More generally, research on children’s systematic errors points to a central lesson that has emerged from cognitive science research: The importance of cognitive task analysis.
To promote effective learning, it is essential to analyze in detail the particular procedures and concepts to be learned (Anderson, Reder, & Simon, 1997), to provide students with instruction and examples that help them learn the component skills and understandings, to anticipate types of misunderstandings that most often arise in the learning process, and to be prepared with means for helping students move beyond these misunderstandings.