The Neural and Physiological Mechanisms of Learning through Productive Failure


Date

2021-08-27

Publication Type

Other Conference Item

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

Altmetric

Data

Abstract

Productive Failure is a learning design that creates conditions for learners to persist in generating and exploring representations and solution methods for solving complex, novel problems prior to formal instruction. There is a growing body of evidence that problem-solving followed by instruction can lead to better conceptual understanding and knowledge transfer, compared to instruction followed by problem-solving. This learning advantage occurs even in the face of initial failure to solve the problem. Research on productive failure yielded a number of cognitive mechanisms for why students learn better after encountering difficulties; however, the physiological mechanisms underpinning this process have yet to be explored. Recent research suggests a connection between heartbeats and cognitive processes, offering a novel method for investigating the physiological mechanisms of learning. Here, we introduce a novel means to explore the physiological mechanisms underlying the process of learning from failure, and argue for its usefulness. In particular, we aim to build a deeper explanatory basis of productive failure by exploring the impact of different heartbeat measurements and corroborating these measurements with behavioral signatures.

Publication status

published

External links

Editor

Book title

EARLI 2021 online book of abstracts.

Journal / series

Volume

Pages / Article No.

307

Publisher

EARLI

Event

19th Biennial EARLI Conference: Education and Citizenship: Learning and Instruction and the Shaping of Futures (EARLI 2021)

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Organisational unit

09590 - Kapur, Manu / Kapur, Manu check_circle

Notes

Conference lecture held on August 27, 2021

Funding

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