Gluu’s Weblog

Recently I’ve been posting about the way small changes can make a dramatic difference over time. I really think this concept needs to be applied to education as well. Progressions in difficulty need to be defined, and students need to be put in positions where they can succeed. They must be allowed to succeed, to allow that dose of dopamine, to get their behavioral conditioning going and to build a sustainable habit of fun and learning. So much of human potential remains untapped because we don’t realize the subtle conditions required to bring out that potential. Sometimes working hard is the wrong thing to do, and working easy is the way to go.

Students are frequently misplaced in school. The student that received a C in mathematics because his family life was not stable and hence he could not concentrate not only pays the penalty of that year, but also pays compounding interest in the following years. A C in a prerequisite subject leads to more bad grades because topics are clearly more difficult when you do not even know the prerequisites. For a young student this obstacle requires a Herculean effort to overcome, and I would say nine times out of 10 (or worse), these conditions lead to a downward spiral. Strangely enough, this would imply that a teacher would be doing what’s best for a child by failing them rather than allowing them to pass without having adequately demonstrated ability. Failing a child and allowing them to leave school to focus on resolving family stability issues would be more productive rather than attempting to force a student through the material in my opinion.

In sports, where performance is king, this kind of method has always been obvious. Teachers could learn a lot about how to bring out human potential from coaches. I think this is part of why I’ve always loved basketball.

Finding out what you are passionate about is typically difficult. I’d say that most people don’t know what they’re passionate about, or what passion is in concrete terms. But generally everyone will agree with the statement that passion is necessary for success. Why? Because passion creates motivation, and motivation is the fuel of hard work and practice.

I’ve come to realize I’ve had passing interests in many things, but I’m starting to believe that the way you can identify your passion is to simply let your mind wander, and see where it goes. If you frequently find yourself daydreaming about art, or writing a book, creating a company, becoming a chef, I think you’ve found the inklings of “passion.”

And I think passion is delicate, it can easily be squashed by negative experiences or it can be nurtured in a virtuous cycle to become something truly special. Which leads me to games.

Recently, there’s been media coverage of the success of social games. If you try to play any of these games (I’ve tried playing Cafe World), you will realize that there is a large component of “leveling up.” In other words, you take certain actions to improve your ability or status in the game, and are rewarded in the game by some form of positive feedback such as more experience points or money or items. There is also progressive difficulty in terms of levels, such that as the player becomes more capable, the goal of reaching the next level is made increasingly difficult.

I was chatting with a friend over dinner recently, and he told me that his theory of what makes games fun is that they are a metaphor for life. We constantly are trying to achieve and improve in life, and tangible rewards, accomplishments, and achievements are forms of positive feedback that push us along these paths. Maybe this is why people escape to video games, because in their own life they have not been able to “level up” – possibly due to outlandish expectations for the next level, or some other environmental phenomena preventing progress and reward for progress.

This leads to the interesting conclusion that to stoke the fires of passion, we must use goal-setting and motivation theory from psychology. Set goals that are reasonably achievable, and in the beginning they should be quite easy. Accomplishing the goal is typically its own reward. Increase the difficulty as you go along such that the task is not too difficult nor too easy. This is the virtuous cycle of what may otherwise be called intrinsic motivation. I think this is also why I’ve frequently heard of professional coaches avoiding putting athletes in positions where they will fail badly or be humiliated, as these elements most likely reduce motivation. People must have goals where they occasionally fail, but if the goals are hopeless then they may lose motivation.