Learning with Complexity & Chaos
As learners and learning experience designers, we run away from complexity and chaos. We think it’s synonymous with not knowing something, but complexity & chaos can be a great lever for learning.
Here is how -
Start with confusion, end with clarity
Starting a learning journey with some confusion is a great hook for learners to get engaged at the beginning and stay motivated throughout the journey.
Think of it like a quest to seek the right answer that gets revealed right at the end.
Here is how you can start with confusion:
Asking learners to compare and find the difference
Presenting a situation that defies logic/ past behaviour
Showcasing a real life situation
Increased complexity over time
Similar to games, in our learning experiences also we need to increase the complexity that a learner is exposed to over time. By starting with highly complex things - learners might get overwhelmed and drop off, but the training wheels need to come off with time!
Here is how you can increase complexity over time:
Starting with templates and over time giving learners ways to modify it and make it their own
A lateral one from the fitness world - starting by learning one movement and then gradually moving to compound movements
Increased dimensions of chaos over time
Interleaving is a process where students mix, multiple subjects or topics while they study in order to improve their learning.
So instead of practicing things like AABBCC they do it like ABCBAB.
This is additional to just complexity we spoke about - because it varies the complexity of multiple things you are learning over time.
Here is how you can increase complexity over time:
Building on the concept of progressive overload in fitness, you start varying not the complexity of movements but also the time you take and the number of repetitions in a movement
Increasing the complexity of problems in math over time but also adding another variable of time and trying to finish a certain number of problems in given time frame
What has been your experience with complexity & chaos in learning? Tell me in the comments below!