Not Too Easy, Not Too Hard
One of the most basic things needed for a good process for improvement is to work or practice at the right level of difficulty. Your current level will determine what type of work or practice that you do. If you choose a level that is too easy, then you are basically doing something that you already know how to do. No one is going to improve much at reading and writing if all they do is practice reciting the ABC’s year after year after they already learned it in kindergarten. It’s too easy and it’s nothing new. On the other hand, learning becomes very difficult when the level of challenge is out of reach.
I have often heard of athletes who say that the best way to improve is to find players who are better than you and play with them. That’s true if the players are a little better instead of way better, and it’s also true of someone is a quick learner and they are allowed to participate in an inclusive manner with the others who are better. But if a player is way behind those that they are playing with, and they are not a quick learner that fits into teamwork strategies in an inclusive manner, they’ll end up being a spectator even while they are playing the game and they won’t learn a thing. The same goes for a job situation, a classroom situation, a life situation, or any situation where a person needs to learn, but they’re at a level that’s too advanced.
The Learing Zone: Finding the Right Learning Level
Of course schools know the importance of learning at the right level which is why they divide students into grades. Even then, teachers will sometimes divide students into different levels within a grade so that they can teach students at a level where they can learn best. If you’ve ever been in a situation where it became obvious that you were grouped with other students who were either too advanced, or not advanced enough, then you’ve experience first-hand how it can impair the learning process.
If you have a teacher, a coach, or a mentor, or you are teaching yourself how to do something, there is often a learning zone where the level of difficulty is just right for optimum learning. A good teacher or a good self-learner will be able to find that zone. Others have the ability to learn if they would find the right learning zone, but they never do. If there is a scale of difficulty that ranges from very easy on one end to very hard on the other end, the learning zone is often located somewhere around the point when a task seems to transition from being easy to being hard. A good deal of practice or development will take place within this zone.
The 5 Levels of Practice Difficulty
In order to understand this better, I will break practice and developmental tasks down into 5 different levels of difficulty. The first and easiest level of practice or task activity is Automated Mastery. The second level is Refining Success. The third level is Challenge. The fourth is Overextension, and the fifth and most difficult level will be referred to as “Out of Reach.” It is my experience that the learning zone for best learning is generally at the second and third level of difficulty which refers to refining success and challenge. In order to understand these levels, I shall give an explanation of each one.
1. Automated Mastery
Automated Mastery consists of easy tasks that can be done successfully without much effort. These are the types of activities that can be done easily and quickly without needing a lot of processing time to think. Automated Mastery often involves automaticity of a skill or task. Automaticity is the ability to accomplish a task through a process of reaction or quick recognition of what needs to be done, rather than to labor under an extensive thinking process. When a skill or task is at the automated mastery level, a person doesn’t have to give their full attention to what they are doing. This leaves plenty of open space in brain and nervous system to attend to more difficult skills which can be pursued more effectively once automated mastery has been attained. A small amount of practice can be done at the automated mastery level in order to maintain mastery at skills or tasks that have been mastered. Automated Mastery is important because anything that is thoroughly mastered opens the door to easier learning at more advanced levels.
2. Refining Success
Refining Success consists of skills and tasks that are at a difficulty level where they can be done correctly and successfully with very little error, but it takes effort and concentration to do so. Although skills and tasks can be done successfully at the refinement level, they are not easy enough to be automatic; a high level of attentiveness to the task is required. Repetition of successful practice at this level is necessary in order for the tasks to be done easier and quicker with less effort. As this occurs, skills are developed at a deeper level so that less attentiveness will be necessary for success. This will allow more attentiveness to be directed towards new learning and more difficult tasks. When tasks are repeated until they are fully refined, they transition into the automated mastery level which makes more advanced learning easier. A good portion of practice can be done at this level of difficulty although the amount might depend on the circumstances. For example, in the weeks before a piano recital, a student may spend most of their time in this stage in order to refine something they know how to do so that the music flows effortlessly as it’s played. However, when learning a new piece of music, less time would be spent on refining success and more time would be spent on the next stage which is challenge.
3. Challenge
When a person reaches a level of difficulty where they no longer have the ability to always do a skill or a task successfully or correctly, they have reached the challenge level. This may mean occasional error, or it may mean error as much as half the time, but it generally means that a person can succeed more than they fail. The idea at the challenge level is twofold. The first aspect of challenge is to reinforce the successes so that correct patterning, thoughts, and behaviors are strengthened. The second aspect of challenge is to learn from the mistakes and make adjustments to reduce the amount of errors and mistakes. Much practice should be done at this level in order to improve.
The challenge level makes up a lot of the learning zone where optimum learning occurs. The challenge level can also be further divided into more levels such as simple challenge where success occurs 90% or more of the time, manageable challenge where success occurs 70%-90% of the time, and moderate challenge where success occurs 50%-70% of the time.
4. Overextension
Overextension of difficulty occurs when failure, mistakes, and errors occur more often than success. If someone is right on the border of overextension, they may benefit from practicing and developing at this level of difficulty. However, if the overextension is severe enough, then failure will be the norm and success will be occasional. This is often an indicator that a person is out of their learning zone. Some learning may occur in overextension, but usually not as much as when a person is functioning at the challenge level. There is not enough success to reinforce it consistently, and the necessary adjustment for success may be too big to make in a productive way. Some practice may be done at the overextension level to motivate and challenge a learner to stretch themselves, but severe overextension is not general productive.
5. Out of Reach
Skills that are out of reach are so difficult they are rarely if ever accomplished in a successful manner. There is no purpose for including out of reach activity when trying to improve through practice or developmental activities.
As you can see all of the levels except for the Out of Reach level can have a place in practice or task development. However, the main learning zone consists of the Refining Success, and Challenge levels. Normally, much less time would be spent in the Automated Mastery and Over Extension levels of difficulty, although it may vary according to the degree of precision that ordinarily accompanies a given skill or task.
Often times the ideal situation is individualized learning with an excellent tutor who knows how teach at the right level and the right pace. Of course this is not always possible, but anytime it is within a person’s control to practice within their own learning zone, they should do so as much as possible.
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