critical review of the sweet spot by daniel coyle
DESCRIPTION
A critical review of Coyle's book outlining his major points about talent and a critique of his conclusions.TRANSCRIPT
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Jonathan Brubaker
Professor Denise Comer
English Composition I
31 March 2013
Coyle, Daniel (2009). The Talent Code. (Chapter 1: ‘The Sweet Spot’). Bantam Books:
New York.
The analysis of talent has usually focused on innate factors. It is something a
person has or doesn't have. Unfortunately, this makes a pool of talent small and hard to
find. What if talent was something that could be taught and not just possessed? This
would have far reaching effects.
The idea that talent is something that can be developed is at the center of
chapter one of Daniel Coyle's book The Talent Code. In particular, the author explores
the relationship between "deep practice" and the development of talent. People who
develop talent in this fashion are "purposely operating at the edges of their ability, so
they will screw up [and] somehow screwing up is making them better" (5). In other
words, making mistakes can actually increase talent.
In order to provide evidence for his claims, Coyle seeks to isolate individual
examples of deep practice so that he generalize them into a larger message about
talent. His first example is the way soccer talent is developed in Brazil. The author
quickly summarizes the high level of talent, accomplishment, and skill of Brazilian
soccer. Coyle then provides the conventional explanation of Brazil's greatness: poverty,
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location, and desire. But the author questions these assumptions by asking why Brazil
didn't begin to dominate soccer until the 1950s. Coyle argues that Brazil did not
suddenly experience some fluke explosion of talent, but instead began to practice
soccer in a way that fits his explanation of "deep practice." The change occurred with
the advent futsal.
According to Coyle, futsal compresses the game of soccer in such a way that
allows players more chances to operate at the edges of their ability, experience
mistakes, and then learn from them. The game uses a smaller, heavier ball, a smaller
court and fewer players. This means that the players get more touches on the ball and
have to maneuver in tight quarters. In addition, the ball is less flexible and therefore
controlled passing and dribbling become key. Coyle argues that in futsal soccer is
compressed to its essential skills. He then goes on to demonstrate that all of Brazil's
recent soccer greats played futsal. Therefore he concludes that the “deep practice” at
the heart of futsal is the primary reason for Brazil’s dominance in competitive soccer
over the past fifty years.
Next Coyle turns to the invention of the Link training machine invented by Edwin
Link. He describes the lackluster training regimen designed to train Air Corps pilots, a
training program that focused on ground school and a ride along. Unfortunately, many
pilots were crashing in inclement weather and those who flew successfully were
assumed to possess an innate flying talent. According to Coyle, Edwin Link came along
and developed a pilot training machine that improved the performance of pilots and
worked along the lines of "deep practice." His training machine simplified flying down to
its basics and allowed pilots an opportunity to practice in actual flying conditions and
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make mistakes. Through Link's training machine, pilots were able to learn how to fly
better.
Coyle's theories about talent are built upon the work of Robert Bjork. The author
presents Bjork's theory that real encounters are better than observations. In addition,
the brain builds " scaffolds" when it encounters difficulties and overcomes them. Coyle
quotes Bjork who advises people to "choose a goal just beyond your present abilities"
which Bjork calls "the sweet spot." Finding such a spot allows a person to make
mistakes and actually improve their skills, an idea that can seem counterintuitive.
The author's analysis of talent and the need to find "the sweet spot" to enable
"deep practice" raises a couple of questions. The first is whether there is anything novel
in Coyle's analysis. As an educator, I was exposed to the thought of Lev Vygotsky, a
Russian psychologist, who suggests that there is a Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD) where learning occurs. The ZPD is just beyond the current ability of a student
and it is the area where learning would occur. How does Coyle's ideas relate to other
theories of learning like Vygotsky's?
The second question is the scope of the application. Some skills cannot be
compressed into essential components and slowed down. For example, what are the
essential components of good teaching that can be slowed down and practiced?