“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” ~Albert Einstein

Last night we discussed two different learning theories – entity and incremental.

I read about these theories in the book The Art of Learning which was written by Josh Waitzkin – an eight time National Chess Champion and subject of the book and movie Searching for Bobby Fisher in his youth.  He then went on to win twenty-one National Championships in martial arts in his later years.

In last nights article I explained that even though an individual is plagued with an entity theory learning style, meaning he or she sees their knowledge level as a “thing” or “entity” that cannot evolve, they can change.

Nothing to do with intelligence

Now then, it should first be noted that, according to Waitzkin and other developmental psychologists, an individual’s intelligence level has nothing to do with their learning theory. Instead, these individuals – especially children – are basically handed their learning theory based on the instruction they receive from their teachers, parents, etc.

Forming an Entity Theorist

There seems to be a very fine line in how instruction can and should be delivered in order to either help or harm the student.  Waitzkin writes:

Entity theorists tend to have been told that they did well when they have succeeded, and they weren’t any good at something when they failed.

So a kid aces his math test, comes home, and hears “Wow, that’s my boy! As smart as they come!” Then next week Johnny fails his English test and hears “What’s wrong with you? Can’t you read?” or “Your Mommy never liked reading either – obviously it’s not your thing.”

So the boy figures he’s good at math and bad at English, and what’s more, he links success and failure to ingrained ability.

Now, you may be thinking… what kind of jerk parent would act like this? I hope the answer is not many. Sadly, I imagine there are a few.

But what about at the office or in the plant? Have you ever known a manager to ridicule an employee who made a mistake, or made someone feel like they were just a replaceable number in the ERP system? I sense a few more hands going up into the air.

Forming an Incremental or Learning Theorist

Waitzkin then goes on to explain the other side of the coin.

Learning theorists, on the other hand, are given feedback that is more process oriented. After doing well on an English essay, a little girl might be congratulated by her teacher with “Wow, great job Julie! You’re really becoming a wonderful writer. Keep up the good work!”

And if she does badly on math test, her teacher might write “Study a little harder for the next one and you’ll do great! And feel free to ask me questions any, that’s what I’m here for.”

So Julie learns to associate effort with success and feels that she can become good at anything with hard work. She also feels as though she is on a journey of learning, and her teacher is a friendly assistant in her growth.

What do you think?

What do you think about all this? I got several emails today about my article last night. Some folks agreed…. while some saw things differently. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Have you ever watched the movie Searching for Bobby Fisher? It’s the one about the child prodigy chess player. Well the child, Josh Waitzkin, is all grown up now and has written a book called The Art of Learning.

I am not done with the book yet, and will offer more detailed insight later, but I did want to share one of the topics of discussion with you this evening.

In the first part of the book Waitzkin discusses some “foundational” topics – one of them being how there are at least two approaches to learning.

He gives credit to a certain development psychologist named Dr. Carol Dweck for identifying the distinction between the entity and incremental theories of intelligence.

Entity Theorists

Waitzkin explains:

Children who are entity theorists – that is, kids who have been influenced by their parents or teachers to think in this manner – are prone to use language like “I am smart at this” and attribute their success or failure to an ingrained and unalterable level of ability. They see their overall intelligence or skill level at a certain discipline to be a fixed entity, a thing that cannot evolve.

Now re-skim that paragraph only this time replace the words children and kids with men or women. Do you know any entity theorists? I do.

Incremental Theorists

Waitzkin goes on to explain how incremental theorists are very different.

Incremental theorists, who have picked up a different modality of learning – lets call them learning theorists – are prone to describe their results with sentences like “I got it because I worked very hard at it” or “I should have tried harder.” A child with a learning theory of intelligence tends to sense that with hard work, difficult material can be grasped – step by step, incrementally, the novice can become the master.

Hermit Crabs

Waitzkin uses a hermit crab to describe the differences between the two theories. He explains that as time passes the hermit crab eventually out grows its shell and must find a new one.

Since the hermit crab is a very soft and delicate creature this transitioning period from the old shell to a new shell can be very dangerous due to predators, etc. Waitzkin then writes:

That learning phase in between shells is where our growth can spring from. Someone stuck with an entity theory of intelligence is like an anorexic hermit crab, starving itself so it doesn’t grow to find a new shell.

I absolutely love this analogy!

It’s about Instruction

The good news is any child (or man or woman) can be transitioned from an entity theory learning style to an incremental theory of learning with ease. Tomorrow night I’ll explain!

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J Thatcher recently asked:

Here’s a question:

If the student becomes the initiation point for “pull” learning, how does the instructor continue to “push” students beyond what they believed themselves capable? (And yes, I’m using “push” differently there)

This is not an easy question to answer and one I have spent several hours thinking about.  This type of question relates to  teaching kids for sure.  But it also relates to us grown ups who work in factories, hospitals, and board rooms. 

We too can initiate pull learning but how do we keep motivated to continue the journey?  How does our “instructor” or boss or board of directors continue to push us?

Understanding Current State

Well if I think about my kids and how my wife and I are trying to “push” them as they pull at their own speed I realize that one thing we are constantly doing is understanding where they are.  While my daughter may be excelling in one area my wife knows about it.  And she is preparing the next lesson accordingly.

So, while my little girl is able to pull at her own speed my wife and I are right there making sure she doesn’t actually run out of rope.  So, you could say we are rope suppliers in a peculiar kind of way. 

Likewise, if we see our child struggling with the rope we engage and help her pull a little.  Then, as she regains her momentum we back off and resume our rope supplier role.

Same thing for us Grown-ups

It’s the same thing in the corporate world if you think about it.  A good leader is one who recognizes the current state of affairs by going to see what is happening on the gemba (genchi genbutsu).  They know where the organization’s strengths and weaknesses are.  And they engage and help pull the rope when required (kaizen).

But more times than not these leaders are looking ahead to ensure their team of motivated and pulling employees never run out of rope to pull (hoshin kanri).  In short, they are rope suppliers too.

Anyhow, that’s my two cents on it.  What do you think? 

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