DRMacIver's Notebook
Teaching from worked examples
Teaching from worked examples
Mostly saving this for later so I can find it again.
How We Teach Introductory Computer Science Is Wrong.
In particular the following cites from it are interesting:
- Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work
- The Use of Worked Examples as a Substitute for Problem Solving in Learning Algebra
The general point being that getting people to try to solve the problem on their own as a starting point is not actually a good teaching model, and you’re better off showing them a number of worked examples first. I find this counterintuitive personally, and I suspect they’re framing it as a more certain thing than it really is, but I still think it’s worth taking note of.
I wonder how this ties in with Sue Sentance’s PyCon UK keynote suggestion of teaching programming by giving people something to modify. There I guess you are giving them a worked example first, so the two seem mutually supportive.