ABSTRACT
Any skill can be mastered with sufficient deliberate practice, whether one aspires to become an expert chess or violin player, a professional basketball player or mathematician, or to enhance cognitive skills like creativity and critical thinking. Three things distinguish deliberate practice from common conceptions of practice: emphasis on component skills versus whole skills, immediate and specific feedback versus delayed and general feedback, and progressive difficulty that stays at the edge of student ability versus a fixed difficulty that involves mere repetition. The optimal way to improve a complex skill is to master its component skills in a systematic way, from foundational skills to tuning technique. Immediate and specific feedback refers to measuring performance, monitoring progress, and determining which kinds of practice activities are most effective. Feedback should be targeted and given immediately and allow students to incorporate the feedback into practice right away. Mastery can only be obtained through regular, high-quality practice over a significant period of time.
