difficulty
the quality of being almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring a great effort to achieve a positive result
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent explain difficulty as a quality and how it is assessed and graded, support calibrating and describing difficulty in tasks, learning and activities, present research on difficulty and learning, and separate the sense of a difficulty as a problem.
The quality of being hard to do, understand or deal with, requiring great effort or skill, as in the difficulty of a task, problem, climb, text or situation, described by terms such as arduousness, strenuousness and laboriousness; difficulty is assessed relative to ability and resources, graded in fields such as education, sport, games and climbing, and studied in psychology and learning science, and the word also names a problem or obstacle.
What it is for: Being hard to do or deal with.
It can be explain the concept; support grading difficulty; present research; separate other senses.
Distinguishing features
Relational
Graded in many fields
Effort and skill
Multiple senses
What it looks like
Not physical; a relational quality.
How it is recognised
Requires great effort or skill
Relative to ability
Complexity is structural; a difficulty as an obstacle is another sense
Related models
is a kind of - category
is related to - graded difficulty
is related to - skill from experience
is related to - difficult situations
In practice
Families and kinds
difficulty of tasks and problems
difficulty levels in education and testing
difficulty grades in sport, climbing and games
text difficulty and readability
difficulty as obstacle or trouble
Standards and regulation
Grading systems in sport, games and education
Readability standards
Test item difficulty conventions
Failure modes and hazards
Miscalibrated difficulty
Confusing difficulty with complexity
Discouraging learners
Analytical facets
- substance
- abstract
- origin
- conceptual
- agency
- inert
- mobility
- not-applicable
- scale
- not-applicable
- affordances
- observable
Also called
+58
Where this came from
oewn:2024 · CC BY 4.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Understand What difficulty is.
Concepts.
Concept
Concept and relativity.
Concept
Concept.
- What makes something difficult, and how does difficulty depend on ability, resources and context? definition
- Is the quality of difficulty, or a difficulty as a problem, meant? boundary
Terms
Related terms.
Terms
Terms.
- How do difficulty, complexity, arduousness, strenuousness and laboriousness differ? definition
- How are they translated? action
Grade Grading difficulty.
Practice.
Systems
Grading systems.
Systems
Grading.
- How is difficulty graded in education, testing, climbing, games and readability? provenance
- Which entry fits a specific system? action
Calibrate
Calibrating difficulty.
Calibrate
Calibration.
- How can the difficulty of this task or material be assessed and adjusted for its audience? action
- Which entry fits instructional design? action
Research Difficulty and learning.
Science.
Learning
Desirable difficulty.
Learning
Learning.
- What does research say about difficulty and learning, including desirable difficulties and cognitive load? provenance
- Which findings are contested? boundary
Motivation
Difficulty and motivation.
Motivation
Motivation.
- How does perceived difficulty affect motivation, persistence and flow, according to psychology? provenance
- Which entry fits motivation? action
Learn Teaching and language.
Education.
Teach
Teaching with difficulty in mind.
Teach
Teaching.
- How can teachers sequence difficulty and support learners facing hard material? action
- Which misconceptions arise? provenance
Language
Usage.
Language
Usage.
- How is difficulty used across everyday and technical language? provenance
- Which references are standard? provenance
What the second pass must settle
- Should each grading system be a separate entry?
- How should learning research be linked?
- How should readability measures be linked?