We are at risk of just moving our brick and mortar classrooms to the “metaverse”. To create truly transformative experiences we must go much deeper - with old or new technology.
Great article. 100% agree. The best products often use existing technologies and/or repurpose them. I didn't know the concept of "productive uncertainty". It reminds me of "creative problem-solving" which can significantly improve intelligence ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7709590/ ). These are problems such as: “I was captured by a band of outlaws—said a famous explorer—and their leader had my hands and legs tied up so that 1could not move. They did not gag me up though, and I was able to use my mouth freely. The leader of the gang hung a piece of bread exactly five centimetres away from my mouth. He then laughed and said: "If you manage to eat this piece of bread, I’II set you free. He knew that I could get no help. Also, in order to ensure that I cannot roll over or move closer to bread, they tied me to a tree. Nevertheless, I managed to free myself. How?”
When kids are trained to solve these problems (that are more like games) they increase their scores at regular "intelligence" tests ("find the perimeter of a rectangle" style), even though they haven't been trained for that. So as you said, it's really about "learning how to learn".
Besides primary/secondary education, with the increase of life expectancy, people need more continuous training and these concepts will also be useful for adults.
The Gameboy instead of the Metaverse of Education
Great article. 100% agree. The best products often use existing technologies and/or repurpose them. I didn't know the concept of "productive uncertainty". It reminds me of "creative problem-solving" which can significantly improve intelligence ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7709590/ ). These are problems such as: “I was captured by a band of outlaws—said a famous explorer—and their leader had my hands and legs tied up so that 1could not move. They did not gag me up though, and I was able to use my mouth freely. The leader of the gang hung a piece of bread exactly five centimetres away from my mouth. He then laughed and said: "If you manage to eat this piece of bread, I’II set you free. He knew that I could get no help. Also, in order to ensure that I cannot roll over or move closer to bread, they tied me to a tree. Nevertheless, I managed to free myself. How?”
When kids are trained to solve these problems (that are more like games) they increase their scores at regular "intelligence" tests ("find the perimeter of a rectangle" style), even though they haven't been trained for that. So as you said, it's really about "learning how to learn".
Besides primary/secondary education, with the increase of life expectancy, people need more continuous training and these concepts will also be useful for adults.
Also, have you tried https://brilliant.org ?
amazing !
thank you very much for this post.