You have a student in front of you who is stuck. Your instinct is to help. That instinct is exactly where the trap is. This episode unpacks the science of productive failure, and what it costs students every time we move in before the struggle has done its work. Let's talk about The Help Trap.

This episode draws in part on research in:

• Productive failure and pre-instruction struggle (Kapur, 2016)
• Desirable difficulties in learning (Bjork & Bjork, 2011)
• Cognitive load theory — intrinsic vs. extraneous load (Sweller, 1988)
• Spacing and interleaving effects on retention (Rohrer & Taylor, 2007)