Practice (learning method)

The word derives from the Greek "πρακτική" (praktike), feminine of "πρακτικός" (praktikos), "fit for or concerned with action, practical",[1] and that from the verb "πράσσω" (prasso), "to achieve, bring about, effect, accomplish".

If feedback is not appropriate (either from an instructor or from self-reference to an information source), then the practice tends to be ineffective or even detrimental to learning.

Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of Psychology at Florida State University, was a pioneer in researching deliberate practice and what it means.

This includes, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth[7] and Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell.

However, his study has proven that the characteristics have the ability to change and adapt in response to intense practice over multiple years.

[7] In a presentation she gave at the American Educational Research Conference in 2014,[9] she spoke about the importance of grit – of students' focusing on material with which they struggle.

In a study she conducted at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C, she found that the students who used the grit tactic tended to advance to the finals.

[9] Two recent articles in Current Directions in Psychological Science criticize deliberate practice and argue that, while it is necessary for reaching high levels of performance, it is not sufficient, with other factors such as talent being important as well.

[10][11] More recently, a meta-analysis found the correlation coefficient between deliberate practice and performance was 0.40, the size of which is large compared to other predictor variables (e.g. obesity, excessive drinking, smoking, intelligence, adherence to effective medication).

Gladwell, staff writer at The New Yorker magazine and author of five books on The New York Times Best Seller list including Outliers: The Story of Success said in a May 2016 Freakonomics podcast interview that, "He's [Ericsson] a hard practice guy, and I'm a soft practice guy."

Gladwell claims that talent is important with an intentional dedication to practice and having a support system is vital to produce superior outcomes.

According to the American Psychological Association, the purpose of deliberate practice is to achieve high levels of expert performance.

This rule states that if an individual spends 10,000 hours of full concentration and intense effort in their certain skill, they will become an expert at it.

However, Anders Ericsson's article focuses on how the amount of time does not affect the elite status but how deliberate the practice is.

[15] Behavioral theory would argue that deliberate practice is facilitated by feedback from an expert that allows for successful approximation of the target performance.

He creates a theoretical framework for acquisition of expert performance that discusses the issue of a lack of motivation to practice.

These children displayed immense interest in continuing the activity, so the parents then began implanting deliberate practice.

In an article by Susan Howick, the idea of using mixed method practice in the medical field could be proven to be beneficial for practitioners and researchers.

Ericsson wants to pursue a more detail oriented approach on how deliberate practice is measured and how it is different from other types of training.