Head First Triathlon Part 2

By Caitrin McCullough

It's time for leg 2 of the Head First Triathlon (Click here for Part 1). Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to do a little reconnaissance on your favorite Head First books and research how some of our trademark learning elements are used. You'll need to puzzle out the purpose of a few of our most frequently used elements and explain the role they play in the learning process. Here are a few examples:

This is Skeptical Girl. She’s that kid in class who’s just a little behind... but always thinks that she’s a little ahead. Learners almost always identify with Skeptical Girl at some point in a book, and she often asks that question that’s on all our minds... even if it means we really aren’t seeing an important part of the big picture.

Even better, Skeptical Girl can be wrong without us being wrong. She stands in for the learner when you need to get that not-so-obvious point across, without embarrassing your learner
for thinking about something incorrectly.

It’s not enough to simply ask the learner to do something... you have to try and make them do something. Add a space for learners to write their answers, draw some blanks for them to write
in, even give a few handwritten sample answers... these are key in getting a learner to pick up their pencil (or pen) and actually WRITE IN THE BOOK.

If your learner isn’t engaged and participating, their learning experience won’t be as effective. Get the learner involved!

Now it's your turn! Click through for some Head First elements to discuss. Send us an email with what you think the purpose of each of the elements is. How does the it help in learning? Is it only used in certain situations?

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