Key Takeaway
- Not all struggle is harmful. Productive struggle helps learners build understanding and resilience, while harmful struggle signals the need for timely support. Recognising the difference enables more effective teaching, learning, and intervention.
Introduction
Learning is a process and is rarely a smooth one. The learning process can take place in various environments, whether in a classroom, an online course, or workplace training, learners encounter moments of difficulty that test their cognitive abilities and persistence. While struggle in the learning process is inevitable, it is often viewed as something to avoid; however, educational research suggests that not all struggles in the learning process are detrimental. As a matter of fact, the right kind of struggle can deepen learning, whereas the wrong kind can hinder progress; hence, these kinds of struggles are categorised as Productive and Harmful. Understanding the difference between productive struggle and harmful struggle is essential for educators, instructional designers, and educational organisations seeking to create effective learning experiences.
What does “Struggle” mean in the learning process?
Struggle in the learning process is a natural part of the cognitive growth journey. It is often referred to as the “Learning pit” and represents the discomfort between what a learner already knows and what they are trying to understand.
Productive Struggle
Productive struggle refers to the mental effort learners invest in solving challenging but achievable tasks. It occurs when learners are encouraged to think critically, experiment with different strategies, make mistakes, and refine their understanding to achieve minimal or increasing progress before receiving guidance.
Rather than providing immediate answers, educators or adaptive learning systems allow learners, within a quality and defined time frame, to grapple with concepts. This process strengthens problem-solving skills, builds resilience, and promotes deeper conceptual understanding. Although learners may initially experience frustration, they ultimately develop greater confidence and independence as they overcome challenges.
Typical examples of productive struggle include:
- Solving a complex problem using prior knowledge before receiving instruction.
- Revising an essay after constructive feedback.
- Attempting multiple solutions to a programming or mathematics task.
- Exploring new concepts through guided inquiry or simulations.
Harmful Struggle
Harmful struggle occurs when learning challenges exceed a learner’s current knowledge and skills, and, despite applying all efforts, no progress is made. As a result, the learner becomes overwhelmed, disengaged, or discouraged. Factors attributed to harmful struggle are: persistent confusion, repeated failure, loss of confidence, growing frustration, and lack of progress. These can reduce motivation and increase the risk of withdrawal from the learning process.
Unlike productive struggle, harmful struggle often signals that learners need timely intervention, additional resources, or personalised adjustments of the learning process to the learner’s pace and ability.
Both productive and harmful struggles involve difficulties, but their outcomes are what differentiate them. For clarity and understanding, the table below puts the two types of struggle side by side for comparison.
| Productive Struggle | Harmful Struggle |
| Challenges are achievable with efforts | Challenges exceed the learner’s readiness |
| Mistakes become learning opportunities | Mistakes accumulate without meaningful progress |
| Encourages deeper understanding | Leads to confusion and frustration |
| Builds resilience and confidence | Reduces motivation and engagement |
| Often results in mastery | May result in poor performance or withdrawal |
Note: The key distinction lies not in whether learners struggle, but whether the struggle contributes to learning or prevents it.
Why is This Matter in Adaptive Learning
Adaptive learning platforms are designed to personalise instruction by adjusting content, pacing, and support based on learner performance. Their objective is not to eliminate challenge but to maintain an optimal level of difficulty that encourages productive struggle while minimising harmful struggle. By continuously monitoring learner behaviour and performance, adaptive learning systems determine when learners are progressing through healthy cognitive challenges and when they require additional support, feedback, or alternative learning pathways.
Conclusion
Struggle is an inevitable—and often valuable—part of learning. The challenge for educators is not to remove struggle altogether but to distinguish between productive struggle that promotes growth and harmful struggle that obstructs it. Recognising this difference enables educators and adaptive learning platforms to provide the right level of challenge and timely support, fostering resilient, confident, and successful learners. This understanding also lays the groundwork for using learning analytics to identify students who need intervention before temporary challenges develop into significant barriers to learning.