Making Mistakes Helps Us Learn

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    Daily, we all make more mistakes than we can even count on our fingers. Something as simple as saying the wrong answer in class, touching the hot stove after being told not to, misplacing your wallet, and tons more! This can make us all feel embarrassed in the moment, but your brain is built to learn from these mistakes. Using operant conditioning, mistakes provide negative feedback, allowing for adjustments to initial faults. In the operant process, the initial fault is not rewarded but can be slightly punished by having some points deducted from the answer, being burned after touching the stove, or losing an item you misplaced. The outcome from making a mistake and there being no reward shown can help prevent this mistake from happening again. Along with this, mistakes provide corrective feedback, which means the person making the mistake uses constructive feedback they receive to allow the right answer/reasoning to be drilled into their brains. 

    Everything we do in our lives essentially has a purpose, and all of it works together to help us become one. Every simple task/thought we have works together to constantly build up what makes each individual unique. Breaking down how mistakes really do affect our brain and how big of an impact they make in our lives, it is essential to recognize the building blocks of mistakes. I believe corrective feedback, especially, is important in learning from our mistakes because it adds an aspect of motivation and confidence in getting the right answer from now on. You should never feel discouraged or tear yourself down when realizing you made a mistake; mistakes are shown to make us who we are and help advance us to learn more and more. 

    Source:
Neuroscience News. “Mindful Mistakes: How Brains Learn from Errors.” Neuroscience News, 9 Nov. 2023, neurosciencenews.com/errorr-learning-brain-25183/. 

Comments

  1. Deyalith MJune 9, 2025 at 11:08 AM

    You made a great point about how mistakes are a natural part of learning and how operant conditioning helps us improve. It’s true that mistakes can feel embarrassing at first, but they give us important feedback to do better next time. I also agree that corrective feedback is key because it guides us toward the right answer and builds confidence. Your explanation shows how mistakes are not just setbacks but stepping stones that help us grow and become better learners.

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  2. Sarah cJune 9, 2025 at 10:18 PM

    I really liked what you said about how mistakes are part of everyday life and how they help shape who we are. The examples you gave made it super easy to relate to, I’ve definitely done stuff like that. I also agree that corrective feedback is important because it helps us actually learn instead of just feeling bad about messing up. It’s kind of cool to think about how even the little mistakes help us grow into better versions of ourselves.

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