Resources on Learning From Failure

Resources by Topic:

• Fostering Growth-Friendly Learning Environments
• Activities That Teach About Mistakes
• Examples From Schools That Work

Fostering Growth-Friendly Learning Environments

• How to Help Kids Overcome Fear of Failure: Learn about Martin Covington’s research on failure, and explore three strategies that can help students overcome their fear of failure. (Greater Good, 2013)
• 5-Minute Film Festival: Freedom to Fail Forward: Watch a curated video playlist about learning from failure, and consider sharing a few of the videos with students to fuel discussion about failure as a part of the learning process. (Edutopia, 2015)

• Making Friends With Failure: Understand how to reframe failure by modeling vulnerability, focusing on questions and data instead of mistakes, and teaching children about great stories of failure. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Teaching Students to Embrace Mistakes: Understand how changing students mindsets can help them develop a more constructive relationship with errors. (Edutopia, 2014)

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Activities That Teach About Mistakes

• It’s a Mistake Not to Use Mistakes as Part of the Learning Process: Try out one or more of these nine ways to use mistakes to allow and promote learning. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Teaching Empathy Through Design Thinking: Follow five steps to implement design thinking in the classroom; during the prototyping phase, students will learn that it is okay to fail and that it’s possible to learn and grow from mistakes. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Inspire Your Students to Learn Like Astronauts: Learn how one teacher uses the book An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth to prompt students to think about mistakes as great teachers -- links to activity masters are included. (Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, 2015)
• Crumbled Reminder: Print out an activity idea with instructions for an activity that can help students think about how they can use mistakes. (PERTS Mindset Kit)
• My Favorite No: Watch a short video that shows how one teacher selects a "favorite no" from multiple wrong answers and ask students to analyze what is right about the solution before delving into what is wrong. (Teaching Channel, 2011)

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Examples From Schools That Work

Edutopia's flagship series highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. Below, dive into a real-world example from a school district that creates safe havens for innovation and risk-taking.

Creating Space for Risk

Learn how teachers at Albemarle County Public Schools redefine failure as a part of learning, and find out how they build physical spaces and cultures that help students learn from errors.

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