Yes, and I've seen it plenty of times before. I usually tell the students that unraveling their approach to show them where they went wrong is counterproductive. They probably want to know, but it's a bad use of both of our times (mine becasues I already know the right way and them because they're better off learning the right way rather than figuring out why the wrong way is wrong).
I tell them that once they learn the "right" way (or at least "a" right way), they'll see where they went wrong, and more important, won't go there again.
In this studen't case (and I think in many others' cases), it's an indicator of her insecurity. She's a bit needy (not a great trait for an academic) and wants validation for what she's done. Even though it's wrong. So I don't mind giving some reinforcement, but the goal is to get her to do things on her own. But in the end it's not a problem (at least for me), since if she doesn't do it my way or convince me her way is right, she doesn't finish.
Not to be a hardass or anything, but that's the reality.
This is a common problem, and especially troubling in a doctoral student. Professor says "here is what we're trying to do and how to do it", student says, "this is what I did; what did I do wrong" or "why doesn't my way work, as well?". Well, that's YOUR problem, isn't it. How am I supposed to know where your intuition and understanding went off the track? If there's a right way to do it, I'll teach you that one. If you want to find a new and different solution, do that on your own time and then prove to me that it's correct.
Commenting by HaloScan
