Is predictability a positive or negative force for learners?

In an earlier blog I had opined that children pick up computer skills fast because the tools are structured, predictably consistent, and the conditioning is a great factor in learning.

The ‘surprise’ element in content design, on the other hand, is also an effective tool.

So where is the balance between elements of predictability and consistency versus elements of surprise? Is there a need to balance, and is there a way to balance?

The environment [hardware, operating system] should be consistent and predictable. These should not be lots of variable where users stress over, and be distracted by. An ‘Exit’ does the same exact thing in whichever interaction.

However, when it comes to content for learning, young learners can focus on the content without much thought on navigation i.e. ie  ‘intuitiveness’ of the environment. They are ok even if the dots do not connect together.  Adults tend to want to connect the dots, find similarity and differences whereas younger learners are quite happy to leave things unconnected. [Carl Jung]