Common errors as callouts in lessons

[jevbelikov]

This came up in a recent Trainers call. We often speak about using mistakes as learning opportunities. To help with this it may be worth cataloguing common errors and adding them to lesson material as a separate section or as callouts similar to exercises.

It could include some broken code which can be used as an exercise or example. It could be classified e.g. as syntax error, logic error etc and show the error message. This would help instructors think about making a deliberate error at certain points, pause and ask the audience first about way to diagnose and correct and fix the error together.

Some materials cover this to some extent e.g. debugging discussion in the intermediate Python lesson.

As an added benefit it could offer additional opportunities for checkout contributions.

Separately, instructor training materials could have common teaching mistakes as callouts.

What are your thoughts on this?