If You’re Never Wrong, Are You Ever Right?

By Melissa Fiscus, Pharm.D.

PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice Resident

Howard County General Hospital

Almost every day in any student’s educational career, students are assessed on correctness. In elementary school, students are asked to recite the alphabet and perform simple addition. As the years progress, students are assessed on spelling, grammar, complex mathematical formulas, and reading comprehension. Frequently, students are given tests to determine how well they have mastered the topic. In the end, students receive a grade for their efforts, which is a permanent record of how much they did (or didn’t) learn about a topic.

Making mistakes and overcoming failure are natural elements of the learning process for students; however, this culture of regular testing can limit their development. Recently, I read an article by Jeff Cain entitled “The Consequences of Never Being Wrong” which wondered if pharmacy schools permitted safe failure; e.g. the idea that students could fail and learn from their mistakes without affecting their grades. As I read this article, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with what Cain described. Frequent testing has conditioned students to do everything to avoid being wrong. Students avoid taking learning risks due to the negative outcomes of failure. For example, if students are wrong on exams, it could hinder their selection to a competitive residency position. If a student is wrong during a class discussion, they might receive a sharp remark from the instructor or snide comments from their classmates. If students are wrong on an academic presentation, they might experience public criticism, embarrassment, and/or a poor grade.¹

With all this negativity associated with failure, it’s no surprise that students do everything to avoid being wrong. This is okay, to some extent, because students must be able to perform their jobs correctly to ensure patient safety. However, Cain notes that an overemphasis on avoiding mistakes comes at the expense of creating better learners.¹ Students may be too scared to voice their questions because they fear the negative consequences of being incorrect. However, when this occurs critical learning opportunities are lost. Good students aren’t the ones who simply know all the facts, they are the ones who know how to critically examine problems and come up with new solutions. If we discourage those students from speaking up, everyone in the classroom loses the benefit of that conversation.

        This concept of open communication and exchange of knowledge relates directly to the constructivism theory of learning. Constructivism views learning as an active, constantly ongoing process. In this theory, the educator is viewed not as an instructor, but as a guide who facilitates learning. Constructivists believe that learning builds upon existing knowledge, and students must be asked to make connections between what they already know to gain new knowledge.² In classrooms that utilize the constructivism theory of learning, students are able to ask questions, recognize their misconceptions, and learn from their mistakes in a positive learning environment.

        As educators, we must try not to stifle these creative conversations by engaging in a little constructivism ourselves. A recent study by Tulis et al. described the error management behaviors used by teachers in classrooms and how it influenced their students. In this study, the authors noted that students’ attitudes toward mistakes are associated with how their teachers manage and respond to mistakes.³ At the conclusion of this study, the authors describe four teacher-specific error management behaviors instructors can utilize to create a positive error culture within their classroom. First, instructors must be willing to acknowledge and discuss students’ mistakes. Second, student errors must be regarded as learning opportunities rather than as negative indicators for performance. Third, instructors must be patient and allow the student to correct the error by him or herself. Finally, instructors should not express annoyance or ridicule students if they make an error.³ Utilization of these techniques will allow students to explain their thought processes, gain confidence, and allow instructors to better understand what caused their miscomprehension in the first place.

        Another strategy for creating a positive error culture is providing students with many opportunities to fail safely. In order to fully grasp difficult concepts, students may need multiple opportunities to be wrong in order to receive proper instructional feedback that helps them solidify their knowledge. Cain offers some suggestions in his article, including frequent quizzes, audience response system questions, case/problem solving activities, and personal problem sets.¹ Inclusion of these strategies allows instructors to feature low-stakes learning opportunities that have little impact on student grades, but can have a large impact on student comprehension.

        As educators, it’s important we don’t equate correctness with true learning. At the conclusion of pharmacy school, we want our students to be knowledgeable clinicians, critical thinkers, and creative problem solvers. Unfortunately, these skills can’t always be learned from reading a textbook or choosing the correct answer on a test. As Cain reminds us at the end of his article, “School should not be a place where students are expected to be right most of the time. School should be a place where you learn to be right. Teaching students how to be right might just mean letting them be wrong even more.”¹

References:

1.   Cain J. The Consequences of Never Being Wrong [Internet]. Pulses. 2017. Available from: https://cptlpulses.com/2017/06/22/consequencesneverwrong/

2.   Kaufman DM. Applying educational theory in practice. BMJ 2003; 326: 213-216.

3.   Tulis M. Error management behavior in classrooms: Teachers’ responses to student mistakes. Teach Teach Educ. 2013; 33: 56-68. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X13000255