Kind vs. Wicked Learning Environments
"Kind" Learning Environments:
- patterns repeat over and over
- feedback is extremely accurate and usually very rapid
- a learner improves simply by engaging in the activity and trying to do better
"Wicked" Learning Environments:
- the rules of the game are often unclear or incomplete
- there may or may not be repetitive patterns and they may not be obvious
- feedback is often delayed, inaccurate, or both
- in the most devilishly wicked learning environments, experience will reinforce the exact wrong lessons
from Range – Epstein (2019):
The domains Klein studied, in which instinctive pattern recognition worked powerfully, are what psychologist Robin Hogarth termed “kind” learning environments. Patterns repeat over and over, and feedback is extremely accurate and usually very rapid.
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The player observes what happened, attempts to correct the error, tries again, and repeats for years. That is the very definition of deliberate practice, the type identified with both the ten-thousand-hours rule [see: Outliers – Gladwell (2008) and the rush to early specialization in technical training]. The learning environment is kind because a learner improves simply by engaging in the activity and trying to do better.
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Kahneman was focused on the flip side of kind learning environments; Hogarth called them “wicked.” In wicked domains, the rules of the game are often unclear or incomplete, there may or may not be repetitive patterns and they may not be obvious, and feedback is often delayed, inaccurate, or both. In the most devilishly wicked learning environments, experience will reinforce the exact wrong lessons.
see also: