"Brain Power" Up Close

Over the next few weeks, I thought we'd take a close look at some of the common Head First elements. A lot of folks love getting into the pedagogy of Head First, so this is almost a mini-primer to how we use lots of our elements [1].

First up? Brain Power:

Brain Power is not just an "ordinary" exercise, like a Sharpen Your Pencil or Exercise. Instead, it's a little bit tougher. In fact, you'll often have to think more critically about Brain Powers (when they're well done) than almost anything else in a Head First book.

We also don't typically put answers to Brain Powers in the book. You'll find text like this in most books' Read Me sections, up in the front matter:

Why no answers? Well, there are two reasons. First, without an answer, your brain is left to puzzle at what to reply. What do you think? And is what you think correct? Is your solution tenable and workable? Your brain hates irresolution. So forcing it to whir along without a definitive answer is really a dirty trick we're playing to get you to continue thinking.

But there's another reason. Brain Powers pose hard questions, without (hopefully!) easy answers. Because of that, there's always the risk a less-experienced learner gets the answer wrong. There's nothing like rubbing a learner's face in a wrong answer to turn them off and cause them to disengage. While we're by no means afraid to tell a learner that they've made a mistake, it's tricky to ask a very hard, abstract question, and then present an answer on the next page, as if to say, "Get it? Nope? Well, too bad!"

And another reason (yeah, I said just two, but hey, who's counting, anyway?): Brain Powers might have a range of correct answers. Lots of the time, these abstract questions can be solved in several ways. We really don't want to take up 10 pages with possible answers; or rather, if we did, we'd take you through that learning process, rather than handling it all with a Brain Power.

Like I said, Brain Powers are all about critical thinking, and not coming up with a simple answer. One thing I often tell authors is this: Don't ever phrase a Brain Power so that you can answer it with a "Yes" or "No." For example, here's a (bad) Brain Power question:

Do you think it's possible to build an MVC implementation using Objective C that runs purely on an iPhone?

It's an interesting question, but the brain of a learner can read the question, and simply think, "Sure." That little bit of closure is all it takes to turn the page. This could easily be made more effective, though:

How would you build an MVC implementation using Objective C that runs purely on an iPhone?

In this improved case, you've got to really think. The brain wants resolution!

There's a lot more to be said about these elements, but that's a pretty good start. What other things do you think Brain Powers accomplish? Do you work on them much? Not at all? Do you ignore them totally? What do you think?

[1] Just so we're clear, lots of people -- including some in O'Reilly -- will think that it's insane to "reveal" how we use our elements and build Head First books. I tend to think that's silly. First of all, there's very little I'll be writing on this blog that an astute observer couldn't figure out on their own. Second -- and maybe this is just my naivete -- I think it's our editors that make the key difference. If you can take these little discussions and go write Head First Basket Weaving for another publisher, then best of luck to you. (Although if that's the case, I'd much rather you come write for us. Except we aren't looking for a basket-weaving book...)

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