Learning from errors at primary school age (LaFiG): Expression and development, individual and contextual determinants and effects on knowledge acquisition

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Markus Dresel; Professor Dr. Robert Grassinger
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning ; Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511486942

Errors are an integral part of school learning processes and can provide valuable information about current (mis)understanding of curricular content (Hascher & Hagenauer, 2010). Empirical studies with secondary school students have shown positive effects of a learning-friendly approach to errors on learning outcomes (e.g. Kreutzmann et al. 2014) and identified individual and contextual determinants for this (e.g. Dresel et al., 2013; Spychiger et al., 2006; Steuer, 2014). However, there is little evidence on how primary school pupils learn from mistakes, what differences there are between them and how these learning processes develop. The central concern of the proposed project is to (1) describe the characteristics and development of learning from mistakes in later primary school years, (2) identify individual and contextual conditions for this, and (3) assess the consequences of learning from mistakes for knowledge acquisition and school performance.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants