Exploring the Learning Pit

We are delving into the Learning Pit!

When we take on the challenge of learning something new, we often experience feelings of confusion and distress because we ‘just don’t get it’ (yet). Fear of feeling like this can cause us to shy away from hard learning. This is the Learning Pit. As teachers and parents, we know what this feels like, too: we've all been there, right?

Here's a graphic that helps explain it.

Understanding that these feelings are a normal part of the learning process takes away some of the anxiety. We teach this as a way of building our students' resilience. We can even learn to celebrate being 'in the pit': struggling with a new piece of learning and finding a way through takes work, but in the end means that new and deep learning is taking place.

In Autahi right now, we're sharing the concept of the Learning Pit. When we get a bit stuck, we take a moment to celebrate and reflect on what to do next. ('Yay, you're in the Pit - that means you're learning something new. What will help you to climb out of it?')

We have also been sharing what we're struggling with in our learning right now, and what helps us when we are in the Pit. We're discovering that often we can help each other. It's empowering to know that we have tools the tools to climb out of the Pit and enjoy the rewards of new learning.