{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/restore-help-when-errors-stop-teaching-you-anything",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9005",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Restore help when errors stop teaching you anything",
  "summary": "Struggling is useful only while the struggle has information.",
  "kind": "protocol",
  "body": "Treat a run of opaque errors as a signal to change instruction, not as proof that the learner needs more of the same. Reintroduce a worked step, cue, comparison or explanation that targets the missing decision; then ask the learner to resume the task with less support.",
  "limits": [
    "Do not use assistance to hide a prerequisite gap that requires proper instruction, access or supervision."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-skill-acquisition-career-dominant-focus"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-6958B9284DD609A1",
    "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "A 2025 meta-analysis found that lower-prior-knowledge learners benefited more from higher instructional assistance, while higher-prior-knowledge learners benefited more from lower assistance.",
      "source_id": "RS-6958B9284DD609A1",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The effect is moderated by domain and educational status, and does not prescribe a single assistance threshold.",
      "locator": "Abstract and highlights"
    },
    {
      "claim": "A meta-analysis of adaptive training found that effects varied by instructional intervention, with adaptive difficulty showing the strongest results among the examined categories.",
      "source_id": "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The literature was heterogeneous and much of the context was military training; this does not validate every adaptive-learning product.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "When independent practice produces repeated failure without a clear explanation or repair."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Do not use assistance to hide a prerequisite gap that requires proper instruction, access or supervision."
  ],
  "example": "A developer repeatedly misdiagnoses authorization failures. A short decision tree showing authentication versus authorization cues is reintroduced before another case.",
  "check": "After support is restored, the learner can name the error mechanism and make a better next attempt.",
  "steps": [
    "Stop after repeated opaque errors rather than accumulating them.",
    "Identify the earliest point where the learner loses the task model.",
    "Add the smallest useful explanation, cue or worked step.",
    "Retry a similar case and fade that support when it is no longer needed."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-6958B9284DD609A1",
      "title": "A cornerstone of adaptivity – A meta-analysis of the expertise reversal effect",
      "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959475225000660"
    },
    {
      "id": "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3",
      "title": "Adaptive training instructional interventions: A meta-analysis",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39083372/"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-EA04F47374E04549",
      "title": "Learn new skills, turn them into career evidence, and protect the main development edge",
      "url": "/collections/learn-new-skills-turn-them-into-career-evidence-and-protect-the-main-development-edge"
    }
  ]
}