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March 6, 2026
Barbara R. Blackburn explains how teachers can design learning experiences that challenge students to think critically, apply prior knowledge and develop deeper understanding. Barbara will also be presenting on this topic during Share My Lesson’s 2026 Virtual Conference, where she’ll share additional strategies and classroom examples. Watch the webinar to dive deeper and learn practical ways to support productive struggle with your students.
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Productive struggle is a hot topic, whether it’s about students using artificial intelligence to avoid struggle or Olympic athletes who share the value of struggle. The real question is: What is productive struggle, and what does it look like in the classroom?
Let’s start with defining the term. Productive struggle is an opportunity for students to participate in a structured instructional situation in which they adapt current knowledge to solve a novel problem.
Productive struggle is an opportunity for students to participate in a structured instructional situation in which they adapt current knowledge to solve a novel problem.
There are several key words and phrases in my definition. First is student participation. You simply can’t have productive struggle without students participating in the process. Next, it is a structured instructional situation. Generally, teachers plan and craft the opportunity for students to apply prior knowledge in a new situation at a level that requires the right level of struggle—not too little, not too much. Finally, students are using the knowledge they already have and applying it to something that is new to them. Connecting the two is an intricate part of productive struggle.
Next, what does productive struggle look like in the classroom? We’ll look at specific examples, but generally, tasks that require productive struggle use error analysis, require students to propose and evaluate solutions, justify and defend their work, and synthesize and generalize ideas.
Let’s look at classroom tasks that utilize productive struggle, starting with elementary school.
In a kindergarten activity, students think about problems they see in their classroom.
Consider a reading example for the primary grades.
An upper elementary math problem requires productive struggle.
Notice how students not only solve the problems but also determine whether each is incorrect or correct, explain why, and justify their answers.
An excellent activity for fifth-graders involves argumentative writing.
Let’s turn our attention to middle and high school. We’ll look at the four core areas, then a chorus/band example to preview how productive struggle applies to all areas.
Pythagorean Theorem: What Is That?
Thanks to Pythagoras, we have a great equation that we can use to find the length of the sides of a right triangle. The theorem is used in architecture, navigation and surveying, which are important parts of our lives, but what if Pythagoras had never come up with the theorem? Sure, you could use measurement of a tool, but some things may be impossible to measure, such as trying to find distances between long navigation points. For instance, a plane can use its height above the ground and its distance from the destination airport to find the correct place to begin a descent to that airport. It seems like something is left out. Your charge is to come up with a replacement equation that would assist you with the following problem. You should be able to explain how you came up with the new equation and also include the drawbacks of using this equation. Pythagoras can’t be replaced, but I bet you can come close.
https://sciencing.com/real-life-uses-pythagorean-theorem-8247514.html
Here, students are given a situation and struggle to develop a new solution, one that is an alternative to the Pythagorean Theorem. Depending on the complexity of the situation, you might adapt this so that students are formulating a mathematical model.
For middle school science, design and do the investigation, interpret data and revise hypothesis with justification.
Design investigations, interpret imperfect data, and revise hypotheses.
Compare historical interpretations. Analyze similarities and differences; conclude which is more accurate and back up your view with evidence.
Students must complete research and explore the biases that exist. Based on that, they determine the more reliable source and provide evidence for their choice.
Students analyze two to three texts that address the same central issue but present conflicting or incomplete perspectives; then, they develop an interpretation that explains not only what each text suggests, but why the texts disagree; students must construct an initial claim without teacher-provided themes or summaries, revise that claim after encountering peer challenges and opposing interpretations, and produce an analytical argument that accounts for contradictions, silences and limitations in the texts while explicitly explaining how and why their thinking changed during the process, including reflection on uncertainty, revision and evidence selection.
In this case, notice the complexity of the analysis that is required to develop an argument.
Diagnose performance issues. Revise for improvement. Students can do this for themselves or another performer.
Notice the characteristics these tasks and assignments have in common. They all require responses at higher levels of analysis and critical thinking. They also typically have open-ended answers and need some level of creative thinking to respond. They also meet the criteria I shared earlier in this article.
Productive struggle is growing in popularity, whether it involves artificial intelligence or tasks that are at higher levels of thinking. It’s important to understand the definition of productive struggle, then look at practical examples for the classroom.
In this free webinar, we’ll look at what productive struggle is, how you can make it work in your classroom (no matter the grade or subject area), and how to equip students with the necessary dispositions to be successful.
Register for free, for-credit webinars for PreK–higher education educators, school staff and families, featuring the latest strategies and resources to support wellness, strengthen instruction and inspire innovation.
