365QOD-Day60

"...so what happens when you hit a wall?"-A question I posed in class last night

Last night was the last night of a business course I have been teaching for the last 10 weeks.  In the course the students learned Statistics and how to apply it to business problems.

During the discussion portion one of the students said the following, "Two weeks ago I hit a wall."
Although the students did not see it but my eyes became wide open.

So what happens when while learning a subject a student hits this wall.  One of two ways depending on their belief about themselves. 

The first way the student falls on their butt and ponders how to get around it. They conclude that they must not be smart enough to have hit the wall.  They don't believe that they can get around it so they just get up turn around and go back ignoring the wall.

The second way the student falls on their butt and ponders how to get around it. They conclude that they must get around it, through it, blow it up(thanks for the suggestion DM), over it, etc...They believe that they can get around it so they proceed trying different approaches until they get on the other side.

Be careful of thinking of yourself as being very smart.  Your willingness to look for a solution is destroyed the first time you are confronted by a difficult problem that makes you feel that you are not smart enough.

They have actually done experiments with kids in which the ones that were taught to work through difficulties are often times more willing to continue struggling longer until they figure it out.  The ones that thought of themselves as being a "genius" just gave up when confronted by an extremely difficult problem that was outside of their comfort zone.

My advice... remain teachable and keep working.

Today's question is:
"Which would you do when confronted by an impossible problem?"