)

# **Key Updates about CTL**

## Faculty Activity Day 2026 | Powering Up Teaching & Campus Connection

We are pleased to announce that **Faculty Activity Day 2026** will take place on **Tuesday, November 10, 2026**, on the WKU campus.

Centered on advancing teaching excellence and fostering cross-college collaboration, this event will bring together faculty across disciplines for professional development, peer exchange, and shared insights on teaching practices.

**Call for Proposals | Submission Deadline: October 24, 2026**

We warmly invite faculty members to share their teaching practices, research experiences, and practical insights with colleagues. Proposed sessions may cover topics such as **AI in Teaching and Learning, Student-Centered Teaching, Inclusive Teaching Practices, Assessment and Student Success, Research and IRB, Faculty Well-Being, and Faculty Portfolio and Reappointment.**

Faculty may choose between two presentation formats:

- **60-minute interactive workshop**
- **30-minute lecture-style presentation**

Sessions will take place between **2:00 and 5:00 p.m.** on November 10.

To submit a proposal, please reply to our previous email, “Invitation to Share and Connect at Faculty Activity Day,” by October 24, 2026, with your proposed session title and topic area, preferred format, a brief description, and intended learning outcomes, and any scheduling constraints.

Further details, including the full agenda and registration information, will be shared soon. We encourage all faculty members to save the date and consider contributing to this opportunity for faculty exchange and collaboration.

**We look forward to seeing you at Faculty Activity Day!**

## **Instructional Skills Workshop**

We are pleased to announce the upcoming Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) — a signature faculty development program designed to strengthen teaching practices through experiential learning.

### 🗓️ Upcoming Sessions

- **Session 26: March 6 & March 7, 2027 -March 20 & March21,2027**

Participants will explore core teaching and learning concepts, reflect on current practices, experiment with new instructional strategies, and engage in supportive environments. We look forward to discussing this excellent opportunity to increase student engagement with interested faculty and staff of WKU. Please note that participation is limited to five individuals, and all four days of the workshop are required.

 

Scan the OR code to register \>\>

![](https://ecnlno5t1qg6.feishu.cn/space/api/box/stream/download/asynccode/?code=YTY4ZTkyMzA5MGNiZTczZThjMGIyNTU5OTQ1OTc0ODVfWEFQdVJBSk1HTWdDZTB3cW93d1FnUEt6ZzJ4ZHlrdmRfVG9rZW46V0dyUmJ2SUVHb3RUZmJ4M3FvWmNuTWYxblFkXzE3OTIwNjEzOTA6MTc5MjA2NDk5MF9WNA&add_watermark=true&scene_type=CCM)

 

  

Author: Yan  (Tanya) Tang

Chief Editor: Yirui (Sandy) Jiang

 

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