You're hitting on the most important role of a teacher. It's not about providing the answers. It's about guiding the learner through the process of acquiring ne

You're hitting on the most important role of a teacher. It's not about providing the answers. It's about guiding the learner through the process of acquiring new knowledge. We did a fascinating episode on the way we learn with Barbara Oakley. (https://www.teachingpython.fm/68 https://www.teachingpython.fm/68). She taught us a lot about how the brain works through acquiring new knowledge and skills. I didn't realize how much of learning is a combination of creating surprising experiences and practicing the skills and behaviors that we want to develop. So when we immediately provide the answers to a learner's question, we're not practicing the behavior of thinking through a problem or experimenting and researching to come up with effective solutions. We also like to practice an iterative process for problem solving that encourages our students to quickly improve their understanding. When we include a reflection on what they learned as part of the process, it's amazing to see how fast they build confidence and competence in the coding. If we just gave them the answers, they're not really learning anything other than to ask us!