We’ve seen that the Habits of Mind grow across five dimensions through real challenge. But where does that challenge come from? Not from the curriculum – despite what we might hope.

Sarah Chen thought she’d cracked it.

Her Year 7s were deep into their “Ancient Civilizations” unit. The curriculum said students should “analyse how societies adapt to challenges.” Perfect for developing flexible thinking, she thought.

She’d designed what looked like a rich task: Students would create posters comparing how three civilizations responded to environmental challenges.

But then she overheard Liam coaching his partner: “Just copy this bit from the textbook, change a few words, and add that stuff about the Nile flooding. We did the exact same thing last year.”

Sarah’s heart sank. He wasn’t wrong. He’d identified the pattern, found the formula, and was efficiently completing the task.

But he wasn’t learning a thing.

The Comfortable Trap

That moment reveals something we rarely admit:

Most of our “challenging” tasks aren’t actually challenging. They’re just complicated.

There’s a difference. A complicated task has many steps. A challenging task has uncertain steps. One requires organisation. The other requires growth.

Sarah’s students were busy – researching, writing, designing. They were performing, not developing.

This is what psychologist Robert Bjork calls the “performance paradox.” When students sail through tasks smoothly, we assume learning is happening. But often, the opposite is true. Easy success means students are operating in their Performance Zone – applying what they already know, not building what they don’t.

The Space Where Growth Lives

The next day, Sarah scrapped her poster task. Instead, she handed each group a single sheet of paper.

“Your civilization just learned its water source will dry up in two years. You have twenty minutes to develop a survival plan. But here’s the catch – every five minutes, I’m going to give you a new constraint.”

The room shifted. Liam’s textbook strategies were useless now.

Without realizing it, Sarah had created what I now call ‘See-It-Differently problems’ – the kind that demand flexible thinking as a superpower. The Habits of Mind shifted from abstract concepts to what students started calling their ‘problem-solving superpowers.’

“Miss, you haven’t taught us about disease in ancient civilizations!”

“I know,” Sarah replied. “What do you think they’d do?”

This is the Learning Zone – where students can’t rely on existing knowledge alone. Where the Habits of Mind shift from posters on the wall to practices in the mind.

Curriculum Tells You What to Teach. Challenge Builds Who They Become.

Here’s what we need to understand:

Curriculum is the map, but challenge is the journey. The map shows where we’re going. Only the journey builds the capability to get there.

The curriculum told Sarah to teach about ancient civilizations. What it never does is create the conditions where students grow.

That’s because curriculum is designed for coverage, not development. You don’t become a flexible thinker by defining flexibility. You become one by facing problems that demand flexibility – and discovering you can meet that demand.

K. Anders Ericsson’s research on expertise shows that improvement only happens when we attempt tasks just beyond our current ability. Carol Dweck confirms that students develop stronger mindsets not through lessons about growth, but through experiences of growth.

The Difference That Makes the Difference

Watch what happened in Sarah’s classroom:

When the first constraint hit – “Your neighbours have declared war” – groups scrambled. Some panicked. Others negotiated: “What if we shared our water technology in exchange for protection?”

Sarah didn’t just watch. She moved between groups, highlighting different approaches: “Notice how Group 3 is thinking about alliances. What other creative solutions could work here?” She was teaching them to recognize flexible thinking in action.

By the third constraint – “You’ve discovered bronze-working” – students weren’t just solving problems. They were anticipating them.

Sarah paused the chaos. “Take thirty seconds. What strategy worked best for your group just then?”

The room buzzed – students weren’t just solving problems, they were studying how they solved them.

“I want you to steal one strategy from another group,” Sarah added. “Which approach could strengthen your plan?”

This explicit focus on strategy-sharing helped students build their repertoire of flexible thinking approaches – exactly what Tom had done with Maya’s persistence strategies.

Liam, who’d started by looking for the “right answer,” was now debating fiercely about risk versus innovation. His flexible thinking wasn’t just being used – it was being stretched.

That’s the difference. In the Performance Zone, students demonstrate their capabilities. In the Learning Zone, they develop them.

From Coverage to Challenge

So how do we create Learning Zone experiences within our existing structures?

First, recognise that challenge isn’t about making things harder. It’s about making them uncertain. A 100-problem worksheet is hard but not challenging if every problem follows the same pattern.

Second, a productive challenge requires support. Without feedback, challenges risks becoming frustration. But with feedback, it becomes refinement.

Third, design for adaptation, not completion. The magic in Sarah’s lesson wasn’t the initial problem – it was the constraints that forced continuous adjustment.

Fourth, build in reflection loops. “Which strategy surprised you? When did you have to completely rethink your approach?” These questions transform experience into expertise.

What Monday Looks Like

Sarah’s reflection that afternoon was telling: “I’ve taught ancient civilizations for eight years. Today was the first time my students actually thought like historians – making decisions with incomplete information, adapting to unexpected changes.”

She was right. The Learning Zone isn’t a place in your classroom. It’s a condition you create – where students must grow to succeed.

Because here’s the truth: Students don’t develop capability by completing curriculum tasks. They develop it by facing challenges that demand more than they currently possess – and discovering they can rise to meet them.

The curriculum might tell us what students should know. But only challenge shows us who they can become.

Next: Before we go any further, there’s something essential we need to make explicit – something my students taught me that changes how we think about challenge. They didn’t just learn how to use the Habits of Mind. They learned how to recognise which problems needed which Habit. And that one insight changed how I teach everything.