Why Do Some People Learn Faster? - Gifted Issues Discussion Forum

Interesting article from Wired Magazine I came across yesterday. Opening paragraph:

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The physicist Niels Bohr once defined an expert as �a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.� Bohr�s quip summarizes one of the essential lessons of learning, which is that people learn how to get it right by getting it wrong again and again. Education isn�t magic. Education is the wisdom wrung from failure.

Dweck is highlighted in the article as well:

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Dweck�s next set of experiments showed how fear of failure can actually inhibit learning. She gave the same fifth graders yet another test. This test was designed to be extremely difficult � it was originally written for eighth graders � but Dweck wanted to see how the kids would respond to the challenge. The students who were initially praised for their effort worked hard at figuring out the puzzles. Kids praised for their smarts, on the other hand, were easily discouraged.(emphasis added)

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/why-do-some-people-learn-faster-2

I think this is somewhat true with respect to discouragement when you are practicing a skill and getting good at it, such as learning to play a musical instrument. You generally develop skills and expertise in limited domains because of practice.

However, the flip side of knowing that you accomplish some things very easily because of your high intelligence also means that, from a conceptual point of view, if it can be understood by somebody else that means that you should also be able to understand it.

Also, if other people don't understand it, it doesn't mean that you aren't going to be able to understand it. It might take you a few minutes to unlock the problem where others find it extremely difficult.

Thanks for posting the article. I think it is very good to have this in the back of your mind all the time with HG kids. There is that line which gets crossed where they know they are smart and don't want to fail because being smart is who they are. No matter how much you try and focus on the effort praise, we do cross that line. And on some level, kids do not want to disappoint us.

Ren