Second Shots

When it comes to learning, there’s too much blame assigned to young people inside our traditional K-12 system. Blame that usually translates into a failing grade.

Math teacher Emma Chiappetta shared her experience with turning mistakes into learning opportunities in a recent article posted by ISTE+ASCD (2/1/26):

“On an October afternoon my algebra class, Carson slumped at his desk, one hand propping his chin up and the other gripped tightly around a pencil, as he attempted a problem set. When his neighbor looked over and told him that he got the wrong answer, Carson slammed his pencil down and grunted, ‘Whatever. I don’t even care.’”

“You’ve probably witnessed a similar scene among your students. It’s only natural that mistakes fuel frustration and low self-efficacy. In most schools, grades and other numerical metrics are used to rank and sort students, and each mistake can result in a loss of points, ranking, or status. Intensifying the situation, struggling students make more mistakes than their peers, and the way that they interpret their mistakes can make or break their future learning.”

“Fortunately, with the right support, mindset, and coaching from a teacher, struggling students can turn their high volume of mistakes into an advantage, building resilience and deeper understanding.”

“Not only are mistakes a crucial step in the learning process, but making them can actually enhance our recall and depth of knowledge. Think about some of the summative assessments you took in school. What do you have a stronger memory of: questions you got wrong or questions you got right? I certainly remember my mistakes and the correct answers to them much more vividly.”

“This phenomenon is backed up by research. In one of my favorite studies (Cyr & Anderson, 2018), researchers showed participants words in Spanish and asked them to guess the English translation. Some pairs were cognates like ‘bicicleta’ (bicycle) and others were false cognates like ‘embarazada’ (pregnant). After each attempt, the researchers revealed the correct translation. Later, the participants were asked to recall as many words and translations as they could. Interestingly, their recall was better for words that the participants had gotten wrong the first time around.”

“Making a mistake literally sets the stage for deeper learning. In a 2018 MRI study, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology observed what happens in the brain the moment someone makes an error. Within just 50 milliseconds, a cluster of ‘conflict neurons’ fires rapidly – an activity pattern known to help the brain encode information more effectively (Terada, 2020). We may not be able to see our neural pathways in action, but we’ve all felt this process at work. A mistake exposes a gap in our understanding and prompts us to search for the knowledge that fills it. We learn more deeply, and the learning sticks, when we make a mistake.”

Chiappetta suggests the following practices in order to build a “learning by mistake” culture:

Practice opportunities – allow the young learner as many opportunities possible before assessing learning

Teacher reaction – adult learning leaders should respond to mistakes with curiosity and excitement rather than judgement and disappointment

Teacher strategies – adult learning leaders can plan lessons that normalize mistakes, involve humor where appropriate, encourage reflecting on mistakes, and turn mistakes into opportunities for deeper learning

Peer reaction – adult learning leaders can support a “learning by mistake” culture by modeling mistake making and modeling productive responses to mistakes

I’m waiting for ESPN to respond to a programming pitch I made to them recently. It’s called “Second Shot Golf.” “Second Shot Gold” is all built on making a mistake with your first golf shot and then having a second opportunity to improve that shot. I’ve played “Second Shot Golf” hundreds of times. My favorite rounds involve players who, at first, scoff at the concept. But then, after they meet a few challenging shots, they are ready and eager to receive the opportunity of a second chance. Believe me, for most of us, this type of strategy on the golf course will make the game a lot more fun and exciting.

The same feeling can happen with learning – anything. Giving the young learner a second chance, or a third, to learn something essential will lessen the importance of failure, teach the young learner the importance of persistence or “stickwithitness,” and make the possibility of deep learning more of a certainty.

I was just kidding about the ESPN pitch.

Til tomorrow. SVB