Productive Struggle

In a recent science lab, upper elementary students discovered that, after stretching their arm muscles, they could reach to higher heights than they could before stretching. Similarly, in this blog post, I would like to present a way students can reach new levels of academics when they are stretched.

In my most recent continuing education course through Grand Canyon University, I learned about a concept that is designed to help stretch students’ abilities. The concept is called productive struggle. During productive struggle, students are given a question or problem outside of their understanding but not outside of their ability. Without help from the teacher, students are tasked to try different strategies to solve for the answer. It gives students the opportunity to be brave by facing new problems and to persevere when the answer is not readily apparent at first. Collaborating with other students can be beneficial in helping students try new ideas.

In a world where parents and teachers are expected to prevent their child/student from any difficulty or discomfort, this concept encourages temporary difficulty and discomfort to produce a more resilient child/student. What I tell my children all of the time is, we should strive for delayed gratification instead of instant gratification, because instant gratification (i.e., giving children the answers right away) most often does not challenge nor produce growth.

Parents can help their child with productive struggle at home by trying these activities:

1.  When a child has a question about math homework, have the child attempt it on their own first without being given the answer, then come back and discuss how they got to their answer (correct or incorrect). If a child still does not understand, suggest different strategies they could try instead of giving the answer.

2. When reading to or with your child, ask a question about the story followed by questions of how they got to their answer. 

3. When a child explains a math answer to you, ask if there is another strategy they could use to get the same answer.

When I think of how the Bible encourages productive struggle, I think of Romans 5:3:

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance

Now Paul, the author of the book of Romans, his sufferings are not exactly the same as productive struggle in class, however, I think the concept is similar in that, while suffering and struggling seem unpleasant at the time, it becomes worthwhile when we see the long-term benefits it brings such as perseverance, resilience, and courage. 

Now Paul, the author of the book of Romans, his sufferings are not exactly the same as productive struggle in class, however, I think the concept is similar in that, while suffering and struggling seem unpleasant at the time, it becomes worthwhile when we see the long-term benefits it brings such as perseverance, resilience, and courage. 

Productive struggle will take a little more time and patience than usual, however, this is an investment in your child’s/student’s growth. So be brave, parents and teachers! Give it a try for a few weeks and see what happens. Who knows, maybe you will grow as well in the process. I know I have!