Today, one of our co-founders (Yana) is giving a keynote at a conference with Anders Ericsson, the leading expert on expertise (yes, you read that right). In honor of this, for today's digest we have put together a set of resources on deliberate practice - the mechanism by which Ericsson claims that expertise is developed.

1) Deliberate Practice: What It Is, And What It Isn't
by Drs. Mirjam Neelen @MirjamN & P. A. Kirschner @P_A_Kirschner

"Deliberate practice" is not just any kind of practice - but even researchers don't alway agree on the correct definition! This blog post demystifies and debunks the terminology that's used in the deliberate practice literature. 

2) How to make your kid good at anything, according to a world expert on peak performance
by Jenny Anderson @jandersonQZ

This article provides the evidence for and against deliberate practice as a key factor in achievement - also known as the "nature vs. nurture" debate. Many concrete examples from music, sport, chess, and other domains of expertise enrich the piece.

3) When Practice Does Make Perfect & Book review: Peak
by Dr. Daniel Willingham @DTWillingham

In these two reviews of Ericsson's book "Peak", Dr. Willingham shares his thoughts on the book and its implication for educators and policy makers. Spoiler alert: he LOVED the book. In the blog post, Dr. Willingham linked to this fun video that highlights some impressively physical stunts achieved through deliberate practice.

4) How to Become Great at Just About Anything
by Stephen J. Dubner @freakonomics

There are many interviews of Dr. Ericsson out there, so it was hard to pick just one. This podcast episode, which comes with an abridged transcript, is particularly good as it includes various other individuals, such as psychologist Susanne Bargmann who used deliberate practice strategies to realize her life-long dream of learning how to sing and releasing a single.

5) Practice with Purpose: The Emerging Science of Teacher Expertise
by Deans for Impact @deansforimpact

In this guide, Deans for Impact apply the concept of deliberate practice to teacher education. At the end of the guide, the authors have a call to action urging teacher-training programs to take a practice-based approach. If you are a teacher, how were you trained? Were you given deliberate practice opportunities throughout your training? We'd love to know!

Every Sunday, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Occasionally we publish a guest digest, and If you'd like to propose a guest digest click here. Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:

Weekly Digest #79: Resources for Teaching about Racism and Bias, Part 1

Weekly Digest #80: Resources for Teaching about Racism and Bias, Part 2

Weekly Digest #81: Classroom Research

Weekly Digest #82: How to Successfully Bust Myths

Weekly Digest #83: Memory and Emotion