From the Learning Specialists

Productive struggle in Mathematics

During instruction in Mathematics, we ask students to work through challenging tasks and consider the things they know to help them work through difficult problems. This can often be a puzzling learning time for students; they need to think deeply, and persist through the unknown to find a way to work though the problem. Naturally, this is type of learning can feel like a struggle. We call this feeling the ‘productive struggle’.  

What is productive struggle? 

Productive struggle is a process that develops grit and resilience. When students are faced with problems that they don't immediately know how to solve, they engage in productive struggle - effortful practice that goes beyond passive reading, listening or watching. 

The next time your child mentions that something is hard and they don’t like it when they don’t know how to do it, talk to them about ‘productive struggle. Here a few points that could help:

• Struggle leads to learning because we can fail forward and make progress toward success.
• When we make mistakes and try out different ways to solve problems, we are still learning lots. 
• Embracing productive struggle allows for the building of resilience, perseverance, and grit. 
• We become fearless risk-takers when we know how to work through the productive struggle. 
• When we learn how to struggle productively, we are better prepared for future learning struggles.

‘Whenever my kids say, "I don’t know," I say, "Great! That’s what learning is all about!"'