What if all students approached learning like Audri?

I'd like you to meet Audri.  He may be only 7, but he gets what learning is all about . . . mistakes (he calls them failures).  He understands mistakes will happen and accepts them as part of his design process.

How do we get students to not fear failure?  How do we understand that mistakes are vital to learning?  Part of the solution needs is leveraging each student's natural desire for autonomy, purpose, and mastery.  We need to set up environments were the learning is authentic and based on student interest.  Just think of all the math and physics Audri had to apply to get his monster trap to work - these concepts will stick with him much longer and he will be able to apply them to other settings easier than if they were introduced and practiced separately (which is what we do now is school). Creativity and problem solving cannot be taught in isolation.

The real value of the video is that students will persevere through mistakes/failures when they anticipate they will happen and there is not penalty for making them.  Unfortunately our system penalizes mistakes and does not celebrate them.

The funniest part of the video is when the monster trap works. It wasn't that it worked, but it only took 3 failures!!  We need all our students to be that excited when they learn!!