The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes

by David Robson

Stigler has now been researching these ideas for decades, and he suggests his findings can be distilled to three stages of good teaching:11 • Productive struggle: Long periods of confusion as students wrestle with complex concepts beyond their current understanding. • Making connections: When undergoing that intellectual struggle, students are encouraged to use comparisons and analogies, helping them to see underlying patterns between different concepts. This ensures that the confusion leads to a useful lesson—rather than simply ending in frustration. • Deliberate practice: Once the initial concepts have been taught, teachers should ensure that students practice those skills in the most productive way possible. Crucially, this doesn’t involve simply repeating near identical problems ad nauseam, as you might find in the Western maths classroom, but means adding additional variety and challenges—and yet more productive struggle.

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