Exploring new ways of learning

Many software engineers subscribe to the mantra of 'fail early, fail often,” making explicit the necessity of being repetitious and incremental in idea work. It's a view of creativity and 'branching out” that acknowledges the inherent messiness of innovation.

The word 'failure” has traditionally had a bad rep in education circles. It takes courage - perhaps especially in K-12 education - to reach beyond 'good enough” approaches to realize ambitious goals.

That's why we are glad to see yet another local pilot program designed to encourage that innovative spirit in our youths.

Cedar Rapids Roosevelt's Roosevelt Option - like the Iowa BIG project at its root - hopes to foster a new culture of learning in which students are trusted to explore activities and ideas and, yes, given the freedom to fail, learn from their experience and apply their new understanding. (The Gazette Company is a financial sponsor of Iowa BIG.)

As reporter Meryn Fluker explained Monday, 90 Roosevelt students will work with three teachers next year as part of the pilot project. Students will continue to learn core school subject matter, but they'll have much more flexibility in how those lessons are applied, taking on individual and group assignments intended to benefit the larger community.

As we've said about Iowa BIG, such project-based, tailored programs can help keep students engaged while giving them a firmer grasp of real-world problems and work options. They seem to be a promising addition as schools continue to explore ways of preparing students for a fast-changing, ever-evolving 21st-century economy.

It's early yet; the exact benefits of programs such as The Roosevelt Option remain to be seen. Some may even fail to deliver superior outcomes.

But as innovators can attest, failure is not an outcome to be feared, but one step along the road leading from where you are to where you're trying to go.

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