Fail Early, Fail Often

“Fail early, fail often.” — Jame Paul Gee at 2008 AECT Conference

I’ve shared this quote with a variety of people since hearing Gee advocating its importance in learning. I’ve received mixed reactions to it and I’m wondering what you (Yes, you the person that is actually reading these words right this moment.) think about it. PLEASE share your thoughts in the Comments section.

Published by

Clif

Clif Mims is a Christian, husband, father, teacher, cancer warrior, and fan of the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Memphis Grizzlies.

2 thoughts on “Fail Early, Fail Often”

  1. I coach middle-school & high-school kids in Science Olympiad. Typically, I coach build events that require the kids to engineer solutions to challenges. How refreshing to work with young minds untainted by failure! All things are possible! New novel approaches always spring up that I would never have dreamed of. Now – the best part: the kids build, test, fail, fix & rebuild. Fail & fail often! That is our mantra. The kids are 4 times more likely to learn by fixing a failure than a success that is handed to them.

    Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8D8JQvu9H0

  2. I totally agree with this quote. I truely believe that the early years are the most important. I think that is very important that children try to attend school as much as possible. I think it’s important for parents to care in their children’s early years of school. I think that if children begin to fail early and no one trys to help them then they will fail often. If failure is not fixed at an early age then it will continue on throughtout their lives.

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