The trick to becoming excellent at anything

Practice makes perfect? Not exactly.

Research in psychology has a caution that has implications for teaching and learning. You can’t just drill yourself on a skill and expect to become excellent at it. Practice has to be meaningful and deliberate. That’s the theme of this Time magazine story that I found fascinating.

I’d add that when it comes to applying this to education it probably means the task needs to interest the student. What motivates someone to work very hard at a task and engage their brain at a high level while doing it? I’d suggest you’d have to find it fascinating enough to fall in love with doing it.

Classrooms that don’t inspire interest or even affection for whatever is being studied probably don’t put students on the road to excellence.

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