DEEP LEARNING IS DIFFICULT

As the capacity to learn is one of men's natural capacities, it is eas ily assumed that learning itself proceeds smoothly and causes no parti cular difficulties. When learning is confronting difficulties, often e xternal factors are held responsible, not some inherent difficulty in the learning process itself. Explanations for poor learning results fo und in terms of external factors usually range from pointing out the i nadequacy of the subject matter area, the inadequacy of the student sa mple, to the inadequacy of the didactic approach or means. In this art icle, we will argue that learning is difficult in itself, and that the three types of explanations are not necessarily sufficient to explain poor learning results. Our conclusion is that the information process ing needed for deep learning itself may be hampered because the studen ts do not spontaneously engage in cognitive activities that foster suc h learning. We will put forward our arguments through describing the v arious results obtained with experimenting in the tides domain. Three studies are described in which students learn about the tides with a c omputer tutor.