Learning Specialists

The Learning Pit

You may have heard, either from your child(ren) or elsewhere, about something called 'The Learning Pit'. It has been around since 2007, created by James Nottingham, and is a great visual representation of what real learning feels like for everyone, regardless of age and area of learning.

Rather than thinking that new learning is effortless and smooth, The Learning Pit realistically portrays learning as something that can confuse the learner, seem overwhelmingly difficult and a struggle. In the world of Maths this learning has been labelled as 'productive struggle' - it's hard but well worth it in the end. Think about when you first learnt to drive a car - productive struggle is a great description of how it felt. However, very few people give up because we know that it is going to be a very useful skill to have.

For students, The Learning Pit is a reminder that it is ok to feel uncertain, not know how to start and be confused. In fact, that is the only way that learning can occur, by making new connections in your brain, using what you already know and link it to the information that you are given. Along with falling into and climbing out of The Learning Pit, students develop persistence and resilience, attributes that they will use throughout their lives.