The zone of proximal development is much more omnipresent in our new data driven school systems than in the old models.

On the whole, this makes sense to us and to students; they should learn the next thing that they are ready for and can understand. The problem is that (1) there is no way for us to really know everything they understand and (2) there is definitely no sure fire way to predict what they will be interested in. Our infatuation with our new data systems has led us to be quite insistent about what books students “can” read, and what material they “can” study. Children and people have tremendous capacity to learn.

To help break this cycle, try pushing the issue in the other direction. Try to overcorrect by having students tackle something that really is too difficult for them, but that they are interested in. This could be everything from a project with their hands in which they “fail forward” until they figure it out (or document the many efforts if they don’t figure it out) to a book on something that is beyond them currently, but they really care about, to an ambitious writing project, or perhaps to some geometry, even if they still have not mastered the times tables.

Find a way to try it in your classroom. You may be surprised by the results.