From Failure to Success: The Potential Beneficial Role of Error

Mistakes and failure are natural elements of the learning process; however, errors are usually considered as indicators of lack of abilities, insufficient effort, misconceptions and generally something negative to avoid, by both students and teachers. As a consequence, teachers and students try to reduce as much and as fast as possible the insurgence of errors. Recently, a new meaning of error has been introduced: from the most threatening element to a “springboard” for learning, to such an extent that some authors have suggested redesigning lessons so as to learn from mistakes and consider them as opportunities of improvement. However, the research on students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards errors and learning from mistakes is still scant and little is known about error climate in the classroom. This chapter will review the research literature on the potential beneficial role of errors, and specifically on students’ adaptive reactions and attitudes towards errors, error climate in classrooms, and on teachers’ adaptive and/or maladaptive strategies in handling students’ errors.