Tea for Teaching Negative Examples
Dec 3, 2025
Bill Goff, a Teaching Professor in Economics at Penn State, discusses his innovative study on the impact of negative examples in education. He argues that solely using positive examples can confuse students about concepts. Goff reveals that incorporating negative examples improved student performance by 21 percentage points. He shares insights on effective teaching strategies, like utilizing quick clicker questions and schemas, while also touching on the challenges of engaging large classes. Goff advocates for the easy integration of negative examples to enhance learning outcomes.
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Negative Examples Clarify Concepts
- Negative examples show learners what a concept is not, which sharpens their understanding of what it is.
- Bill Goff argues contrasting cases and negative examples help build richer schemas for novices.
Study Origin Story
- Bill Goff discovered negative examples via Yusuf Hamid's How to Teach Economics and research on direct instruction.
- That inspired a focused study using clicker-based classroom interventions with Austin Boyle.
Pick Terms With Known Misconceptions
- Pick concise, definitional concepts with known student misconceptions when using negative examples.
- Bill Goff selected money, capital, and technology because students commonly misinterpret their economic meanings.
