The Word That Changed the Instruction
A class is making paper boats from a worksheet. Step 3 reads: "Fold the top corners to the centre line, then fold the flap up." Step 4 reads: "Turn the model over and repeat steps 2 and 3 on the other side." A pupil, Sam, folds only the top corners, skips the flap, and turns the paper over. His boat will not sit flat. He says, "The sheet didn't tell me to do the flap again." The teacher points to the word "repeat" and to the phrase "steps 2 and 3." The worksheet also has a note at the top: "Read all steps before you begin."
1. Explain what Sam was supposed to do at step 4, using the exact wording of the worksheet. Where did his reading go wrong?
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Step 4 says to repeat steps 2 and 3 on the other side. "Repeat" means do those steps again, in full, not just the last action. Step 3 contains two actions: fold the top corners to the centre line, then fold the flap up. Sam did only the first action the first time, and at step 4 he did not repeat either step properly - he simply turned the paper over. So he missed the flap fold twice. His reading went wrong in two places: he did not carry out all of step 3, and he understood "repeat steps 2 and 3" as "turn over," ignoring the instruction to perform those steps again on the other side.
2. The worksheet says "Read all steps before you begin." Explain how following this note would have helped Sam, even though it does not change any single instruction.
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Reading all the steps first would have shown Sam that step 4 sends him back to steps 2 and 3. Seeing that reference in advance would warn him that those steps matter twice, so he would be more likely to carry out every action in step 3, including the flap. It would also let him notice that the model is turned over and worked on both sides, which explains why the boat needs matching folds. The note does not alter the words of any step; its value is that it helps the reader build a picture of the whole process before starting, so a later instruction like "repeat steps 2 and 3" makes sense rather than coming as a surprise.