naive instruction a.k.a. the inception method of teaching
when teaching a process, naïve instruction involves:
- purpose: establish a problem that is beyond the student capabilities, but consists of steps that are within or close to the student’s capabilities
- approach: allow student to try solving it, and avoid hinting at all that they’re headed for obstacles
- prompting: think out loud, model the thought process you’re trying to teach, ask questions that sound neutral but actually direct the student to examine the most important aspects of the problem
naïve: the instructor acts as if they lack nearly all foreknowledge, such that only a priori knowledge is used directly during the problem solving process. experience may influence which knowledge is used without contributing to the body of knowledge itself
if the student isn’t able to form a first step, offer a generally correct first direction without going out of their current knowledge domain.
always immediately give accurate information about:
- definitions (non-naïve)
- prior discrete facts which are not dependent on/derived from the topic at hand (naïve)
- whether a previous step was correct, as close to a yes/no as possible (non-naïve)
- small mistakes which are not related to any fundamental lack of knowledge (like sign errors, spelling errors) (non-naïve)
avoid revealing:
- the solution
- the student should feel as responsible for solving the problem as possible
- whether the step the student is about to do is correct
- your emotional reaction to their approach during the solving process
emotional state
- maintain a generally neutral, backseat vibe
- ‘act out’ being curious about answers as if you don’t know what they’ll be - never seem frustrated
- showing excitement is good; frames problem solving as a rewarding process
- all of these model an outlook on learning and problem solving
khan academy often exemplifies this