Productive Failure: A New Paradigm for Learning with Manu Kapur

What if the best way to learn isn’t to get it right the first time—but to fail first?

In this episode of Inside Learning, we’re joined by Manu Kapur, author of Productive Failure. Kapur introduces a radical shift in how we think about education and training: instead of shielding learners from mistakes, we should intentionally design for failure as the gateway to deep understanding.

We explore:

1. Why traditional Direct Instructionoften fails even when delivered by excellent teachers.
2. How novices “can’t see what they don’t yet know” — and why the first job of teaching is to prepare them to see with an expert’s eyes.
3. The science behind Productive Failure — from Activation to Awareness, Affect, and Assembly.
4. Evidence showing that Productive Failure can produce learning gains three times greater than conventional methods.
5. Practical ways educators, trainers, and leaders can create safe, curated failure experiences that build resilience, creativity, and deeper transfer of knowledge.

As Kapur puts it: “Fail first, learn later.”

Join us for a conversation that challenges the way we teach, train, and even think about learning itself.

Find out more here: productivefailure.com