November 14, 2024
Productive struggle plays a critical role in fostering student growth and development. Allowing students to face challenges leads to increased self-confidence, independence, and cognitive growth. As a parent and an educator one of the most difficult things to witness is my child or student struggling. It is natural to want to help. Often the best way to help is to provide support through the struggle. Our children lack so many opportunities for struggle in the modern environment. Video games and gamified edtech give quick dopamine hits and online badges and trophies for minimal real work — often students are just guessing until they receive the correct reward.
As a school, we’ve agreed that our main purpose is building student experiences to develop capable global citizens, and that’s guided the decision to embrace project based learning. As a school that prioritizes project based learning and student experiences, getting students to push through the struggle, be resilient in the face of challenge and understand the gratification of actual hard work (not just quickly earned badges) is the work of teachers. It is harder and harder to get students to find their intrinsic motivation and understand that struggle is not only part of learning, but is the actual learning.
Understanding Productive Struggle
Productive struggle refers to the process of engaging students in tasks that are challenging yet achievable, encouraging them to think critically and work through difficulties. This concept is rooted in the belief that learning occurs most effectively when students are pushed slightly beyond their comfort zones, allowing them to develop problem-solving skills and resilience.
My daughter does a summer STEAM and building camp each year. They refer to this struggle as the “groan zone.” It’s the work that must be done to get to the desired end. Some years it looks like building and re-building until the measurements are right, some years it has been pounding hundreds of nails in a day (to build a life size roller coaster), and some years it’s painting and gluing until the creation looks just right. No matter what you are creating, there is a period of work, a ‘groan zone’ involved. This is necessary to be, and feel, productive. Students must engage fully in productive struggle to truly learn and grow.
The Necessity of Struggle
As educators and parents, there is a natural tendency to shield children from struggles, believing that this will make their lives easier. However, this protective instinct can be counterproductive. By preventing students from facing challenges, we inadvertently send the message that they are not capable of overcoming difficulties, which can hinder their cognitive development and self-esteem. After they leave us the world will do its best to convince our students that they are not capable and their ideas are silly. It is our job as parents and educators to be sure they are built so strong that they can withstand the wrath of the world. The message we need to send is that we believe in them, that they are capable, and that they can rise to any challenge. They learn to believe this by overcoming their own struggles each day.
Cognitive Development and the Brain
Our brains are designed to adapt and grow through challenges. Engaging in difficult tasks strengthens neural connections and enhances cognitive abilities. The anterior mid-cingulate cortex, a brain region involved in managing challenges, develops through experiences of productive struggle. It is crucial for educators and parents to create opportunities for students to engage in challenging activities that promote growth, or we are literally stunting their brain growth and development.
Following is an excerpt from my book Rebel Educator: Create Classrooms Where Impact and Imagination Meet that highlights these ideas of perseverance and productive struggle:
The House of Perseverance
“Perseverance or grit is another emotion that schools and parents talk about a lot. Our definition of perseverance is the amount of determination a student utilizes to work through something difficult. With the rise of helicopter parents, tiger parents, and just well-meaning parents who want to leave the house now, not in ten minutes, adults often do things for children that children can do for themselves. This leads to a lack of grit, a feeling of always needing help and never being good enough or fast enough. However, when we teach children to do things themselves and give them the time and space to use their skills, they build confidence, self-awareness, and new skills.
One story of perseverance is illustrated in an UP Academy STEAM camp project. The project for the afternoon was to build houses out of a set of materials. Students received flattened boxes of different sizes, cardboard rolls, stickers, paint, cones, craft sticks, glue, and tape. They could design and decorate their house however they wanted. In past groups, students had worked together and designed whole cities, using their stickers to represent power lines and connecting all the houses together into a small ecosystem. In this group, most of the students got started right away on their individual houses. This project was usually a favorite activity.
One girl sat in her chair and stared at her materials. She was not the youngest in the class, and she had no disabilities. She had been engaged in other activities all through the camp, and she enjoyed building things. But she just stared at her project. I asked her what was wrong. She looked at me and asked me to make her box. I told her I would be happy to demonstrate again on another box, or she could see how others were folding their boxes, but that I was not going to do it for her. I shared I had confidence that she could do it. And I walked away to let her try. A few minutes later she was still sitting in her chair, now with tears rolling down her face. When I asked her why she was so upset, she couldn’t speak. She looked at her lap. She wouldn’t look at me or the project. I again stated that I was sure she could do this. I told her I knew she was smart and capable and that if she just tried to get started, it would be easier than she thought. I again told her I wasn’t going to do it for her, but that I would give her a little space for her feelings and then come back and check on her. A third check a little while later, and the same situation. She still hadn’t touched the materials. I still refused to help her.
Then we talked through what finishing would look like, how she might use the stickers, her ideas for what the house might look like, as other homes in the class were being decorated and taking shape. She looked up, took hold of her flattened box, and on her first attempt, folded it into a box. She was so so proud of herself! For the rest of the day, she worked on folding her other boxes, creating her yard, and decorating her house. She took it home and proudly showed her parents what she had built. That pride, accomplishment, and success wouldn’t have been possible if I had done it for her. I shared this story with her parents later that night. I wanted them to know her struggle and how to continue to support her journey to find her grit. When students succeed, as well as when they struggle, it is important to involve the family so they can support your efforts and their students.
Creating a safe space for learning, trying, failing, and success is key to student motivation and grit. Every good educator knows that the relationships you build with your students allow them to ask questions and grow. Focusing on the social-emotional growth of our students isn’t something that is “nice to do”; it is imperative for their success in school and in life. Involving the parents in these discussions and ensuring that students receive a streamlined vision of the world around them allows for less stress for the student and the educator. Perseverance, grit, and confidence can be learned, but it requires patience and the ability to trust and allow for failure. Parents and educators need to work together to provide and support these learning opportunities.”
Encouraging Autonomy and Confidence
As educators and parents let’s consider how we can create environments that promote productive struggle. This involves allowing students to experience challenges and failures, which are integral to the learning process. We cannot rely solely on gamified learning apps or online gaming, as these do not provide the same depth of experience as real-life challenges. True productive struggle requires hands-on engagement, collaboration, and critical thinking.
As a school our core values are respect, innovation, strength, and empathy. Productive struggle is directly related to our value of strength, to the way we teach in a project based environment and in becoming adults who persevere through challenge. If we want them to be fearless change makers and brave leaders, as our profile of a graduate states, they must learn to push through the “groan zone” to make their struggles productive, and to gain the gratification of a job well done.
By allowing children to face and overcome challenges, we equip them with the skills and confidence necessary to navigate future difficulties. We must embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. By fostering environments that allow for struggle, we can help students build resilience, confidence, and the cognitive skills needed for lifelong learning. Productive struggle is not just about the end result, but about the journey of learning and growth that occurs along the way.
You may also be interested in reading more articles written by Tanya Sheckley for Intrepid Ed News.
