The Learning Pit is an analogy for learning that is used by schools around the world. In its simplest form, the Learning Pit represents a challenge. Taking on a challenge is like getting into a pit. We may feel uncertain and it takes effort to climb out. When we do climb out, it means we’ve learnt something new. For these two weeks at school, we are looking at some great strategies for getting out of the Learning Pit.

It is vitally important to teach and learn these strategies, as we have noticed not all our students are climbing out of the Learning Pit. Some remain stuck at the bottom, failing to learn and succeed.

As teachers and parents, we are tasked with teaching our children “climbing skills” that allow them to get out of the Learning Pit. If students can climb out of a Learning Pit easily, they haven’t been challenged - they have simply used their existing skills. They haven’t become better learners. This is why it’s important to distinguish between the two kinds of Learning Pit: ones that represent our Comfort Zone and ones that represent our Learning Zone.

When we are in our Comfort Zone, we do things we already know how to do, or we learn new things we already have the ability to do. That is, the task demands nothing more of us than what we can already do.

Teachers must do more than simply set a challenging task in order to develop students’ strategies to cope with difficult situations. We must prepare students for the climb before they get into the Learning Pit. We need to provide students with a backpack full of strategies, which must be sophisticated and increasingly well-developed so they can climb out at a higher level than where they entered. 

 Ref mindfulbydesign