Medical education is  increasingly prioritizing  the development of adaptive expertise—the ability to apply knowledge to common and routine problems, as well as transfer understanding to solve novel problems. Traditional approaches to teaching, however, often emphasize efficiency and correctness, giving learners the “right answer” too quickly. While this may increase short-term satisfaction, it can limit the deeper cognitive engagement needed for transfer and innovation.

Productive Failure (PF) is a pedagogical framework that offers a powerful instructional design strategy to address this gap. PF deliberately structures learning so that students struggle with complex problems before receiving explicit direct instruction. This initial, often unsuccessful attempt is thought to activate prior knowledge, reveals misconceptions, and sensitizes learners to critical features of the problem space. When productive failure is followed by guidance or direct instruction in a timely fashion, learners are cognitively primed to connect and integrate new information more deeply and retain it for transfer during future problem solving. PF is currently not commonly practiced, but evidence from the literature suggests it should be a core element for fostering adaptive expertise.

Learning Outcomes

• Participants will be able to explain the Science of Learning as viewed through the lens of Productive Failure and its four core mechanisms: Activation (prior knowledge engagement), Awareness (recognition of learning gaps), Affect (emotional engagement), and Assembly (integration of new knowledge).
• Participants will be able to design activities that incorporate the structured framework of PF to enhance retention, comprehension, and knowledge transfer.