Mastering Skills in Kind vs. Wicked Learning Environments (or Golf vs. Tennis)

 Opening Quote:

“We are shaping the world faster than we can change ourselves and we are applying to the present the habits of the past.” - Winston Churchill

What are "kind" versus "wicked" learning environments?

A learning environment is “kind” if a learner improves simply by engaging in the activity and trying to do better. Chess and golf are examples. Getting straight “A’s” by following directions is another example. Students can improve substantially simply through repetition.

In “wicked” learning environments, however, the rules of the game are often unclear or incomplete. There may or may not be repetitive patterns and the patterns may not be obvious. The feedback given can be delayed, inaccurate, or both. Many team sports and professional careers resemble this kind of environment.

How can a learner master skills that prepare them for the ambiguous working conditions of the future?

“Interleaving” is proven to help students master skills better, even if it doesn’t look this way in the short term. Interleaving is a process where students mix, or interleave, multiple subjects or topics while they study in order to improve their learning. Blocked practice, on the other hand, involves studying one topic very thoroughly before moving to another topic.

What does this look like in practice? Instead of doing one “type” of math problem in a batch, then moving onto a different style of math problem (showing immediate mastery that may not stick), students who “interleave” different styles of problems have to evaluate a situation, then choose a strategy (preparing them for the “wicked” learning environments of the real world). Kind learning environments, while important in certain circumstances, typically involve the opposite - choosing a strategy, then evaluating it.

“The more constrained and repetitive a challenge, the more likely it will be automated, while great rewards will accrue to those who can take conceptual knowledge from one problem or domain and apply it to an entirely new one.” 

“Facing uncertain environments and wicked problems, breadth of experience is invaluable. Facing kind problems, narrow specialization can be remarkably efficient.” 

“In wicked domains that lack automatic feedback, experience alone does not improve performance. Effective habits of mind are more important, and they can be developed.” 

- "Range" by David Epstein

Journal Questions to Consider:

1. Look at your schedule this week. What activities include “kind”/predictable learning environments and what activities have “desirable difficulties” resembling a “wicked” learning environment? 
2. How can you incorporate desirable difficulties into your learning? Consider this article: https://centerforhomeschooling.com/2019/11/07/desirable-difficulties-can-transform-your-learning-and-teaching/
3. How can we plan to thrive in a future that requires both specialization and broad thinking?

Closing Thoughts/Go Deeper: 

Thriving in a future that requires both specialization and broad thinking:

“Some individuals, of the sort that the Greek poet Archilochus called foxes, like to immerse themselves in the details of many competing systems; others, whom he dubbed hedgehogs, prefer to believe in “one big thing.” - Howard Gardner, Leading Minds

The Hedgehog Concept is based on an ancient Greek parable that states, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."  *** Why it is good to know about many things?

Video to consider: Click to play YouTube video

"Kind" game we used to illustrate this point: https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

"Wicked" game we used to illustrate this point: https://qntm.org/files/absurdle/absurdle.html