1

PRODUCTIVE FAILURE

Prof. Dr. Manu KAPURETH Zurich, Switzerland

www.manukapur.commanukapur@ethz.ch

2

How do we come to understanding something new?

How do we transfer these understandings to solve novel problems?

The not-so-straightforward relationship between knowledge and its use for creativity and innovation

3

Knowing vs. Doing

4

Knowledge vs. Creativity

5

The expert-novice innovation paradox

6

If learning from failure is intuitively so compelling, why wait for it to happen?

Why can’t we deliberately design for it?

Productive Failure(Kapur, 2008)

7

The Innovation/Design Challenge

(Grade 8/9 students)

Year Mike Dave Ivan

1991 10 14 101992 15 10 161993 11 11 101994 15 13 171995 11 14 101996 16 15 121997 12 19 141998 16 14 191999 12 12 142000 17 15 18

Football Strikers

Invent as many ways for deciding who’s the most consistent striker?

8

Students’ Ideas

9

Students’ Ideas

10

Sum of deviations about the mean

Average of year-on-year absolute deviation

Sum of year-on-year deviation

11

Productive Failure vs. Direct Instruction

Direct Instruction(DI)

Instruction followed by problem solving

Productive Failure(PF)

Problem solving followed by instruction

• PF outperformed DI on conceptual understanding and transfer to novel problems without compromising procedural knowledge.

• The basic knowledge fallacy

• DI constrains inventiveness and creativity.• The creativity fallacy

13

The Real Innovation/Design Challenge

(Grade 8/9 students)

Year Mike Dave Ivan

1991 10 14 101992 15 10 161993 11 11 101994 15 13 171995 11 14 101996 16 15 121997 12 19 141998 16 14 191999 12 12 142000 17 15 18

Football Strikers

Generate as many mathematical problems, and solve them where you can.

Productive Failure vs. Problem Posing

Problem Posing(PP)

Problem Posing, then Instruction

Productive Failure(PF)

Problem Solving, then instruction

• PF > PP on conceptual understanding • PP > PF on transfer to novel problems

15

1. Knowledge often does not transfer well

2. Do not overestimate experts, or underestimate novices

3. Productive Failure as a design for innovation

Takeaways

THANK YOU

www.manukapur.commanukapur@ethz.ch