Upside-Down¶

summary	incite lateral thinking
time	5’
preparation time	1’
group size	all
material	board or nothing

How it is done¶

Write a question on the board that asks for the opposite of what you want to teach. Let the students digest the question for 1-2 minutes and let them discuss. Then ask, and write their suggestions on the board. Add from your own notes afterwards.

Examples¶

“How could you write a really bad program?”
“How could you create a very bad plot?”
“How could a program waste a lot of memory?”
“Give examples of inefficient data structures.”

Hint

The only disadvantage of the Upside-Down method is that you cannot use it too frequently in the same course. But having an inverted question on different topics every now and then is fine.