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Re: Why..



Tina Fanetti wrote:
can't students read and follow directions? Why?

Perhaps because they're like many adults (instructors and professors,
even) who don't always read and follow directions properly.

Perhaps the directions are not as clear and well-structured as they need
to be. I've seen directions that look pretty good to someone who
already knows what's supposed to happen, and yet are awfully obscure to
someone who is approaching the task for the first time. I've seen
directions that are just plain obscure, period.

Perhaps, like many bright people, they succumb to the "wandering off"
syndrome. Working with teachers who were trying to learn a computer
application (e-gradebook) for the first time, I repeatedly saw this
phenomenon. We warned them that they needed to follow the excellent and
well-organized and thoroughly field-tested printed instructions, or they
would surely become lost. They would start by following the directions,
but at some point they would stop reading and start trying to
intuitively find their way through the on-screen menus. Shortly they
had everything hopelessly screwed up, and we coaches had to patiently
help them start over "and this time you need to keep following the
step-by-step directions all the way to the end." A number of people
fell off the wagon more than once before they finally got the software
to work.

Best wishes,

Larry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larry Cartwright
Retired (June 2001) Physics Teacher
Charlotte MI 48813 USA <exit60@ia4u.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~